Hockey, South of the Other Border
So some of you may know that venerable sportswriter Frank Deford has a gig on NPR, and you’ve probably heard it if you’ve ever checked into “Morning Edition” on a Wednesday. Every week, Deford – he’s the senior writer at Sports Illustrated, and his bio picture looks exactly like his voice sounds – uncorks a pithy observation or two about the latest happenings in the world of sports. It’s kinda like what I’m trying to do over here, except that ol’ Frank is ancient, learned and doesn’t use the word “fuck.”
I’m usually pretty cool with Frank’s segments, since he tends to find an old-timey, common-sensical stance on whatever sporting controversy he’s delving into, with an emphasis on the game and the players over the cash and the nonsense. It sounds corny, but he pulls it off without being an old softy lost in nostalgia or some cranky, fist-shakin, get-off-my-lawn type. Frank’s kind of a bemused truthteller, with an old journlalist’s sense of story and hook.
Anyways, this week, Frank takes on the NHL’s southern strategy – i.e., the league’s push over the past few decades into the southern United States. Using Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie’s continuing pursuit of the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes as a topical peg, Deford argues that the NHL should have accepted its role as a regional sport years ago and been happy with it. Indeed, the piece is titled “Why Can’t the NHL Just Keep it Canadian?”
He writes:
But the league has pressed on, forever sprinkling franchises into places like Miami and Nashville and Raleigh in a vain effort to be a fully national American television sport. It doesn’t seem to do any good. NHL ratings are traditionally woeful, especially down South.
By contrast, nobody has been dumb enough to try to force grits on the good citizens of Saskatchewan or Nova Scotia.
To some extent, he’s got a point: I’m still pissed that Quebec and Winnipeg don’t have teams, but the state of Florida has two.
But while hockey is a uniquely Canadian sport, Frank’s wrong to forget the love the game enjoys in the middle part of the continent. American cold weather spots like Boston, Detroit, Buffalo, and Minnesota have long enjoyed incredibly loyal local support, and the game has carved out a unique spot in the American pop psyche – see, e.g., the Miracle on Ice, Slapshot, Clerks, that one Simpsons episode where Lisa’s a goalie – hell, even Wayne’s World, which might not count because Mike Myers is Canuckian.
Nevertheless, Frank’s right: It’s always been a stretch to imagine Nashville as the next Hockeytown. And at some point, you gotta think that cashing out in Phoenix makes sense – doesn’t seem like they’ll miss the team down there, even with the classy uniforms and the old vision quest logo pictured up top. The latest news out of that sad soap opera, by the way, is that Balsillie says he would keep the Coyotes in Glendale for this season, were his $240M bid for the team to be accepted by the court and the league. But what was he gonna do – move them in a week? The season starts in days.
Personally, I’d hate to see the Coyotes in Hamilton. Too close to the Sabres for me to be comfortable, as the NY Times‘ Slapshot blog explored in depth in this terrific entry from a few months back. But I do think Toronto could use another team – maybe not this “Legacy” bullshit, but another team – and I’d love to see Winnipeg get the Jets back.
Is Deford right about the States and hockey? Is Bettman? Would Balsillie be good for the league? Gimme a shout in the comments.
- Caps
September 24th, 2009 at 12:21 am
Also, let me note that my cultural examples of the game having a place in the US were offered kinda tongue-in-cheek. Obviously it does, far beyond any stupid and/or fleeting cultural ephemera. The real argument would cite attendance statistics, local ratings, etc., but I’m beat and too lazy to dig em up.
Besides, my cultural examples forgot a lot of things: Snoop wearing a Pens jersey in the Gin n Juice video, for one, or Blades of Glory for NES, or the dudes in Swingers playing NHL 94. Cameron’s Red Wings jersey from Ferris Bueller. Or even Jason’s mask from Friday the 13th. Ok.
September 24th, 2009 at 12:28 am
I just go back from Phoenix vs Tampa Bay preseason game! Needless to say, I was crushed to find out that I wasn’t going to have the chance to be in the same building as Gretzky :( he flaked for whatever reason…
September 24th, 2009 at 1:46 am
What sucks is this has all gone waaaay too far. Bettman made it personal and there is no way short of a court order that Balsillie is going to get the team.
