The End of Hockey

When the World Cup wraps up tonight, hockey ends. The owners, barring some unforeseen miracle, will lock the players out of camp at midnight. I'm not even going to pretend to understand the whole mess, but I think the owners may hold most of the cards here. Why? Because many of us still over-estimate hockey's popularity.

In North America, we think of the Big Four team sports. The NFL, MLB, NBA and the NHL. Yet, there is almost nothing that indicates the NHL deserves that honor. A quick look some television ratings tell us all we need to know. The World Cup semi-finals drew a horrible .4 rating. The World Series of Poker got a 1.7 mark. Poker. That's men playing cards on television. People make fun of bowling and curling on tv. Please. Is poker any better?

However, poker is perceived as more exciting than an international hockey tournament. A lot more exciting if we judge strictly by tv ratings. That's simply awful.

Then, there's tennis. You remember tennis, right? It was kind of popular about twenty or thirty years ago. Connors, Borg, McEnroe, et al. Well, the just concluded U.S. Open drew a 2.5 rating. That almost double poker's viewership. Tennis, now considered a fringe sport by many, drew 2.1 more ratings points than hockey. Is there really any need to look at NASCAR or PGA Tour ratings? Didn't think so.

This is why I think the owners hold most of the cards. They can wait. They can close down a franchise, thus costing the NHLPA jobs. They can lose money, as you have to think based on tv ratings, a number of them probably are already. What's a couple of months more of losses with the possibility of salary limits on the horizon? Fans? Sure they will be upset, but there are so few of them, the backlash will be severe, but small. Besides, they are diehards. When the game returns, so will they.

There's only about three hours left before the doors around the NHL get locked. I guess I better get back in front of my tv before the World Cup is over. This may be the last pro hockey we see until sometime in 2005.