Why Isn't Women's Hockey More Popular?

[giwan]

Re: Why Isn't Women's Hockey More Popular?

Has anybody ever answered the question of why people watch sports?
you can't really answer this threads question unless you know the answer to that.

A true sports fan watches for the competition and what personal interest one has in that sport and/or team.

[Timothy A]

Re: Why Isn't Women's Hockey More Popular?

Has anybody ever answered the question of why people watch sports?
you can't really answer this threads question unless you know the answer to that.

Great question pokey....the even bigger question is why do people like what they like in regards to anything? Some things are tradition/taught/learned...My Dad's dad was a Ford guy, my dad is a Ford guy, I am a Ford guy, my sons are Ford guys. Other things are not, there is an inexplicable force drawing you to an interest. My Dad's dad never saw a hockey game, my Dad has watched hockey and would rather watch paint dry slowly, I see hockey and I am compelled by an internal inexplicable force to LOVE it, my sons and daughter love it as well. In the end, why as why? Just enjoy the ride.

[pokechecker]

Re: Why Isn't Women's Hockey More Popular?

A true sports fan watches for the competition and what personal interest one has in that sport and/or team.

today, that only accounts for a fraction of the fans IMO
in fact maybe you've hit upon it, why fans watch this sport, and why there are so few

but looking at the big three, it seems to me most "fans" are there for the social event, they are a member of the herd, their team's success, or failure, defines who they are (at least in their mind), what else could explain buying an expensive ugly shirt, and wearing it, with their hero's name on it?

[gojackets]

Re: Why Isn't Women's Hockey More Popular?

Basketball is also a special case, as the NBA decided that, as a part of marketing itself to women, it would subsidize a women's league. The NHL has not made the same decision. From a purely bottom line perspective, I'm not at all sure that the NHL made the wrong choice, though I would really wish they would follow in the NBA's footsteps. Soccer made a similar decision to the NBA, though it looks a bit different given that FIFA is the organizing body for the whole sport, a role quite different than the IIHF has.

I would say Women's college basketball isn't really that much better than hockey. Obviously they get more attention, draw bigger crowds, and get their tournament televised. But how many people actually watch it? Until they can find a cure for the UCONN problem, women's basketball isn't going to do well. There was no one that could even compete with UCONN this year and the national championship game was over by half time.

If you do watch the women's tournament most of the tournament games have fairly empty arenas, compared to the men's which are almost always sold out.

[giwan]

Re: Why Isn't Women's Hockey More Popular?

I would say Women's college basketball isn't really that much better than hockey. Obviously they get more attention, draw bigger crowds, and get their tournament televised. But how many people actually watch it? Until they can find a cure for the UCONN problem, women's basketball isn't going to do well. There was no one that could even compete with UCONN this year and the national championship game was over by half time. If you do watch the women's tournament most of the tournament games have fairly empty arenas, compared to the men's which are almost always sold out.

UCONN is not a problem, they make the sport more relevant and talked about. Chances are the women's tourney is only televised in a deal to show the men's tourney but I do not know that as fact.

Only the later rounds of the men's bball tourney are sold out, the early rounds are mostly empty. This applies to the college money maker of football during their bowl season as lower bowls for the most part are empty and frankly many teams lose money on their bowl trips.

[Leather helmet]

Re: Why Isn't Women's Hockey More Popular?

One of the problems that all women's sports struggle with is the fact that attendance at sporting events, both men's and women's, is driven largely by men. I don't have stats to call on, so we'll have to put this down as my opinion, but if you were to go to any random sporting event and ask all the men to leave, along with anyone they brought with them, you would have a nearly-empty venue. There is an obvious mom exception for youth sports; you will find moms and dads in equal numbers there.

This means that women's sports are recruiting fans one at a time, because men didn't grow up playing or watching women's sports like they did boy's and men's sports. I was a Gopher men's hockey fan since I attended the U during the Brooks era, and I was only vaguely aware of the women's team until my daughter started playing. Now, even though she is no longer playing competitively, I would rather watch a good women's game than a men's game (that doesn't mean that I have let the Gopher men off the hook, but that's a different post). But it will always be a struggle to get fans one at a time like that.