Keep it up!

Thank you so much NBA for having two greedy sides on the negotiating table.  The first two weeks of the regular season has been cancelled.  With that, now is the time for the NHL to step up to the plate.  Note the references to three of the four major sports within one paragraph, it just kind of happened.  Touchdown!  There.

The NHL needs to take advantage of the NBA dealing with this lockout.  For the longest time, hockey has been seen as the fourth of the major sports.  Looking at the ratings for the sports, hockey does come in last and the major part of that is the television contracts that they have.  The NHL has a contract with NBC and Versus.  With NBC, you see the games at the end of the season and into the playoffs, which is cool but if you don't have Versus you're sunk.  And I suppose if you live close enough to Canada, you get to see the games on the CBC and CTV. 

So what can the NHL do to help boost their numbers?  Talk with NBC and get as much exposure as possible.  They have taken steps in the right direction with the 'Winter Classic' and I know that all the games cannot be played outside, but they need to showcase the great teams.  They need to stop showing Washington Capital games.  They aren't that good.  They need to delve deep into talented teams and get them in the national spotlight.  Take Tampa Bay for example.  They have young hungry players that are talented beyond belief.  I would watch them play.  They make the game look fun and energetic. 

They need to get rivalry games like Detroit/Chicago.  Buffalo/New York (Rangers).  Boston/Philadelphia.  Games that are intense from the first drop of the puck to the last drop of the gloves.  I know that NBC loves Pittsburgh and Washington because of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, but you can only watch those games so many times because they focus just on those two players and the game is more than that. 

All I know is that the NHL cannot sit idly by while the NBA bickers over billions of dollars.  They need to see into the future and show the world that there is more to the sports world than football and basketball during the winter time.  They need to smell the blood on the ice and hook the disenfranchised basketball fan base. 





Do you hear me Gary Bettman?  Get off your ass and do what's best for the sport that hates you.