The Blunder is Bettman

by Ethan Calof 
 

      There’s no debate that hockey is the greatest sport there is. Well, there may be a tiny bit of a debate, but not enough to substantiate a call for alarm. No other sport out there combines extreme physicality with dashing speed, silky-smooth moves, high action, and through-the-roof intensity. No other sports evoke as much passion from their fans as hockey does. No other time in sports is as heart-wrenching and thrilling as playoff hockey.

      However, I mention hockey to average Americans, and I get vastly different reactions. The standard response is “What the heck is that?” Sprinkled in among them are a few people hurling epithets -- like “I’ve never been on ice in my life”; “I wanted to watch a game once, but I couldn’t find it”; “That is way too hard to follow”; “It just doesn’t work for me”; and of course the classic “Dude, it’s hockey. Why bother?”

      For a sport that is supposedly one of America’s “Big Four”, this lack of exposure is quite frankly appalling. There are teams that sell out nearly every game across the continent, yet the league still has the cachet of the Food Network on American television. The fact that the average American civilian can pick Michael Jordan out of a crowd yet couldn’t find Sidney Crosby in a police line-up is absurd.

      The lion’s share of the blame obviously has to fall on the shoulders of beleaguered commissioner Gary Bettman. The modern-day hobbit is responsible for almost irreparably damaging the National Hockey League’s reputation in the continent’s largest media market. If an intelligent, even-keeled man were in charge of the league, it would surely have a firm place in America’s elite sporting pantheon.

      Bettman’s first major mistake came directly after the dreaded lockout. Not that the lockout wasn’t a mistake, but the fallout was even greater. When searching for a television station to broadcast the NHL, he bypassed all major media networks in favour of tiny Versus. Versus, which was previously best known for broadcasting cycling’s Tour de France, is not available on basic cable. In fact, it is unavailable in approximately 40 million American households. Those who do have it have difficulty finding it.

      When a league is exiting a period without any activity, the last thing to do is reduce the visibility of the league. After the lockout, people forgot the NHL, and stowing his product away on the dregs of cable was one of the worst possible options for Bettman. Not only were the current fans continuously alienated after being shut out for a year, but the flow of new fans was stemmed due to an inability for the common man to find the delicate oasis of hockey.

      Most egregious, however, is Bettman’s refusal to address the major problem that is plaguing the league. While the squads in Canada, Northeastern and midwestern United States are all very viable, several teams in the south are struggling. Of the twelve teams below the Mason-Dixon Line, only four sold over 90% of available seats in the 2008-09 season. This points to a much larger problem: despite so much being invested in the Sun Belt, there really isn’t much of a hockey culture.

      This problem cannot be solved easily, yet it isn’t impossible. The NHL needs to invest more in creating an overall appreciation for hockey at the grassroots level. In the south, you very rarely see ice rinks, and it is even rarer to see a competitive team. There is only one college south of the White House which has a hockey program. My friend who lives in Alabama tried on his first pair of skates at the age of fifteen. The NHL needs to invest in making rinks and equipment available to those who could just as easily turn towards football and basketball. Creating a love of hockey is key to ensuring the viability of hockey franchises in the south. Gain the love the south, and you have yourself a bona fide professional league.

      Sadly, the NHL is not a bona fide professional league, which distresses me not only as a hockey fan but as a hockey journalist. The league has Gary Bettman to thank for that.