The Trade-Off: Why the NHL should get off TV and put games online for free
Filed under: Technology, Columns, Media
The National Hockey League has just started another season -- and just missed a chance to take a bold step to win a new generation of fans. The NHL should put all games online for free, supported by ads.The NHL's TV ratings are the worst among major sports. Ratings in 2008–2009 were down compared to the mid-1990s. Regular-season games on nationwide network TV were getting a 1.0 rating -- half the audience that watched NHL games on network TV in 1995–96.
Consumers are willing to give up convenience for great fidelity, or ditch fidelity for great convenience. But anything that offers just so-so fidelity and so-so convenience falls into a no-man's-land of consumer apathy. And this is the NHL's problem. To most U.S. viewers, NHL games are not a high-fidelity TV sport. The puck is too small to be easily seen. The action and speed are difficult to capture on TV. On the convenience side, most NHL games air in the U.S. on obscure cable channels, so games can be hard to find. All in all, the NHL on TV, compared to other major sports, is not great in fidelity or convenience -- a bad situation for the league.
To implement a winning strategy as a mass-market TV sport, the NHL would have to boost either its fidelity or convenience relative to other TV sports. But it would be tough to beat the NFL on fidelity, and hard to get a lot more convenient unless prime-time network TV starts regularly carrying hockey games -- highly unlikely in the U.S. market.
But here's the ray of light: A study done for the NHL by Experian Consumer Research found that of all the major team sports leagues, NHL fans are younger, more tech-savvy, shop online more, and are 27 percent more likely to own a video game than fans of other leagues. In short, the NHL fan-base skews young and is comfortable with technology.
One conclusion: A large chunk of NHL fans would welcome being able to see their favorite teams on a laptop screen if they can't see those games on TV. The NHL does offer live games via the Web, but it's a premium service that costs $159 a year -- and the price kills the convenience for all but the wealthiest and most devoted fans.
Last year, I interviewed Ted Leonsis at a telecommunications industry event. Leonsis, who helped build AOL in the 1990s, owns the Washington Capitals NHL team. I asked him about the NHL's decades-long struggle to get even lukewarm TV ratings. What would he do about it, if he could start from scratch?
Without hesitation, he said he'd move the league to the Web, in a huge way. He'd put every game online -- live, supported by advertising, and free to viewers. Web sites like Hulu are finally bringing high-quality programming to computer and TV screens via the Internet. It seems like an opportune time for the NHL to take a daring leap into a new medium, and making the NHL the premier sports league of the digital generation.
Leonsis's idea doesn't just sound provocative -- it sounds right. Swinging the live broadcast of games to the Internet for free would give hardcore hockey fans a high-convenience way to watch their teams and feel more connected to the sport.
More interesting is the opportunity to win a broader sports audience through the Web. None of the major professional or college sports leagues regularly offer live games for free on the Web. If the NHL were to go to Web broadcasts of games in a big way, the NHL could grab the high-fidelity sports position on the Web.
The other major sports – football, baseball, basketball, car racing, golf – make too much money on TV to give it up and go to the Web. But the NHL is in a uniquely bad position on TV, which could make it easier to flip over to the Web and become the high-fidelity league associated with the digital generation – much as the NFL became the high-fidelity league for the TV generation.
Kevin Maney is the author of Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don't (Broadway Books, 2009).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-08-2009 @ 7:37PM
ZETA6080 said...
IT MAKES TO MUCH SENCE. THEREFORE IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN
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10-08-2009 @ 7:44PM
Mike said...
Yep too much sense. Wow a chance to drive past the other sports and they won't bother.
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10-09-2009 @ 10:53PM
Bill said...
Great idea having NHL hockey online. And with 3D coming soon,it will be a crowd pleaser seeing the puck fly through the air. I grew up in hockey rinks in Canada and I rarely
saw the fast-moving puck right in front of me. I even missed
seeing the puck one night when I was a goal judge (I blinked). Now that I'm retired in Florida, I'd love to see
hockey online particularly wit instant replay in slow motion and 3D on a large flat screen. It would bring the game alive .
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10-08-2009 @ 8:17PM
jabberwockygc said...
Its funny seeing this as just last night I was online cussing at the NHL's website for wanting so much for their online service. I'm sure some can afford paying nearly $200 a year to watch hockey online, but I'm certainly not one of them. Especially when apparently blackouts apply to certain games.
Sadly the NHL has been rather "free streaming hockey" unfriendly, sending cease and desist orders to various websites offering such a service. All while being unwilling to offer a free alternative themselves.
They can get a much bigger fan base, new fans. Fans that wouldn't have or couldn't have given hockey a try if it wasn't for the internet. Especially in the states. In this internet is the media king world, they just need to play the right hand. And right now, the NHL isn't even using the right deck.
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10-08-2009 @ 8:43PM
Kevin Maney said...
I'm with you, J. I'd love to see the Caps games on my laptop when I'm traveling (as I so often am). But for $159? Nah.
