I think the Vintage Oilers and Habs game is a great idea to help promote the sport. It would be wild to host a little tournament with all the "Championship" teams. Imagine a game between the Flyers of the 70's and the Isles of the 80's. See greats like Clarkie, Leach, Barber, Parent, Schultz against Nystrom Bossy Trottier Gillies Smith. Wow.
It would be a great idea, but the rule of thumb has to be no active NHL'ers. Hell i'd pay to watch an outdoor game between these two clubs.
What do you guys think?
Why isn't the game on tv here in the US? I would like to see that game. :mad:
dont even get me started on this. me and some friends, have been talking about this. This is a perfect example on how the NHL and ESPN refuse too or do not know how to market the game. it is pretty sad really.
But anyway ESPN is too busy showing those meaningfull NBA games every night of the week.
lets all hope its on classic shortly after.
im still looking for someone that has nhl center ice so i can get a tape of both the games just in case. those morons at ESPN dont do anything with it.
dont even get me started on this. me and some friends, have been talking about this. This is a perfect example on how the NHL and ESPN refuse too or do not know how to market the game. it is pretty sad really.
But anyway ESPN is too busy showing those meaningfull NBA games every night of the week.
lets all hope its on classic shortly after.
im still looking for someone that has nhl center ice so i can get a tape of both the games just in case. those morons at ESPN dont do anything with it.
I am very anti-ESPN, but the NHL is at fault. Maybe they should have waited 3 weeks when they dont have any college football to compete with. ESPN has a contract that they can't get out of to show the game.
Then again, the chances of ESPN showing two Canadian teams are not good.
Very good point about the timing GKJ -- the NHL missed a golden opportunity to market the game in the US. If it were promoted well, non-hockey fans may have tuned in to see at least part of the game.
We had a houseful watching, and it was such a treat to see Lafleur and Gretzky back on the ice. You could tell the players were having a blast!
The only lame thing about the whole thing was Gretzky's daughter singing before the game -- not the anthem (which would have been okay), but just a song. She's not bad, but there's no way in hell that she would have been there if her last name wasn't Gretzky.
dont even get me started on this. me and some friends, have been talking about this. This is a perfect example on how the NHL and ESPN refuse too or do not know how to market the game. it is pretty sad really.
But anyway ESPN is too busy showing those meaningfull NBA games every night of the week.
I don't particularly like ESPN, but c'mon. This game is utterly meaningless to anyone other than genuine hockey fans, and I mean HOCKEY fans, not Flyer fans, Ranger fans, or Wings fans. If you don't care about hockey and its traditions, you're not tuning to this game, and someone who doesn't care isn't going to say, "Wow! Two teams who USED to have dynasties but are now average! That's what I call 'Must-See-TV!' I think I'll watch some hockey for the first time in five years!"
The Stanley Cup playoffs can't pull in any ratings for pity's sake. If ESPN can grab a couple of percentage points by putting on basketball, they should. They;re hardly obligated to pander to a handful of hockey fans in every market, and if meaningless basketball games can draw higher ratings than a hockey game, shame on the NHL not on ESPN.
The fault is the league's. When bowling out-rates the product you once dubbed "the fastest game on ice", there's something seriously wrong with that product. If the sport was better people would watch no matter who played and no matter where, which is exactly where LaFleur was going with his pre-game comments.
I don't particularly like ESPN, but c'mon. This game is utterly meaningless to anyone other than genuine hockey fans, and I mean HOCKEY fans, not Flyer fans, Ranger fans, or Wings fans. If you don't care about hockey and its traditions, you're not tuning to this game, and someone who doesn't care isn't going to say, "Wow! Two teams who USED to have dynasties but are now average! That's what I call 'Must-See-TV!' I think I'll watch some hockey for the first time in five years!"
The Stanley Cup playoffs can't pull in any ratings for pity's sake. If ESPN can grab a couple of percentage points by putting on basketball, they should. They;re hardly obligated to pander to a handful of hockey fans in every market, and if meaningless basketball games can draw higher ratings than a hockey game, shame on the NHL not on ESPN.
The fault is the league's. When bowling out-rates the product you once dubbed "the fastest game on ice", there's something seriously wrong with that product. If the sport was better people would watch no matter who played and no matter where, which is exactly where LaFleur was going with his pre-game comments.
ESPN couldnt put the NBA away for one freaking night? please. I dont care what anyone says the todays NBA game sucks. teams cant even break 90 or 100, and its not uncommon to see games in the 70's on both sides, and they call it great defense. please, guys cant shoot, cant make free throws and are selfish beyond belief.
Now back to what i was talking about before.
We all know the game struggles in ratings that is not new news. BUT i beleive that game would be a great way to get the game marketed, the only thing the NBA game does well is way it is marketed by the league and the networks, that tool Gary Bettman has just never figured that out. Yeah there are other issues, as to increase scoring ect.
BUT i believe there are special occasions like that game that the league could use as a marketing tool.
I hope i am not in the minority in this
With all the talk of an outdoor game, wouldn't it have been awesome, for the last game ever, at the VET, to be an outdoor FLYERS game!
They could have held it in Jan or Feb. It would have been plenty cold enough. Imagine 60,000+, to see a Rangers vs. FLYERS game, outdoors at the VET! The old hellhole would have been rocking, one last time.....
ESPN couldnt put the NBA away for one freaking night? please. I dont care what anyone says the todays NBA game sucks. teams cant even break 90 or 100, and its not uncommon to see games in the 70's on both sides, and they call it great defense. please, guys cant shoot, cant make free throws and are selfish beyond belief.
Which is all beside the point. No matter how ungodly awful NBA basketball is, it still outdraws the NHL. Why should ESPN put away the NBA for one night? Why should they voluntarily lose viewers? Do they owe something to the National Hockey League that they should hurt their own business?
Basically you want an act of complete charity from ESPN, and if they don't offer something entirely out of charity, you're pissed with them.
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i beleive that game would be a great way to get the game marketed ....i believe there are special occasions like that game that the league could use as a marketing tool.
This is what I was trying to explain before. YOU see that game as a special occasion because you're a hockey fan. People who aren't hockey fans don't see that game as anything special. Why should they? They don't know a single person on the Oilers or Habs roster. Thye have little sense of the history of those teams. They have no idea how good or bad those teams are now, nor do they care.
The only reason a non-hockey fan would tune in to that game was because 57,000 people were watching it in an outdoor stadium. Who in his right mind would watch anything solely because a bunch of other people were?
The only time non-hockey fans watch hockey is if something large is at stake like national pride. A game like that played last week is nothing more than an exhibition match with a gimmick attached.
dont even get me started on this. me and some friends, have been talking about this. This is a perfect example on how the NHL and ESPN refuse too or do not know how to market the game. it is pretty sad really.
But anyway ESPN is too busy showing those meaningfull NBA games every night of the week.
lets all hope its on classic shortly after.
im still looking for someone that has nhl center ice so i can get a tape of both the games just in case. those morons at ESPN dont do anything with it.
I hate that .. aweful ... I wish they would show more hockey.
