Canuck youth base is lowering

D13G0 · Post by **D13G0** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:00 pm

Hey everyone, first time poster...not that anyone cares.

I go to High school...grade 12 to be exact, and I have been noticing the change in youth fans over the years. I did a survey at my school. last year during the playoffs to find out how many kids were watching the playoffs. This is how it went down:

87% No
11% When I have nothing else to do
2% Yes

There's 1400 students at my school so only 28 students were watching all the games. I sent out the survey during our advisory class and we got 1,389 forms back. Back in the west coast express days, most of the students at my school were wearing hats, jerseys etc at school. Even teachers. Now, teachers say that "they suck" which I always argue back and say that "They suck" is the most inmature thing to say and most stupidest reason not to watch them.

Do you think it's because many former fans lost interest after what happened to Bertuzzi? or the lack of "heart" some people think that this team has and the whole defensive stuff which I hate.

Or is it because people only watch teams that are stacked like the Ducks or Ottawa. Mind you, There's more Duck fans at my school than Canucks.

I know you're probably thinking "Well...that's just your school." Well it isn't. I've walked around a couple of other schools in the past 2 years with my friend asking people and probably....around 4-5 students we asked from both schools say they like the Canucks and watch them and we asked a lot of students.

I just wanted to see your response and if you see a decreased number of youth fans.

Grizzly · Post by **Grizzly** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:41 pm

I think there maybe many reasons for interest going up and down ... a couple of my thoughts ....

... typically fans like to support a winner and it's harder when they aren't. The team now is playing average hockey ... last year they weren't even supposed to make the playoffs so the hype might not be there.

... tickets are harder to get now for canuck games - more expensive, purchased by corporations etc. so I think it is harder now for the average fan to get a ticket or aford a ticket ... ie Father taking son to a game gets pretty pricey.

... there are so many things on the go now with kids etc. that hockey just becomes one option of so many ... a lot of us older guys grew up religiously watching HNIC ... we knew all the players all the stats ... collected the cards at a quarter a pack and had our favourites. That goes back a few years but I don't think the same passion is there as it was (at least not as a whole)

... not sure the effect on the picture but I think that "the Strike" had a bigger impact than some would admit too ... regardless of the numbers put out by the NHL and the increased attendance etc.

I am sure there are lots of other observations ... thats just a couple ... interesting discussion topic though.

Grizz

PS Welcome aboard ... good to see new young enthusiastic posters !!

D13G0 · Post by **D13G0** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:05 pm

Totaly, back in the 80's, early 90's, hockey was everything to kids in Canada. Not that I lived during the 80's, but heard stories from my uncles and dad that all they did was play hockey on the street, trade hockey cards and invite all their friends to watch the big game. Now...I don't know what kids do. Why don't they like hockey? Is it to complicated to understand? They can't see the puck?

I've heard parents, mostly mothers not letting kids watch hockey because of the violence. I kind of undertsnad that but comon. Ah, I'm blabbing on about other stuff here but I think GB has to get more youth into watching hockey.

What happened to all the AO commericals?

levelheaded · Post by **levelheaded** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:36 pm

I was in highschool last year, and well there may have been less fans than there were during the height of the WCE, there were certainly a lot more people interested than your poll seems to suggest.

I'm not too concerned. The team is less exciting, they missed the playoffs in 06 after the lockout, so you'd expect a dropoff in the fair weather fans. Vancouver won't ever have a lack of hockey fans, whereas here in Toronto almost noone my age gives a crap about the leaves. Years of continual losing will do that to a team. Everyone loves a winner.

Tukaram · Post by **Tukaram** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:47 pm

There's too much to do now, compared to the "old" days when Saturday night was "hockey night."

Linden Is God · Post by **Linden Is God** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:36 am

A good read that sheds some light into this is a book written by Dave Bidini (of the Rheostatics) called The Best Game You Can Name....

The main idea behind the book is that kids have the most passion and most fun with hockey between the ages of 9 to 13. After 13 there's a drop off in the teen years as teens tend to get into other things (i.e. music, sex, booze, drugs). Then after experimenting with other things, we tend to find a new love for the sport in our late 20's or so. Great read and I recommend reading any of Bidini's books.

jchockey · Post by **jchockey** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:35 am

It's also got to do with the fact that the Canucks don't play exciting hockey. There's a trade-off between exciting losing hockey and boring winning hockey.

