Winter Classic Thoughts
Posted 3:17 PM ET | Comments 0
After the disappointing last day failure against the flyers. As a Rangers fan I need to find some sort of hope for a better season. So I turned to two things, the draft lottery and a potential Winter Classic appearance. For a while it looked as if things might turn our way. We got a top 10-pick draft pick. The Capitols and Pittsburgh were knocked out early and the playoffs have completely turned upside down, well at least in the east. About two weeks ago an article was published about the possible Winter Classic at Citi Field (http://www.blueshirtbante...2011-winter-classic-to-be). Needless to say I felt that finally the NHL realized that New York can host the classic and a non-Pittsburgh team doesn’t have to play in it. Maybe its because I’m a Rangers fan but I don’t think Pittsburgh should be allowed a second Winter Classic Appearance in four years.
I know that they have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. What a dream it would be for the NHL to put the Crosby-Ovechkin Rivalry on center stage. Really? I do love a good rivalry but this is too much. The NHL has tried to manufacture this “rivalry” for a while now and it’s coming to its final stage. Both players claim there is no rivalry and just because they’re the two best players doesn’t mean they have to hate each other. It was a nice try for the NHL marketing guru’s but I think its over. NHL marketing has always been subpar at best. So its no wonder they’re hanging on to this till its over. Since the Winter Classic slumped in ratings without (a) and I mean one major star player. It’s become apparent that the Winter Classic will be held in Pittsburgh. http://kdka.com/sports/pe...er.Classic.2.1699370.html. Looking at this I hope its not true. The concern about ratings heavily impacts the idea for this event. I’m not even going to get into NBC’s problems. Ratings for last years Winter Classic were down 10.3 percent to the previous classic game. Looking at the ratings by location Boston did very well with a 14.4/29 in market ratings (Which beat out their game 7 playoff game verse the hurricanes) while Philadelphia was only 6.0/11 in market (Lepore). So the winter classic didn’t go well in one city and overall ratings slumped a little bit from 2.9 to 2.6 (Lepore).
I would like to make a case for the Rangers. I wont try and hide the fact that The New York Rangers ratings were down. Last year they were at 1.03 and this year they finished with 0.83. However the Rangers had 67 thousand households watching (fourth on the list, no Canadian teams ratings available) (Lepore). Which is better than the Capitals, Flyers, Bruins and Devils. So why can’t we get the Winter Classic? There are very few cities that can compare to the New York City stage. Even though our ratings were down the rest of the 1.03 that didn’t tune in will definitely watch. Hey NHL, why don’t you market one of the best goal scorers against one of the best goalies? Or try the super pest that is Sean Avery vs. pretty much anyone. Both the Rangers and Capitals or not hard to market. So get off Pittsburgh and expand the cities that you cater to.
Works Cited
Lepore, Steve. Puck The Media . 4 January 2010. 18 May 2010 <http://puckthemedia.wordpress.com >.
I know that they have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. What a dream it would be for the NHL to put the Crosby-Ovechkin Rivalry on center stage. Really? I do love a good rivalry but this is too much. The NHL has tried to manufacture this “rivalry” for a while now and it’s coming to its final stage. Both players claim there is no rivalry and just because they’re the two best players doesn’t mean they have to hate each other. It was a nice try for the NHL marketing guru’s but I think its over. NHL marketing has always been subpar at best. So its no wonder they’re hanging on to this till its over. Since the Winter Classic slumped in ratings without (a) and I mean one major star player. It’s become apparent that the Winter Classic will be held in Pittsburgh. http://kdka.com/sports/pe...er.Classic.2.1699370.html. Looking at this I hope its not true. The concern about ratings heavily impacts the idea for this event. I’m not even going to get into NBC’s problems. Ratings for last years Winter Classic were down 10.3 percent to the previous classic game. Looking at the ratings by location Boston did very well with a 14.4/29 in market ratings (Which beat out their game 7 playoff game verse the hurricanes) while Philadelphia was only 6.0/11 in market (Lepore). So the winter classic didn’t go well in one city and overall ratings slumped a little bit from 2.9 to 2.6 (Lepore).
I would like to make a case for the Rangers. I wont try and hide the fact that The New York Rangers ratings were down. Last year they were at 1.03 and this year they finished with 0.83. However the Rangers had 67 thousand households watching (fourth on the list, no Canadian teams ratings available) (Lepore). Which is better than the Capitals, Flyers, Bruins and Devils. So why can’t we get the Winter Classic? There are very few cities that can compare to the New York City stage. Even though our ratings were down the rest of the 1.03 that didn’t tune in will definitely watch. Hey NHL, why don’t you market one of the best goal scorers against one of the best goalies? Or try the super pest that is Sean Avery vs. pretty much anyone. Both the Rangers and Capitals or not hard to market. So get off Pittsburgh and expand the cities that you cater to.
Works Cited
Lepore, Steve. Puck The Media . 4 January 2010. 18 May 2010 <http://puckthemedia.wordpress.com >.