Twenty-six million Americans tuned in to see Sidney Crosby score an overtime goal that clinched the gold medal for Team Canada over Team USA. The buzz over the game was everywhere, from Twitter trends hyping up Ryan Miller to David Letterman making jokes about hockey. Even Sports Illustrated — a publication long known for generally ignoring hockey except when the Stanley Cup is awarded — put Sidney Crosby on its cover.
That's right; for one perhaps-brief moment, hockey was the most popular sport in the United States. Of course, back in 2002, Team Canada and Team USA played for the gold medal to strong ratings and some buzz, and there wasn't much sustained momentum for the NHL to tap into. So can this be different?
Yes. And no. In some ways, technology has advanced the way we communicate, research, and socialize, and all of that has made it easier to grab on to new trends. And when your new hot trends are Sidney Crosby and Ryan Miller, then that's only going to benefit hockey as a whole. General awareness of those guys, along with Zach Parise to a lesser extent, is through the roof. One mainstream commentator even mused that the instant Crosby put the puck in net, he became the most talked-about person in North America. That's quite a feat for a hockey player.
It helps that the actual game was competitive, fast-paced, and hard hitting — much different, in fact, from the 2002 game, which saw the Americans open the scoring before Team Canada took over. For much of that game, the Canadians pushed the Americans to the outside and you never really got a sense that Team USA could come back. In the 2010 version, the Americans not only pushed back, they fought hard to battle the more-talented Team Canada squad to the brink. It was exciting and ferocious — exactly the type of tilt that's needed to sell hockey.
And of course, it was broadcast in brilliantly-clear HD. Think about how many people actually had HD back in 2002 compared to now. Also, consider the difference HD makes for the casual sports fan in following hockey. When you add that to the pace of the 2010 gold medal game, it's bound to leave an impression on the Joe Football in the Mid-West.
The flip side to all of this is that today's audiences are more fickle than ever, with short-term memories and shorter attention spans. While more people may know who Sidney Crosby is, will they tune in? Early post-Olympic Versus ratings show some bump, but the true test will be the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It's difficult to sustain the level of momentum the NHL experienced from the Vancouver games. Just about everything went right (minus the Team Russia implosion, but that's a story for another time) to create the ultimate marketing situation. More people were exposed to hockey at its best, and it was presented with the latest technology that could showcase the both the sport (HD) and the stories (online coverage through Twitter, blogs, and video).
The NHL may not see a tangible bump in terms of TV ratings over the long term, and some will pencil that as a disappointment. However, the difference is that the Olympics created awareness, not just for the sport but for the ever-marketable brand of Sidney Crosby. With awareness comes potential, and if the casual sports fan can come to know who Crosby is, then maybe a strong playoff run from Alexander Ovechkin can stir the same thing. Maybe a thrilling seven-game Stanley Cup final will capture the eyeballs of some of those sports fans, and perhaps that can build. No single event can generate instant long-term fans, but it can create a foundation.
The future, then, is a combination of luck and smart marketing. A boring Cup final with smaller-market teams won't necessarily hurt the league, but it may not get the most out of that new potential. If, say, the Washington Capitals make it to the Cup final against a high-profile team like the Chicago Blackhawks, there's a good chance the league can sustain some of its momentum from Vancouver.
There are no guarantees, but these Olympics have shown us that hockey can be a major player in the American sports landscape. Now it's just up to the league, teams, and players to realize that potential.
Leave a Comment