Whats best for the sport?

[ted]

if they didnt im sure we'd get charged more!

Could always have rhino shirts.... GOD NO... please no rhino shirts!

[PeteW]

spikc said:

.....Because 3 points a Reg Win 2 points an OT win and 1 point an OT lose is a good system to produce exciting 'got to win' hockey at the games end and benefits those that try with a reward of the extra point.

Didn't the old superleague do this in 2000/01? Sheffield won the league with 104 points from 48 games.

[spik]

Yes Pete, 104 with Newcastle at bottom with 53 a difference in gap of 51 points.
01-02 had a difference of 32pts from 7 teams
02-03 27 points diff. from only 5 teams
03-04 82 whopping pts with 8 teams
04-05 40 pts from 7 teams

So you can argue that it's not the 3pt win factor that creates a larger spread over a league BUT the number of teams in a league.
82pts from 8
51 from 9 (*3point win season)
40 from 7
32 from 7
27 from 5

Average of (top of my head) 5and a half points per team in league.

[sunbeam]

therapy said:

spooks said:

Its not going to go anywhere until better facilities are inplace throughout the country. Most places are rundown grotty little sheds with poor seating blocked views, plexi glass scratched beyond repair, cramped seating, poor views the list goes on.

Vicious little circle really.

The publicity/TV things boils down to this, and dont burn me down for saying it, I have had this same viewpoint for years (and its what i do for a living)

At most 30,000 people watch hockey everyweek, of those statistics would tell us that 7,500 have Sky/Digital TV hardly worth the advertisers even doing a survey to see if costs would be met.

Snooker/Darts/Bowls et all, are sold around the world to massive audiences, even in North America (barring the coldest places Hockey is at best the 10th most watched sport).

Bottom line:

Why is the play off weekend not held at the MEN?
Because there aren't enough fans to fill it. Even if the tickets cost £20 I'm not sure they'd sell 17000 seats.

It's not the 1980s anymore. The days of tv building a sport up are gone. There are simply too many alternative interests, too many tv channels and football is now bigger than all-other sports put together.

[David]

I don't think it's going to take off, unless the market bottoms out one of the other major sports in a bit way. As people have said, there are far too many more marketable sports that are cheaper and easier to cover that have a headstart on hockey and have a suitable grip of the market.
We had a section on NASN last season as we're affiliated with the NHL now. IS that going to happen again this season?
As other people have said, even in the home of the NHL, there is more interest, sponsorship oppurtunities and a greater audience in sports such as arena football in many areas. It's not a way of life here, like it is in Sweden, Canada, Russia etc. People here grow up kicking a football around, and sadly that is the main reason why it will remain a minority sport here.