July 28, 2004
HDTV to the Rescue
Despite being considered one of the top four major sports, professional hockey has always lagged behind both golf and NASCAR in national popularity. Television ratings, which weren’t very high to begin with, have plummeted to the point where the NHL was recently forced to renew its contract with ESPN at half the price of the previous TV deal.
Many folks subscribe to the belief that pro hockey will greatly benefit from the introduction of high-definition television. Detroit-based audio-video consultant Ken Holsgrove, for one, is almost certain that the crystal clear picture and stereo surround sound offered by HDTV will entice more viewers to watch the game:
"If you can make the experience more like that [of attending a game], it has to help hockey," Holsgrove said. "What I've found is when people get an HDTV set, they watch events they ordinarily wouldn't watch and get interested in them.
"To me, the Westminster dog show was like that," he said. "You could see every little detail in every dog, and you found yourself rooting, "C'mon, Fido!" Once more people have access to it [HDTV], it could help hockey's popularity."
Hockey’s desperate attempt to establish itself as a big player on the American sports scene is truly becoming an obsessive crusade. Binghamton Senators radio broadcaster Grady Whittenburg thinks folks that are counting on HDTV to spur the game’s popularity are a bit misguided:
To get people hooked on hockey, number one, you have to have a better product. It can’t be as watered down as it is. But number two, you have to find a way to get people into the buildings, whether that’s to see a UHL game in Rockford, Illinois, or Elmira, New York or to an NHL game, you need to get them in that way.
The NHL is kind of looking at HDTV as its savior. It may be (the league’s) last chance to try to gain fans through that modem. Until they get that, hockey just isn’t friendly on a TV basis. The interest needs to be generated by people going to the games. Interest on TV is a passing interest.”
I’ve always thought that one of the primary reasons auto racing is so popular is because NASCAR does a brilliant job of marketing its stars. You’d think the NHL would take a page from a winning playbook and use a guy like Jarome Iginla as its poster boy. But like Whittenburg, USC professor David Carter doesn’t think marketing likable players is the answer to the league’s problems:
”The NHL’s primary marketing goal ought to be to drive potential fans to the rinks,” Carter said in an e-mail exchange. “NHL hockey is addictive when viewed in person—and leaves a lot to be desired when viewed on television. Consequently, hockey needs to have casual fans and potential fans show up; once they do, they will thoroughly enjoy the sport, provided it is well-priced and packaged.”
”I would venture to say that marketing Iginla would be useful, but the sport has other fundamental concerns. After all, if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? If an awesome athlete is positioned as a great and likeable star but no one watches him play, is he really a superstar?”
Doesn't sound very fundamental to me, Doc.
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What these people, who don't think HDTV is going to help the NHL, don't get is that watching hockey in HD is more like watching at the rink then watching it in SD. That's what makes HD such a huge step for gaining viewers at home in the US. The in arena product is great to watch but regular television doesn't capture that. HD does capture it.
Anyone who doesn't think the NHL will benefit enormously from HD broadcasts has never seen hockey in HD.
Posted by:
at July 29, 2004 10:27 AM
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11:30 PM