My Price for Watching the NHL All-Star Game

[Sod16]

Okay.  My offer is $150 to watch the whole game, $250 including pre-game show.  I will confirm with video evidence.  I will take payment by paypal or Zell.  If one poster does not wish to pay the whole price, feel free to organize a pool.

[Bugg]

Don't get why Bettman has not made  NHL players going to the Olympics, nor having a scheduled World Cup priorities. Those things would "grow the game". Watching Igor shoot pucks at surfboards with a few cocktails in him, not so much. Looks like a fun day at the beach, but not compelling anything. 

 

ASGs have long outlived the point. The NBA ASG is a pickup game, the NFL this year is a flag game. Nobody is watching any of this. It's not 1973. We see these players any time we want. There's nothing special about any of this.

 

Speaks yet again to Bettman being a braindead asshole; we're doing it this way because we've always done it. Which is how you end up with  the Coyotes still in AZ playing in a rink most D1 schools nor Canadian major junior teams would not be caught dead in 

[phillyb]

Is it this weekend? I thought this was part of our bye-week. 

[SaveByRichter35]

22 hours ago, Sod16 said:

Okay.  My offer is $150 to watch the whole game, $250 including pre-game show.  I will confirm with video evidence.  I will take payment by paypal or Zell.  If one poster does not wish to pay the whole price, feel free to organize a pool.

I'll watch it for $100.  I only take Zelle though.

[Phil]

8 hours ago, Bugg said:

Don't get why Bettman has not made  NHL players going to the Olympics, nor having a scheduled World Cup priorities. Those things would "grow the game". Watching Igor shoot pucks at surfboards with a few cocktails in him, not so much. Looks like a fun day at the beach, but not compelling anything. 

 

ASGs have long outlived the point. The NBA ASG is a pickup game, the NFL this year is a flag game. Nobody is watching any of this. It's not 1973. We see these players any time we want. There's nothing special about any of this.

 

Speaks yet again to Bettman being a braindead asshole; we're doing it this way because we've always done it. Which is how you end up with  the Coyotes still in AZ playing in a rink most D1 schools nor Canadian major junior teams would not be caught dead in 

 

1. No, the Olys do not grow the game. They cost the league, who can't even use the footage to promote their own players.

 

2. ASG isn't for all fans. It's for sponsors, who love it, and local fans in the host market, who also love it, because it's a glorified fan event for kids and families.

[Bugg]

12 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

1. No, the Olys do not grow the game. They cost the league, who can't even use the footage to promote their own players.

2. ASG isn't for all fans. It's for sponsors, who love it, and local fans in the host market, who also love it, because it's a glorified fan event for kids and families.

Disagree. If people knew every 4 years you would have this midseason kick ass tournament with the best vs the best representing their countries, it would benefit the NHL long term. But because every time it's a problem, instead we get Igor at the beach shooting pucks at surf boards after a few margaritas. 

 

Acknowledge right now Russia makes this problematic. But of the NHL demanded some degree of control over the IOC for their players, could be resolved. 

[Cash or Czech]

This could be solved if the WCs weren’t during the NHL playoffs. Make it an August tournament when there’s literally nothing else happening in hockey. 

[SaveByRichter35]

9 hours ago, Cash or Czech said:

This could be solved if the WCs weren’t during the NHL playoffs. Make it an August tournament when there’s literally nothing else happening in hockey. 

While I agree it would help some, I don't think it would have the outcome we'd hope for.  Most top talent don't seem to care much about this tournament even when they're eliminated from the playoffs.  You get some, but its mostly low level NHLers and some minor/college guys sprinkled in playing in that tournament.  I wish it weren't the case because I have always loved international play.  

[4EverRangerFrank]

ASG? Not watching this...

[Phil]

18 hours ago, Bugg said:

Disagree. If people knew every 4 years you would have this midseason kick ass tournament with the best vs the best representing their countries, it would benefit the NHL long term. But because every time it's a problem, instead we get Igor at the beach shooting pucks at surf boards after a few margaritas. 

 

Acknowledge right now Russia makes this problematic. But of the NHL demanded some degree of control over the IOC for their players, could be resolved. 

The World Cup of hockey averaged 425K viewers when they last ran it. The NHL averaged about the same just last season. In other words, there was no upside whatsoever to televising a mid-season tournament that likely cost them money when you factor in the gates lost when regular games might have been played, new uniforms, etc.

 

Oh, and the IOC will not give up rights to footage, ever. There's no incentive for them to, which means the league would be doing this purely as a gift to players who want to play in Olys -- some of whom get hurt in the process.

 

It's lose-lose. Always.

[Sod16]

All-Star Game/tournament is like OT/Shootout.  All of the alternatives dabbled with over the years don't work.   Just go back to nothing.   Really. We'd be fine without any of it.

[Phil]

Again, it's not for you. It's not for any of us, really. It's for sponsors, who love it, and for kids and fans in markets in which these weekends are organized each year. It's designed to grow the game by appealing to young fans who will, ideally, have so much fun attending these events that they'll become lifelong NHL fans.

 

If you don't like it, and I don't either, don't watch it. There's no logical reason for the NHL to abandon the concept, for the same reason there's no reason for any other league to.