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10-08-2009 @ 8:47PM
doug said...
Not a good idea. Many hockey fans are in a rural area, like I am. We have dial up internet without DSL. Therefore we cannot watch hockey on our computers.
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10-08-2009 @ 9:28PM
mintrubble71 said...
Considering that I can no longer get Versus as a DirectTV customer (yet another reason to hate Comcast other than the sh*tty cable service that inspired me to get a dish in the first place) this would be great. I'm not holding my breath though.
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10-10-2009 @ 1:24AM
Troy said...
the nhl is the most interesting sport to watch no one gives it a chance. yes games should be on for free because i want to see MORE i wont gather around the computer with my family to see my favorite team. they should put free games online to give more people appreciation for the game then the ratings will go up on the tv
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10-08-2009 @ 10:04PM
ebreit19 said...
That would be a great opportunity to introduce NHL to a far greater and wider audience. One can see many collectible $$ down the road for folks (if that's what they really care about). But, yes, the idea is at least worth testing.
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10-08-2009 @ 10:37PM
Annee said...
My husband is a big hockey fan, but I doubt he would be interested in watching on the computer. The poor viewership probably relates more to AVAILABILITY rather than lack of interest. Recently our satellite provider dropped the channel that was showing the RedWings because COMCAST who does the filming, is getting greedy and overcharging.
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10-09-2009 @ 1:07AM
gmc said...
I did a research of Experian pollsters and found that they are mostly male, young, tech savy, and from the East coast and Canada.
Being in California locked into a only one cable system in my city as there is no alternative I do get Versus however it is not offered in HD, but I believe Versus does broadcast in HD. If I am incorrect let me know before i blast my cable provider. i
Contrary to the article you can see the puck in HD better as I get the NHL HD channel but there are only a few games there and in regular it is not that bad and it does help if there are good camera men who follow the action (puck is there too).
Overall I got away from watching sports on small screens 25 years ago. No go to a labtop unless I am away from TV.
Now If could adapt the online broadcast with the same fidelity to my 40" Sony HD I might be interested .
gmc
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10-09-2009 @ 2:27AM
Rick39 said...
Do people really watch hockey on TV? My 2 young grand sons ask me why the refs let and watch the hockey players fight?
I said it's like the wrestling matches you see onTV.
It's all in fun.
Nobody takes hockey seriously
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10-09-2009 @ 9:21AM
todd said...
Wrong, you are so clueless, explain to your kids and grand kids why felons are ok to play in the NFL.
10-09-2009 @ 2:50AM
jabberwockygc said...
Rick39;
I am going to assume your not in one of the hockey pockets in the states but you are wrong, people do take hockey very very seriously. Canada as a whole, large parts of Europe, and yes even people in the states. You and your kin might not but your not everybody.
I could say that nobody takes nascar seriously because they only know how to turn the wheel one way. A nascar fan isn't going to like that, are they?
As for the fight thing, there is an unwritten code of etiquette among hockey players.
Look it up here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_in_ice_hockey#Etiquette
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10-09-2009 @ 5:35AM
todd said...
This whole post has a ton of flaws. And was done by someone who does not watch the NHL, but makes a general opinion and uses numbers that are floated. Im an American fan, have no problems following the speed and puck. And the NHL in HD is amazing. Hockey is not shoved down our throats like football. There are no steroids, no gambling refs shaving points, and the majority of the players do not have criminal records. If you don't like Hockey then shut up and don't bad mouth it. Just be a lemming and listen to the morons at ESPN overkill football.
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10-09-2009 @ 7:18AM
DR said...
Are you kidding me!!! This is a stupid idea! I like my laptop but when I watch MY Red Wings play I want it in hi-def and on my 40 plus inch big screen so I can yell and scream at the refs! The only reason the NHL wants so much money for everything is because it has a GREEDY NO GOOD SON OF A BITCH named BETTMAN in charge!
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10-09-2009 @ 7:36AM
Keith said...
Put the games on cell phones. That way you can watch while driving or at work.
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10-09-2009 @ 8:30AM
Fish said...
actually, I'ld like that a lot. See, I live in Europe in a country where 500 people know what ice hockey is. Everybody else has got their heads wrapped around football (soccer for you americans) I get the occasional game on tv at 3 in the morning on a channel I have to pay10€ for. (espn america or somesuch) so watching a full game by worldwideweb on a computer would be GREAT. And yes, I can follow the game and the puck on a small screen, must be the adhd talking...
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10-09-2009 @ 8:36AM
Kevin Maney said...
For what it's worth, I grew up in hockey-crazy Upstate New York and have played the game all my life. I'm a huge fan and watch NHL games all the time. I'd like nothing better than to see the league succeed with a broader audience.
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10-09-2009 @ 8:57AM
Bob said...
And trade the obscene profits of the cable comglomerates for the obscene profits of the internet providers.
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