ChitownHabby Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Watched the Caps vs Pens tonight along with the few other priviledged fans with NHL center ice. What a joke the league's marketing and TV strategy is. Firstly, last night's Bruins-Habs game was on versus with the Bruins regular commentators providing colourful biased renditions of play. Secondly, the game was only advertised for like 2 days on versus exclusively and nhl.com. Thirdly, more unforgivable the Caps-Pens tilt from tonight was NOT nationally televised!!!! HOW is it possible for the league to miss the boat so badly? Bruins-Habs should be an automatic national, heavily promoted contest with big-time emphasis on the rivalry, personal hatred between Lucic-Komisarek, Julien-Carbonneau, Chara-EVERYBODY and should feature a neutral professional broadcast team without bostonian accents. Borrow from the NBA's playbook and have the "All-star" commentator line-ups: Jim Hughson, Bob Cole, Barry Melrose, Mike Milbury, John Tortorella, Keith Jones etc... select some guys with charisma and presence and choose 2-3 gifted play-by-play men and feature them heavily. Cross promote. Ctv(Tsn) and Versus should be encouraged to forge a partnership with free trade of broadcasters and equally important technical production help. MORE importantly, Alex Ovechkin vs Evgeni Malkin, Crosby vs Semin could you ask for a better hockey matchup in the US? 4 of the leagues biggest stars with deep-rooted hate for each other, playing an intense highly skilled game, a sure bet to be entertaining, high-scoring and feature an incredible back story. It was on FSN...Pittsburgh, so the whole game I had to listen to one way pro-pens anti-ovechkin, anti-semin bias. HORRIBLE. The 3 best players in the NHL on 1 ice and the game can't even bump cagefighting...UNREAL. Strong work Versus! Somebody in New York needs to admit defeat and hire outside help. They need fresh ideas or at least a better blueprint. Ovechkin-Semin should have been interviewed, a sit-down, shown in first intermission followed by Crosby-Malkin in the second. Can somebody please explain to me how the league plans to survive with idiotic moves like this and ridiculous 15 year contracts to never-been goalies like Rick DiPietro? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteenIsThaFuture Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Hard thing to comment on since we don't know whether or not FSN had exclusivity on this game since it would bring in huge ratings. On the Bos-Mon, I would expect baisy even in a national broadcast since its an American network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteenIsThaFuture Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 ESPN Sportscenter just spent over 5 minutes analyzing the Wash-Pitts game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leafs_rock_go_mccabe Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Man, did that Washington/Pittsburgh game ever look good, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisjamessauve Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 What REALLY bothers me about the NHL's TV marketing, is the fact that they devote so much space on NHL.com (and videos on their YouTube channel) to promote the NHL on NBC and the NHL on Versus, while they don't give a rat's ***** about promoting Hockey Night in Canada, the NHL on TSN or even the NHL on RDS. It's really starting to strike a nerve with me. It's basically like we in Canada non-existant. That has to change! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteenIsThaFuture Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 What REALLY bothers me about the NHL's TV marketing, is the fact that they devote so much space on NHL.com (and videos on their YouTube channel) to promote the NHL on NBC and the NHL on Versus, while they don't give a rat's ***** about promoting Hockey Night in Canada, the NHL on TSN or even the NHL on RDS. It's really starting to strike a nerve with me. It's basically like we in Canada non-existant. That has to change! Whats there to promote? The point of promotions is to get the word out and any hockey fan with half a brain in Canada knows about those programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisjamessauve Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Whats there to promote? The point of promotions is to get the word out and any hockey fan with half a brain in Canada knows about those programs. Still they promote as if NHL.com is solely for Americans to read. Maybe I'd like some articles from a Canadian perspective for once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteenIsThaFuture Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Still they promote as if NHL.com is solely for Americans to read. Maybe I'd like some articles from a Canadian perspective for once. Well considering the American teams outnumber Canada 24-6 naturally there will be much more news about American teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
357908_1475251331 Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 vancouver will make some difference in focusing not only america, but the world on canada, don't you think? crosby is a big name to put it mildly, but the main reason that canada seems to get a word from the nhl is in the mind of the beholder. really canada is clean and the states are generally dirty. i remember a story in dallas about finding an alligator in the trinity river. it was billed as shocking. just remember it is not shocking to find a river that supports wildlife. it is a blessing, and look out the window if you are in canada and are thinking that the us has it made. the states need to be talked to. it needs the company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefooligan5 Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 What REALLY bothers me about the NHL's TV marketing, is the fact that they devote so much space on NHL.com (and videos on their YouTube channel) to promote the NHL on NBC and the NHL on Versus, while they don't give a rat's ***** about promoting Hockey Night in Canada, the NHL on TSN or even the NHL on RDS. It's really starting to strike a nerve with me. It's basically like we in Canada non-existant. That has to change! Still they promote as if NHL.com is solely for Americans to read. Maybe I'd like some articles from a Canadian perspective for once. The entire point of marketing is not just to spend money geared towards attracting a particular demographic, but to spend that money wisely. If you create a new sport are you going to hand out leaflets advertising the new sport at the entrance to the arena or are you going to go where basketball is played to draw in some unfamiliar patrons? Advertisers aren't stupid. If we really want to be catered to in Canada then we would need to stop careing about hockey but that seems a bit idiotic doesn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChitownHabby Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Exactly fooligan! I'm telling you that game was a classic last night there was one play when Ovechkin had Malkin lined up and the crowd kinda gasped as malkin evaded the hit. That's solid entertainment, everybody in that arena knows they hate each other and knew AO was gunning for him. I just think, even though it got annoying, the NHL has potential to turn this into a Shaq vs Kobe rivalry. These are arguably the 2 best players in the league and they play in solid hockey markets on good teams with plenty of star power. Every one of there matchups should be circled like those christmas day nba matchups and the rest of the NHL schedule should be light on those nights for next season. Same thing with Bruins-Habs, Hawks-Wings, Rangers-Flyers. Good teams in big markets need to be shown off and most of there games against their big rivals should be heavily promoted on national tv. There are no Columbus fans outside ohio. No wild fans outside Minnesota. Those above teams all have solid transplanted fans, such as myself, dying to see those "big" games on regular TV with the 'A' team of broadcasters at a local bar. The NHL has the chance to monopolize Tuesday nights. Its not flashy cuz its tuesday, but there are no major sports that night so the potential is there to create buzz and to grab the coveted ESPN what to watch spotlight. TNT was a backwood, hidden network like Versus until the NBA brought them to the forefront. Solid ratings for NHL games will be almost guaranteed with smart matchup selections, promotions using the stars, and the creation of a routine like Hockey Night in Canada or Mechants mardi sur RDS. Right now, the NBA is dwindling in terms of on-court product, people are tired of seeing tatooed whiners, the NFL has exclusive days, the MLB doesnt start for a couple months and is generally slow paced and boring, now is the time to grab the market, I would focus on soccer fans. Soccer fans have a deeper appreciation for skilled, low scoring sports, played the right way by clean cut, prison free stars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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