Cup finals had record-low network television ratings

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mattola
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Cup finals had record-low network television ratings

Post by mattola »

Is anyone Shocked?
NEW YORK -- The Stanley Cup finals had record-low network television ratings.

The three games aired on NBC averaged a 1.6 rating and a 3 share, the network said Thursday. That's down 20 percent from the 2.0/4 drawn for the same three games last year.

Anaheim won the series, beating Ottawa in five games. The first two games were televised on cable network Versus.

The Ducks' series-ending 6-2 victory Wednesday night received a 1.8/3, down 28 percent from last year's 2.5/4 in Game 5.

The rating is the percentage watching a telecast among all homes with televisions, and the share is the percentage tuned in to a broadcast among those households with televisions on at the time. A ratings point represents 1,114,000 households.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2897126
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Post by randymeeks »

With a Canadian team in the Finals and the Ducks being a team with virtually no following, should anyone be surprised?
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Post by Grizzly »

Wasn't the Nucks and Rangers in '94 still the highest or was that record broken ?

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Post by Bartman »

The only surprise for me is that there is anyone left who WOULD be surprised by this. News flash...outside of a few markets THEY DON"T CARE.
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Post by Island Nucklehead »

Hockey is dead outside of Canada, with the exception of Minnesota and maybe Denver, nobody cares. If a big market team like New York (Rangers) or Detroit winds up in the finals it's great news for the NHL...otherwise, nobody cares. Even watching the Sens...it's painfully obvious they don't generate enough of their own fans, relying on disgruntled Toronto fans.

At least hockey is healthy in Vancouver...
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Post by Linden Is God »

It was funny and odd to see Canada's reaction to the Sens. It seemed to me that leaves fans made any excuse not to cheer for the Sens. Like making that crap up about Ottawa not being Canada's team, because Anaheim had more Canadian players. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe in cheering for a team just because it is from Canada. I got a lot of flack from people when I was cheering against the Flames and Oilers. But now that the leaves' main rival makes it, all of a sudden it's ok to cheer against a Canadian team.
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Post by orts »

Linden Is God wrote:But now that the leaves' main rival makes it, all of a sudden it's ok to cheer against a Canadian team.

I think that's totally the case here, in the blogsphere, the mainstream media, and in the centre of the universe.

I was sitting in a bar here in Toronto watching game two (with a Briton there to see what the fuss was about hockey here -- the 1-0 game probably didn't impress her much), and the crowd was half mild Sens support and half annoying leaves fans who cheered raucously for the Ducks.

Toronto as a city has been very good to me, but their hockey team and its fans don't deserve to ever win another game.
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Post by Linden Is God »

It just showed how much of a Leaf town and not a hockey town, Toronto is.
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Post by orts »

Linden Is God wrote:It just showed how much of a Leaf town and not a hockey town, Toronto is.
I've always said that, too. But every once in a while somebody here proves me wrong :)

And really, how would you compare that to Vancouver? or Calgary or Edmonton? As I maintained in another post, I'm not convinced that any of the cities in Canada with NHL teams are much different.

To me, the real hockey towns in Canada are the little ones with divided NHL allegiances, and local rinks, or maybe a WHL or QMJHL team.
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Post by Linden Is God »

orts wrote:
To me, the real hockey towns in Canada are the little ones with divided NHL allegiances, and local rinks, or maybe a WHL or QMJHL team.
Oh most definitely. They appreciate what little they have and the cities with the NHL teams sometimes don't realize how lucky they are to have what they have.

And example of this could be seen in the mid 90's when Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary had attendance woes. Mind you they're better now, but still.
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Post by randymeeks »

And example of this could be seen in the mid 90's when Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary had attendance woes. Mind you they're better now, but still.

I don't think that's a fair comparison. All 3 of those NHL cities had teams that were HORRIBLE during those years they couldn't draw fans.

I wouldn't spend big bucks on any team if the product you were buying into sucked. And neither should you. No doubt a lot of those little cities with junior teams are great hockey towns, though.
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Post by Linden Is God »

randymeeks wrote:

I don't think that's a fair comparison. All 3 of those NHL cities had teams that were HORRIBLE during those years they couldn't draw fans.

I wouldn't spend big bucks on any team if the product you were buying into sucked. And neither should you. No doubt a lot of those little cities with junior teams are great hockey towns, though.
This is what I mean by the big team cities not appreciating the full value of a team. I live in an area where I would have to make an 8 hour drive to get to either Toronto or Ottawa, and 10 hours to get to Montreal. Those are the nearest cities to me that have NHL teams. Because of the distance I can really only make it to one game a year, whereas if I were in a city that had a team, I would be there any chance I could. Even if the team sucks, the visiting team should be worth something to watch.
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Post by SRsez »

Not really. I never want to watch another Canucks/Wild game in my life. (Of course I will though) The level of opposition definitely plays into how much of a draw the game is.

But Vancouver is definitely more of a hockey market than T.O. It goes back to the time before there was a Canuck's team, and so you watched hockey. It didn't matter who it was. Then the Canucks started, and they were terrible. People went to watch other teams. Now it just pisses me off to see some Calgary Homo flying a flaming flag. I never see them in parking lots however, and I always keep my lighter ready (I don't smoke!) in case I ever do.

But the ratings for hockey watchers in this neck of the woods doesn't vary that greatly when the Canucks aren't involved. Sure the numbers go up when the Canucks are on (they draw more % than T.O.), but when they aren't, there's still support for NHL hockey.
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Post by randymeeks »

Even if the team sucks, the visiting team should be worth something to watch.

LIG, are you trying to tell me that fans should pay big bucks to see their team get their asses kicked? I don't agree with your logic at all here. Especially when you compare the little junior hockey towns to a place like Vancouver, Edmonton, or Calgary. The ticket prices are in a completely different universe. Seeing a good junior hockey team come into town to see your team for $15-20 is a lot different from seeing a good NHL visiting team at NHL ticket prices.

Having an NHL team in your city isn't a right. But it's a two way street. At some point, I feel I have to decide as a fan when it is time to stop buying tickets to see games when you know the organization must make changes to improve the product. A prime example of this would be when the Canuck season ticket base dropped during the Keenan-Messier years. For those reasons, I don't think comparing those little junior hockey cities to a place like Calgary, Edmonton, or Vancouver is a fair comparison.
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Post by Linden Is God »

randymeeks wrote:[

Having an NHL team in your city isn't a right. But it's a two way street. At some point, I feel I have to decide as a fan when it is time to stop buying tickets to see games when you know the organization must make changes to improve the product. A prime example of this would be when the Canuck season ticket base dropped during the Keenan-Messier years. For those reasons, I don't think comparing those little junior hockey cities to a place like Calgary, Edmonton, or Vancouver is a fair comparison.
Fair argument, but what about during the mid 90's when attendances were low and there was a threat to lose the team (more specifically Edmonton and Calgary). When those threats were made people were in an uproar saying they shouldn't lose their team. Well if you don't appreciate what you have, then why should you have it? We're seeing this in a sense with Nashville. Albeit it's a bit different of a situation, but people are trying to save their team now that there's a threat of them losing it.
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