With the Winter Olympics neatly packed away into a box and thrown into the basement to be opened again in four years, it’s time for hockey fans to turn their attention back to the NHL. The first big events on the docket: an outdoor game between the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins in Soldier Field, followed by an “outdoor” game in BC Place between the Vancouver Canucks and the Ottawa Senators.
Am I the only one that seems a little bit unenthused about it all? Especially considering the high level of international hockey we all just witnessed, including a dominant puck-possession performance for the ages by Team Canada, watching these outdoor games is going to feel like watching a mud bog.
Look, let me be clear, I’ve been a staunch supporter of the NHL’s Stadium Series since the start. I felt that the spectacle of it all would be great for the league, and certainly for the NHL’s bank account this has been true. The Stadium Series is nothing short of a cash cow. Yet now, the folly of six outdoor games, especially in an Olympic year, has become abundantly clear: even those enamored with the idea have become weary.
All of which got me naturally thinking about ways that the NHL could improve upon this concept. Let’s face it, the NHL’s lust for outdoor games and the revenue they generate isn’t going anywhere, but is there a way to get the casual fan’s excitement back up?
Well, less games is, of course, number one with a bullet. Oversaturation is never a good marketing strategy. Even people in the 1930’s would get bored of looking at King Kong every day. There simply has to be more of a sense of anticipation with these games, which is hard to build up with two games in one week.
Secondly, we simply must start to see some variation in the teams. I understand that the NHL wants those big market clubs like New York, Pittsburgh, and Chicago just so they can get more eyes tuning in, but even Sidney Crosby versus Jonathan Toews, as we’ll see on Saturday, gets boring after a while. Giving teams like St. Louis or Colorado a chance would not only be interesting for the hardcore NHL fan, but also gives the casual fanbase in those markets, and therefore the league as a whole, a huge boost overall.
However, with the Olympics so close to these outdoor games, a different concept has been bandied about, and stick with me on this one because it’s a bit outside of the box: how about an outdoor game in Europe every season?
The NHL has been going to Europe for exhibition and regular season games pretty frequently, most recently in 2011 when the New York Rangers, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings and Buffalo Sabres played a series of games in a multitude of European countries. To be fair, it was pretty hit or miss in the attendance department and the NHL will need to do some serious market research if they want to get the idea off the ground, but I don’t see why it couldn’t be viable.
The 2010 IIHF World Championships saw an outdoor game between Germany and the USA in Gelsenkirchen, Germany with an attendance of 77 803, the third highest crowd ever for a hockey game. Never mind that the home side was able to take down the Americans 2-1, the event was undoubtedly a success.
The SM-liiga in Finland held it’s own Winter Classic in 2011 in Helsinki between Jokerit and HIFK with attendance numbers very similar to what we saw in the 2010 NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park in Boston. So why couldn’t a similar game between two NHL teams work there or in a different European market?
Think of it: the Vancouver Canucks versus the Detroit Red Wings, outdoors in Sweden. A game featuring the likes of national heroes Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Alex Edler, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen and Daniel Alfredsson would be a massive draw. Consider also if the Bruins were to play the New Jersey Devils in the Czech Republic. Jaromir Jagr versus David Krejci would put some fans in the seats as well.
Alex Ovechkin‘s Captials versus Evgeni Malkin‘s Penguins in Red Square, Moscow? Yes please.
If the recent NHL lockout and the Sochi Olympics has taught us anything about European hockey, it’s that fans over there are rabid to see their national heroes. If the NHL were wise, they would exploit that for all it’s worth.
Also, it’s not as though the NHL is going to be losing money in this whole affair. They may not take the whole pot of ticket sales, but they’re still getting the merchandise revenue, they’re still getting the advertising, they’re still getting the television money. Plus they’re getting the opportunity to open up the game to a whole host of European sponsors as well.
The concept is not without flaws though. Certainly, as mentioned before, the NHL would have to do it’s due diligence in finding the right market, and attendance issues are a very real concern that could sink the whole thing. But the concept on it’s own, without all those logistics thrown in, is just so captivating that I really hope the NHL catches a sniff of this idea. It would certainly intrigue the casual hockey fan on both sides of the Atlantic.
So, moving forward, here’s the balance I think the NHL could find per season that would keep the entire outdoor game concept viable: one Winter Classic featuring big market teams, one Stadium Classic featuring smaller market teams, one European Classic with whichever teams suit the European market best, and one Heritage Classic in Canada, which will always be a bastion of success.
With the Olympics, the recent NHL Premiere Series and the potential for the World Cup or even a Champions League on the horizon, it seems abundantly clear that the NHL and European hockey have never been closer. The NHL and it’s mandate to make as much money as possible would do well to exploit this for all it’s worth while keeping the outdoor games from getting stale, and an outdoor game featuring NHL teams in Europe might just be killing two birds with one stone.
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