BillsSabresB.C.T. Fan
06-10-2007, 02:48 PM
G ary Bettman’s vision all along has been to make the NHL a global sport, so it must have been humbling last week knowing Paris Hilton’s release from a threeday stretch in the clink stole the show from the Anaheim Ducks. If nothing else, it was a sad reminder of where hockey sits on a national scale.
That’s if it’s on the national scale, of course.
The commissioner has plenty of work ahead in legitimizing a league that for years was perceived as irrelevant. Hockey’s television ratings, laughable at their height, were down 20 percent in the United States and 18 percent in Canada from last year for the Stanley Cup between the Ducks and the Ottawa Senators.
Bettman spent years trying to sell people on the strength of the league when anybody paying attention knew otherwise. But the opposite is true in this case. The NHL isn’t nearly as weak as TV ratings would suggest. The salary cap is expected to increase again next season, a sign the league has a strong revenue stream.
Take a closer look, and you’ll see Bettman’s vision from the mid-1990s slowly taking form. The last three Cup winners were the Lightning, Hurricanes and Ducks. All three play in nontraditional hockey markets. Their success helped generate interest among fans who previously didn’t care about the game.
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/sabresnhl/story/95407.html
That’s if it’s on the national scale, of course.
The commissioner has plenty of work ahead in legitimizing a league that for years was perceived as irrelevant. Hockey’s television ratings, laughable at their height, were down 20 percent in the United States and 18 percent in Canada from last year for the Stanley Cup between the Ducks and the Ottawa Senators.
Bettman spent years trying to sell people on the strength of the league when anybody paying attention knew otherwise. But the opposite is true in this case. The NHL isn’t nearly as weak as TV ratings would suggest. The salary cap is expected to increase again next season, a sign the league has a strong revenue stream.
Take a closer look, and you’ll see Bettman’s vision from the mid-1990s slowly taking form. The last three Cup winners were the Lightning, Hurricanes and Ducks. All three play in nontraditional hockey markets. Their success helped generate interest among fans who previously didn’t care about the game.
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/sabresnhl/story/95407.html