Jeremy Laura: NHL vs NBA and NFL ratings, advertisers looking for rollbacks

Interesting article and great food thought. It makes me think the Jets are fighting a rebuild so badly cause they need playoff revenue to stop the lengthy money bleeding from the onset of the pandemic, till today.

For the life of me I cant understand the draw to basketball. Allow some body contact and then we can talk.

For the life of me I cant understand the draw to basketball. Allow some body contact and then we can talk.
- Shynes57

I’ll admit that when the Pistons won their back to back and when you had Jordan and Larry Byrd in the league i was a star struck kid for the sport (but sucked at it). It wasn’t until i saw hockey in person and saw everything that went on that it took over. It was like chaos! These gladiators jumping over the boards that looked like they could break the sound barrier! It’s so much harder to get people that experience. Basketball games are everywhere growing up. Football games are everywhere. (This is in the U.S. of course) there just wasn’t a lot of hockey. Of 6 school systems in my area, only 2 had hockey programs (Ann arbor Huron and Ann Arbor pioneer). Pioneer is fairly well known and kids come from other states to play there (I think Jimmy Howard moved to Ann Arbor and went to high school there). It wasn’t until college (I went to Western Michigan and probably saw Blashill playing for Ferris) that I could see Hockey regularly in person. I was an R.A. And got free season tickets. Everything else was boring after the first live game I watched and once I had steady access, fully addicted.

Interesting article and great food thought. It makes me think the Jets are fighting a rebuild so badly cause they need playoff revenue to stop the lengthy money bleeding from the onset of the pandemic, till today.
- Jetlag

To be completely fair, the pandemic really screwed things up for the NHL. That’s when we were told that 50% of HRR came from tickets/concessions. Bettman took a billion dollar loan in 2021 to help teams pay some of their bills (30 million per team). The original MOU the players signed assumed that fans would be back in the seats by the end of the playoffs once the sport came back. Obviously it took a lot longer so the financial model that was built didn’t pan out.

The NHL cannot compete Rising costs and the players want more money That is a bad daily double. The Cap cannot continue to rise It does not help the game and it does not make the game better to watch. Inflated salaries just make the players richer and the fans pay the price Pass it on to the public Why don't we just pay every player 10 mill a year and call it a day Just stupid like reparations STUPID

Most sports fans ignore hockey and don't even consider it a legitimate professional sport... its the only sport I watch but somehow the league hasn't been able to generate enthusiasm, and despite that players salaries climb and climb.... some of these contracts are ridiculous, and to hear Matthews is wanting 14 million is laughable..... ticket prices continue to price many out of their seats and the league could careless....

The NHL cannot compete Rising costs and the players want more money That is a bad daily double. The Cap cannot continue to rise It does not help the game and it does not make the game better to watch. Inflated salaries just make the players richer and the fans pay the price Pass it on to the public Why don't we just pay every player 10 mill a year and call it a day Just stupid like reparations STUPID
- broncohorvath

What’s really ironic is that cap rises has become extremely divisive. Imagine if you had a deal for 7 years or so that just expired. For the past 3 years you’ve paid 20% in escrow. I view the cap as “artificial” since owners basically get a refund on the money spent. That 50/50 split and what is defined as HRR are so convoluted. I believe there are good owners and I believe there are really not good owners. Each cap raise allows a new deal to be signed at the expense of existing deals if revenues are down. I think the players are “stuck”, and that may well be why they brought in a completely different type of PA head. If spending is down across the board (fans, advertisers, networks etc) it feels like the NHL takes the hardest hit.

Most sports fans ignore hockey and don't even consider it a legitimate professional sport... its the only sport I watch but somehow the league hasn't been able to generate enthusiasm, and despite that players salaries climb and climb.... some of these contracts are ridiculous, and to hear Matthews is wanting 14 million is laughable..... ticket prices continue to price many out of their seats and the league could careless....
- angryagain

I remember when McDavid and Matthews got their deals. It felt like a huge chunk but the talking point was “the cap could be 10 million higher in the next few years, and these will look like bargains”. I don’t know what is going to happen this coming season. Broadcast deals look to be souring a bit (especially Bally) and there seems to be a lack of understanding about what is happening to consumer spending and interest.