With the NHL Lockout finally over, what will the National Hockey League do to bring back the fans? What will the league and the owners come up with that will bring back the most loyal fans in professional sports* and make them forget about 4 months of no professional hockey because of two sides arguing over millions? Will they need to do much at all? Will some fans continue a boycott of the NHL once the season begins? Has the NHL lost some fans forever because of another lengthy lockout?
*Are we really the most loyal fans in professional sports? Are we a little biased? I know I am! A question to be answered at another time!
Damage of a 113-day, 4-month NHL lockout
Has the National Hockey League done irreparable damage to its fans with a lockout that lasted almost 4 months? For some fans, the answer to that question is yes. Some fans have moved on and found other ways to spend their money and might never come back to the NHL. Other fans will not watch for awhile in an attempt to show the NHL that without the fans, there is no league.
When you think of all the ways the National Hockey League and each of its teams make money, there’s a lot of ways fans can rebel if they so choose. The obvious ways are by not buying tickets to games, not buying food at the games, not buying merchandise and not watching games on TV or online. However, there are other ways fans can affect the NHL’s revenue. They can choose to not buy from any or all of the companies that advertise with the NHL. They can refrain from going to any NHL related websites and from wearing any NHL related garb. They can just keep enjoying all of the other hockey they’ve been enjoying throughout the lockout and, most of all, keep getting out on the ice and playing some hockey themselves.
The fans can do any or all of those things to boycott the National Hockey League but my question is this – if you love hockey, how can you keep from watching the best players in the world play the game you love? I know I won’t be able to.
How can the NHL bring fans back?
What can the National Hockey League do to get the fans to come back to the arenas and support the sport and their favorite teams?
There’s the obvious ways of giving the fans free tickets or discounts on merchandise but that’s too easy. They could give discounts on and improve GameCenter Live and NHL Center Ice but they need to do more than that.
The NHL should give the fans unprecedented coverage and access to the National Hockey League. That could, should and would include what happens in the locker room, on the bench, on the ice, during practice and games, during intermission with coaches between periods with what adjustments are being made, off the ice training to see what the players do to get better, on road trips to see how they spend their time on the way to other cities, what they do in other cities on days off and on and on. Team reporters should have less restrictions on how they cover the team.
As Wild fans, the Becoming Wild series has gone over quite well as the fans get to see the behind the scenes of a hockey team and the players lives. It’s very similar to HBO’s 24/7 series* that leads up to the Winter Classic. A team should be covered every week or so and eventually, every team in the span of a couple seasons would get that kind of exposure to the fans. Unfortunately, with the length of the lockout (Damn you, lockout!), there’s only 15 weeks from January 19th to the end of April, there’s not enough time to cover every team in a shortened season unless it was for one game but even that would be a start! That kind of exposure to the fans would help get fans back and get even more fans excited about the National Hockey League.
*Would HBO be interested or even be able to air something like that? or could it be done by the same group that does the NHL36 series that started last season and aired on NHL Network?
Each team will no doubt have their own campaigns to get the fans back so hopefully we will see some interesting things to gain more interest in the sport of hockey and the NHL product. It might be hard to expect a lot of player appearances and events in a shortened season because they will be playing at least 3 games a week.
It will definitely be interesting to see what the National Hockey League and each of its teams do to convince the fans to come back.
Some other stories about the NHL Lockout:
- NHL Lockout: We get your sorry, Gary Bettman-now prove it – Sporting News – Jesse Spector
- Gary Bettman’s NHL lockout apology: what he should have said– NHL Red Light at SI.com – Stu Hackel
Tom Powers: With NHL lockout over, ignored fans gain bargaining leverage– Twin Cities Pioneer Press – Tom Powers
Some teams have begun their “come back” endeavors:
- Care to be a Tampa Bay Lightning season ticket holder? Cool, chuck ’em $200 – BackhandShelf blog at TheScore.com – Justin Bourne
- Peace Offerings – What NHL Teams Are Offering to Entice Fans Back – DaysOfY’Orr.com
Do you have any ideas on what the NHL and/or each team can do to get the fans back into the stands and loving the NHL again?
Bring The CLUTTER in the comments, on Twitter, on Facebook and on Google+.
You’ve Been ClutterPUCKED!!!
