Already, as we lead up to Game One of the NBA Finals on Thursday, we have seen perhaps the closest seven-game series in the history of the playoffs between the #2 Boston Celtics and the #7 Chicago Bulls, which seemed like it had more overtime play than regulation; the relentless march through the first two rounds and subsequent fall of King James and his Cavaliers, the personification of “the bigger they are, the harder they fall”; and several other series that either went six or the full seven games.
Little do most people know, however, that another great playoff season is taking place simultaneously with the NBA. A playoff season that already featured a match-up between its two best players, just as many close series going six or seven games as the NBA and a Finals rematch from last season filled with intrigue.
Of course, I'm speaking of the NHL. I must admit, I haven't watched a majority of the games in the NHL Playoffs. I've been catching the highlights every morning on SportsCenter. In general, I've never watched a lot of NHL. But I want to. It is something that I want to get hooked into.
But the NHL isn't helping me out at all, which is the underlying reason why a lot of people don't consider it one of the Big Four American sports. I can name a few of its biggest stars. I can tell you which teams are supposed to be good and which ones aren't. But outside of that, my hockey knowledge is pretty scarce.
Instead I'm getting hooked into the NBA and the MLB. What is the difference between these two leagues and the NHL? Marketing strategies. Think about it: How many times have you seen the puppet Kobe/LeBron commercial? How about the Shaq Scrabble commercial? Who can say they haven't seen a commercial with Derek Jeter?
When was the last time you saw a national advertising campaign with Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin portrayed by an inanimite object? Outside of the local Rahmani commercials, have you ever seen Pavel Datsyuk on a commercial? Evgeni Malkin? Ricky Nash? Ilya Kovalchuk? Teemu Selanne? Joe Thornton?
Have you ever even heard of these guys?
I'm sure if you asked casual sports fans to name the five best players in the NBA, they could give you a pretty reasonable list. Same for the NFL and, to a lesser extent, MLB. And a lot of them could even name the team they play for. But not the NHL.
The key to the NHL's success is the marketability of its biggest stars.
But here's where the NHL runs into a catch-22: In order to get these stars to shine a bit brighter in the night sky that is the sports landscape they must get a national TV deal. But in order to get a big TV deal, the stars need to be marketed more.
In other words, the NHL is going to have to take a short-term financial loss in order to orchestrate a advertising campaign to get these players exposed. The results may not be immediate, but if people know the players – especially the big ones – they are more likely to tune into the games. Even casual sports fans that I know tuned into the NBA playoffs this year because of the exposure that Kobe and LeBron received, and that was evident from the high ratings that they have raked in.
And when people start tuning into the NHL – after they find the Versus network – they will finally get a stable, big-time national deal.
Maybe then more people will enjoy two playoff seasons instead of just the one each spring.
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