The National Hockey League, including teams from both the United States and Canada, recently cancelled the first two weeks of their regular season games. This occurred because players and owners could not agree on adequate salaries. Many of these players, including stars such as Claude Giroux and Danny Briere, have decided to take their talent elsewhere for the season. Over 100 players have already joined other leagues in Europe, and they show no sign of stopping. If this continues, the National Hockey League is in serious jeopardy of losing its talent, along with its income. The 3.3 billion dollars of money that the HHL grossed last year will essentially be given to leagues around Europe. Fans in the United States and Canada will lose their favorite players, and thus lose interest in the game. The transfer of these American and Canadian players is not only devastating to the sport, but also to to television stations and merchandise in North America. If the NHL lockout does not end soon, we will not only lose players to Europe, but also money and popularity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/sports/hockey/nhl-cancels-first-two-weeks-of-season.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1349397832-NlMP2xloRSR3kiYpXspuWA
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I almost completely agree with you about this NHL lockout. Lockouts can be very upsetting for fans, especially when the sport being locked out is one of americas favorite sports: hockey. I do believe that this lockout will cause a loss of income for this year, and it will also cause the US to lose many great players, but i do not agree that the NHL will lose popularity. I believe that if any sport season is locked out, it is very upsetting, but i believe that it can even help its popularity. If this years season becomes completely lockout, it will cause next years season to be even more anticipated and even more people will be excited for the new season after almost 2 years of no hockey season. I agree that it is much better if there is no lockout at all, but it is not the worst thing that could happen, although to die hard fans it may seem that way.
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ReplyDeleteAfter 113 days, the lockout is over, and we now turn to the future of hockey. Many factors of this lockout are signaling a drop in hockey's popularity. First of all, with only half of the games of the regular season to be played, already much popularity and revenue to increase it is non-existent. I agree that this lockout was a terrible thing that should have been avioded, and I also agree that we should be worried about players coming back, which is my second point. Without some of the star players who move their popularity to the other league that they play in, the NHL will suffer. If enough leave, they won't have enough legitimate professional hockey players. Another important factor to consider is the fans whose "frustration is at an all time high". They are the most important part of hockey. They are the ones who raise money in the first place for the game. The fans are not the ones most negativly affected by this, but they are the ones who regulate how much the buisnesses involved make. According to this article, many fans were so upset by the "Billionares fighting millionares over a game," that they vowed to not watch any hockey for a specified number of games, and not purchase any apparel of any kind. In fact, more than 21,000 people pledged not to watch any games or spend any money on NHL merchandise for the first 10 games of the year in a campaign called "Just Drop It". also with the hockey players leaving, more fans will also leave. Less fans = less money for buisnesses involved = less popularity and ultimatly money going into the game.
ReplyDeletehttp://theweek.com/article/index/238435/the-nhl-lockout-ends-mdash-but-will-fans-come-back