Last 2 teams have a 33.50% chance of drafting #1 in 2015

[YardRat]

This is just stupid. The popularity, or lack of, is affected by many things--regionalism for hockey, pace of the game for baseball, but the farm system has zero bearing on each sport's popularity.

Sports are popular or not mainly due to how well suited they are for TV. Football is the perfect TV sport. Hockey, while it should improve thanks to wide availability of bigger screens over the past few years, suffers from the size of the puck, the three period (with long break--basically amounting to a double halftime show) and other factors, like regional traditions.

The average fan, who doesn't post obsessively on message boards, neither thinks about or cares about how teams are put together, especially enough to affect the popularity of a given sport.

Baseball is a totally different sports for prospects than football. There's WAY more development needed to get players to Major League status, and the draft is basically a crap shoot.

You're talking out of your ass.

All good points, and I never stated my contention was the only reason for the difference in popularity, but let's face it...it isn't the first round draft pick learning the ropes in the EHL that is selling jersey's and tickets, it's the 22 year old that was drafted and put on the field immediately. Ultimately, it's star power that sells sports, and the NFL has it head and shoulders over any other league when it comes to establishing that kind of attention for newbies making it to the pro level.

[WagonCircler]

All good points, and I never stated my contention was the only reason for the difference in popularity, but let's face it...it isn't the first round draft pick learning the ropes in the EHL that is selling jersey's and tickets, it's the 22 year old that was drafted and put on the field immediately. Ultimately, it's star power that sells sports, and the NFL has it head and shoulders over any other league when it comes to establishing that kind of attention for newbies making it to the pro level.

Getting rid of or changing the farm system wouldn't be enough to move the needle.

[Downinfloflo]

Maybe if the NHL and MLB played once a week like the NFL??

You have to wait a week to watch your team play, And you only get 16 games.

That's why people are drawn to the NFL, It's not going to last, If football was on every night people would get sick of it.

[Skooby]

Maybe if the NHL and MLB played once a week like the NFL??

You have to wait a week to watch your team play, And you only get 16 games.

That's why people are drawn to the NFL, It's not going to last, If football was on every night people would get sick of it.

Like Thursday / Sunday / Monday & then Saturday late in the season ?? The ratings during many of the games also trump anything else playing and the night games have the highest rating of anything else on TV during those periods.

[Downinfloflo]

Like Thursday / Sunday / Monday & then Saturday late in the season ?? The ratings during many of the games also trump anything else playing and the night games have the highest rating of anything else on TV during those periods.

Keep it up...

Pigs get fat hogs get slaughtered.

[YardRat]

Getting rid of or changing the farm system wouldn't be enough to move the needle.

Certainly not enough to overtake the NFL, but getting the 'star power' on the ice or diamond earlier so fans can bond with them would help.

Maybe if the NHL and MLB played once a week like the NFL??

You have to wait a week to watch your team play, And you only get 16 games.

That's why people are drawn to the NFL, It's not going to last, If football was on every night people would get sick of it.

That may be a small part of it, and I agree at some point the league is going to over-saturate the market and have to scale back, but it's not really a major factor otherwise sports leagues with similar scaled-down schedules would be more popular. It's all about star power, and more and more getting those stars on display. Even the average fan can't wait to see what a Sammy Watkins can do in the big leagues four months after he was drafted, other than the hard core followers who really gives a **** what Reinhart is doing in Kootany?

[coastal]

Sorry yard... getting the draftees up to the pros immediately as a means of improving interest in the sport is just stupid.

Hockey is primarily a regional obsession. Interest outside of the sphere has extended beyond the shadow of the Great Lakes, but it can probably be argued much of that interest stems from transplants. Almost the entire youth hockey community down here fits that mold.

Here's a great pic from the recent Minnesota High School Hockey Championship game. Must have been awesome to be there.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ampionship.jpg

[Skooby]

Keep it up...

Pigs get fat hogs get slaughtered.

Whatever.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Certainly not enough to overtake the NFL, but getting the 'star power' on the ice or diamond earlier so fans can bond with them would help.



That may be a small part of it, and I agree at some point the league is going to over-saturate the market and have to scale back, but it's not really a major factor otherwise sports leagues with similar scaled-down schedules would be more popular. It's all about star power, and more and more getting those stars on display. Even the average fan can't wait to see what a Sammy Watkins can do in the big leagues four months after he was drafted, other than the hard core followers who really gives a **** what Reinhart is doing in Kootany?

Players like Sammy Watkins come into the league full of hype because they are already through the NFL's "farm system." If hockey and baseball just drafted 18 year olds and dumped them into the bigs, it would be a complete disaster. When the NBA tried that, they had to reverse themselves within a few years because they were destroying their own talent pool.

[JATMtheJATM]

sabres take a point, edmonton 2, arizona loses.

sabres gain a point on the yotes, but fall a point to the oilers. sabres now 5 points behind both teams, with 26 points left available.

[SpikedLemonade]

sabres take a point, edmonton 2, arizona loses.

sabres gain a point on the yotes, but fall a point to the oilers. sabres now 5 points behind both teams, with 26 points left available.

The excitement of losing!

[JATMtheJATM]

The excitement of losing!

The excitement of trolling!