Also, it has to do with the fact that Vancouver has so many other things entertainment-wise has to offer. Drugs are readily available, and Downtown is a big giant party on weekends.

I grew up in Vancouver but right now am going to school in Nova Scotia and I find that people here are more into hockey and watch more games than fans do out west.

Grizzly · Post by **Grizzly** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 9:11 am

It's also got to do with the fact that the Canucks don't play exciting hockey. There's a trade-off between exciting losing hockey and boring winning hockey.

Interesting point ... look at New Jersey ... they have been a pretty competitive team for years ... won a couple of cups yet their style of hockey isn't exactly the most entertaining ... it shows in their attendance numbers too ...

Grizz

Jyrki21 · Post by **Jyrki21** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:08 am

I don't think the premise of this thread could be more wrong.

When I was growing up in Vancouver, it was distinctly uncool to like the Canucks. I got picked on for owning a Canucks' jacket in their own freaking city!

Since then, the Canucks have been a much higher-profile team in the NHL, and the levels of fan support I see when I go back to Vancouver, including among young people, are WAY higher than they used to be.

And where's this "they suck" sentiment coming from? The first 6 games of the season? They are defending divisional champs! I know Vancouver's fickle, but come on...

jchockey · Post by **jchockey** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:54 am

Jyrki21 wrote:I don't think the premise of this thread could be more wrong.

When I was growing up in Vancouver, it was distinctly uncool to like the Canucks. I got picked on for owning a Canucks' jacket in their own freaking city!

D13G0's figures say otherwise though...

Jyrki21 · Post by **Jyrki21** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:07 pm

jchockey wrote:D13G0's figures say otherwise though...

You'd have to take the survey over a number of years, in all sorts of schools, and control for things like team performance, stars on the team, gender of the respondent and, in a city like Vancouver, ethnic group of the respondent, as hockey is more culturually specific than most will admit. Hell, even the team's last performance probably impacts on how people answer.

Raw percentages can't tell you much unless you have something to compare them to. Any given cultural phenomenon cuts across far fewer groups than we realize. (Britney Spears is all over the pop news, but how many of us can actually name 3 of her songs?) In this case, you'd need historical data. I would bet that far fewer were watching the Canucks when I started high school in 1991.

Grizzly · Post by **Grizzly** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:55 pm

I would bet that far fewer were watching the Canucks when I started high school in 1991.

Maybe ... but the Pavel Bure era started shortly after ... there was alot of hype around the province then.

While I agree with you Jyriki21 that there are many things to statistical data ... cross section of different ethnic groups, sample sizes, historical comparisons etc. I think that D13GO is just commenting on the results of a survey that he performed in his school ... his experience per se.

His sample size may not be enough to draw any hard conclusions from but it still could ... I think ... be considered a legitimate random sample of individuals his age. Obviously to draw a more educated conclusion we would need more random sample's from various areas in Vancouver or even for that matter around the Province.

On a very general basis however it still raises an interesting point and could raise questions as to whether or not there is a decrease in fan support etc. for his age bracket.

Grizz

D13G0 · Post by **D13G0** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 2:27 pm

I totaly see a drop off of fans around my age. Exactly what that book you mentioned LIG is that all the kids at my school are more into music, drugs, sex, internet stuff and all that crap. I guess it's just a time for teens to see what they enjoy most and kind of "find themselves". But I hope they get back into watching hockey lol

Jyrki21 · Post by **Jyrki21** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:36 pm

Grizzly wrote:While I agree with you Jyriki21 that there are many things to statistical data ... cross section of different ethnic groups, sample sizes, historical comparisons etc. I think that D13GO is just commenting on the results of a survey that he performed in his school ... his experience per se.

Which is fine, but we can't call it a trend ("lowering") until we have something to compare it to: past data.

And I would bet dollars to doughnuts that if indeed these stats are representative (I'm not saying they're not), that they used to be even lower when I was in high school (apart from the 1994 run).

I'm saying the numbers "look" low on their own because we are hockey fans. But when you look at the actual percentage of the population at large who watches hockey, even in Canada, it's probably way lower than you think. And, I suspect, used to be even lower in Vancouver.