Fans don’t want to see this shit; We just want to see the fucking game.
You don’t want the team in Hamilton? Fine. Negotiate another location. You don’t want Basillie to be sole owner? Then find someone willing to pny up the cash.
But as we know, none of this has happened.
Let Basillie take the team, let it get the love and loyalty it deserves and make some money.
On a side note, I love the fact that their are American fans because after we win the World’s or the Junior’s or the Olympics, we finally have something you don’t. We got Hockey.
September 24th, 2009 at 9:24 am
I don’t think this is really about Hockey not being able to succeed in small southern markets as much as if you don’t put out a winner and some consistency year after year you’re not going to be able to build fan base.
Hockey out performs Basketball in North Carolina. The Hurricanes are of course a solid team, with a Cup to their name. It takes time to build a fan base and the sad fact is most people don’t really like a sport as much as they like having a winner in their town. The Blue Jackets are a great team to watch and see if they can survive in a non-traditional market. Awful logo aside, the team has been very smartly managed and coached and is set up to be in the hunt for a playoff spot for a good long while, and that is starting to resonate with the people of Columbus. They’re not breaking attendance records, but it’s a slow process.
No ones throwing relocation out at the NJ Devils anymore because after 15 years of consistent and excellent play (2nd best record in the NHL after Detroit in that span), they’ve carved out a respectable stake in a fan base that was largely devoted to the Rangers and Flyers before they moved in. The Avalanche & The Dallas Stars are other good examples of small, weird Hockey markets who have respectable fanbases. Again though, both of those teams don’t tend to be shitty year in and year out.
Every team in jeopardy, has mostly been poor teams! The Coyotes, Thrashers and Panthers can’t make the playoffs year in and year out. The Lightning, while they have a cup to their name are wildly inconsistent year to year and have had some serious GMing missteps since Feaster stepped down. The Predators are following in that same direction as the Lightening.
Most U.S. sports market can’t be NYC where you can have awful ownership and a GM whose iced poorly built and performing teams for about 15 years and still maintain a fanatical fan base. Even the Blackhawks were bleeding fans most of this decade until Toewes & Kane showed up and they were poised to finally make the playoffs again.
People don’t want a team in their city, they want WINNING team!
September 24th, 2009 at 10:56 am
There shouldn’t be an NHL team in any city where the lakes don’t freeze in the winter. Go Hawks!
September 24th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
football is religion. it runs the South. and college football is the divine manifestation of that religion, period. and anything that interrupts our consumption of said sport gets put on the back burner. so when you combine that with the fact that most Southerners don’t get the appeal of playing a sport ON ICE–the NHL will have a hard mountain to climb. because, you know, we hate ice…unless it’s in our sweet tea.
but i live in Charleston, South Carolina and we love our Carolina Stingrays so i will agree with My Pal, if you win (consistently) we’ll pay attention. otherwise, pass the pig skin.
September 24th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
I’m with you, Crook. I think that a problem with the Southern teams is that a lot of them blow. I subscribe to the general notion that if you field a winning sports team, you may be able to achieve a half-decent fan base.
I will say that while Boston has always been a hockey town, their stable fan base exploded last year when the Bruins made a huge push past mediocrity. (I know, they fucking collapsed in Carolina, my therapist has almost gotten me past it.) It’s like you say, if the team fucking sucks, regardless of the market, they’re not going to pull in attendance.
I’m also with Caps on the idea that Quebec and Winnipeg not having teams sucks, and I was sort of excited about the prospect of the Coyotes going back past the border.
September 24th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
” if the team fucking sucks, regardless of the market, they’re not going to pull in attendance.”
That isn’t true for the Rangers or the Maple Leafs… they can stay bottom feeders for all of eternity and still draw fans.
I actually do not mind a team in Phoenix, but i will concede that the Coyotes are a failed experiment at one. I can see Bettmen’s point though… Phoenix is the 4th largest city in the US in terms of population, there’s no reason why a franchise couldn’t flourish there had they iced up a competitive team, introduce them with the worst uniform in sports history and hadn’t built there stadium in Glendale.