True story: I have more pairs of skates than I do shoes. As you may discern, I’m a die-hard hockey fan and as such with the NHL All-Star game in less than two weeks to say I am excited would be a considerable understatement.
As the only major sports league struggling to attract American viewers, the All-Star game, one of the league’s marquee events, is a huge deal. Riding a recent wave of success in the form of an all-time record 6.6 million viewers for the leagues January 1st Winter Classic match-up of Sidney Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin (from the HBO series “Road to the Winter Classic”, the teams they play for really didn’t seem to matter), the NHL has gone into this year’s all-star game more determined than ever to increase their American fan base. Solidifying their partnership with major American networks NBC, HBO and Versus, the NHL finally seems on the right track to increasing it’s major marketing flaw. The league’s partnership with comicbook-artist legend Stan Lee and the “Guardian Project” is further evidence of their attempt to attract a new crowd to hockey.
Finally, by requiring one player minimum from each team to attend the all-star game* the league has positioned itself to raise viewership in places like Atlanta and Florida, where teams are not as promising as places such as Detroit or even Vancouver.
All in all, January 30th should be an exciting game, I know I’ll be watching.
* With Jarome Iginla opting out of the All-star game for personal reasons Calgary was exempt from this rule – lets be honest they have no one else.
One reply on “NHL All-Star Weekend”
Hi, this is a comment.
To delete a comment, just log in and view the post's comments. There you will have the option to edit or delete them.