I wrote the following letter to Gary Bettman, current commissioner of the National Hockey League. If you couldn’t care less about hockey, or sports in general, stop reading and move along:
Dear Mr. Bettman,
Tonight I paid CAN $75 to watch the Vancouver Canucks and the Minnesota Wild skate to a listless 1-1 tie. With the brief exception of overtime, it was a tepid, lifeless affair with few rushes and little hitting. Is this your vision of hockey in the 21st century?
I know I’m fortunate to live in Vancouver, where the Canucks management provide a comparatively entertaining product. Every time the Canucks play a team like the Wild, I count my blessings that I’m not a resident of St. Paul. Unfortunately, more and more games around the league look like tonight’s.
I have heard your marketing spin, Mr. Bettman, on the reduced scoring, hitting and attendance. Sure, most hockey games these days are one-goal affairs–but 1-0 or 2-1 doesn’t cut it, does it? Especially when both teams play a smothering defensive style which results in little speed and fewer scoring opportunities. I’m old enough to remember a time when the NHL was faster, more open and when far more goals were scored. I can tell you unequivocally which style was more entertaining.
For the first time, I became a partial seasons ticket holder for the Canucks this season. Why, if most of the games are turgid wrestling matches, would I repurchase my tickets next year?
The NHL and its teams are a product. You’re providing a lousy product, so your customers are staying away. You need to improve your product, or you risk further alienating your fan base.
Here’s something you said in 1998:
“It may well be that we’ve gotten to the point where defense has gotten too much of the upper hand on offense, and we may need to turn the dial a notch or two. We’re not talking about radical solutions.”
That year, the league averaged 5.27 goals/game. The NHL will be fortunate to reach that number in the 2003-04 season. My concern is not solely with scoring, but it’s a valuable metre of the league’s entertainment value.
Plenty of solutions have been proposed, from the unlikely (bigger ice surfaces, four-on-four hockey) to the significant (remove the red line) to the trivial (move the nets back, increase the width of the red and blue lines). Regardless, the time for tweaks has passed. It’s time to get serious about improving the quality of your product. If I watch many more games like tonight’s, I won’t be repurchasing my season tickets next year. And neither will a lot of your other customers.
Thanks for taking the time to consider my concerns.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Wow.. really bad game, huh? I didn’t watch it, but I’d agree that the Wild’s playing style could be described as “stultifyingly boring.”
In defense of the League, however, I’d like to point out that they’ve made some real improvements in speeding things up overall, such as the time limit between whistle blowing to call a faceoff, and actual faceoff. Somehow they’ve cut down the number of fights, which is kind of lukewarm because at least that would be a source of entertainment (if you like that sort of thing) in games as boring as last night’s.
I wonder if some of the change in the sport is due in part to the players as much as the league? Players are being “raised” to value their brawn as much as their brains in the game. Just looking at the Heritage Oldtimers game I saw more players thinking strategically and going for those breakaways – we just don’t get breakaways anymore because people are too big and burdened with padding to be fast and nimble.
It’s a long debate that probably should best be had out in a pub. 🙂
i agree wholeheartedly with you! I wanted to take a nap during the second period!
I’d be interested to see what (if any) response you get from Bettman…although I think the NHLPA and contract negotiations are probably dominating his train of thought a little bit more than fan retention (especially in venues like GM Place which has now sold out 54 straight games) right now. That said, I think you raise some very valid points (and yeah, the game last night wasn’t as good as it could’ve been).
Sue: Name the pub, date & time, and you know I’ll be there 😉