HOCKEY: AMERICAS NEW FAVORITE PASTIME?

COLLIN BAKER

 In America, we love sports. Period. Sports updates are readily available Americas pastimes
Football and Baseball Hockey?

 A recent survey posed the question: What is your favorite sport?

Football 36% Baseball 13% College Football 13% Auto Racing 8% Professional Basketball, College Basketball, and Hockey all came in at 5%

How is Hockey Growing?

Baseball down 4% and hockey hasnt dropped below 4% since 2004.

HOW IS HOCKEY GAINING IN POPULARITY?

Media Outlets
Social Media, Radio, TV.

USA Hockey beats Russian Hockey in the Olympics 3-2 on February 15 provided by shootout goal by T.J. Oshie.
Twitter abuzz with conversation Second coming of Miracle on Ice

Marketing done throughout the US by USA Hockey and the NHL

HOCKEY TODAY; NOT YOUR GRANDPAS GAME

Most people think of hockey as being played on cold, gloomy days and as a sport exclusive to only northern or northeastern states. Efforts from USA Hockey has allowed the game to grow immensely

 States more populous often have an NHL team

Which makes more arenas, rinks, leagues, youth programs, etc.

The greatest marketing tool to have when promoting a sport is to have a local professional team
If the team is local and also doing well and building excitement, the same can be said for hockey as a whole. Number of children under 8 playing hockey in Illinois jumped up 30% when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.
Put in Nationwide perspective and thats a 143.22% increase since 1990-91.

 Those numbers are not from where you think either

Florida, Georgia, Texas had the biggest growth.
Florida saw 804.7% increase Georgia went from just 370 registered players to 2,142 players Texas had 1,200% increase in the last 20 years

WHY DO THESE STATES HAVE THE BIGGEST GAINS?

Local Team
Winning draws even more attention

Major media markets Most populated areas of the united states All the credit shouldnt be given to just the NHL
Thousands of volunteers, parents and coaches, and officials Credit as well to USA Hockey on finding new ways to bring the game to kids and making it more enjoyable

MAYBE ITS THE MONEY ISSUE?

Does hockey pay just as much as other professional sports? Hockey vs. Football
Could not be farther from the truth NFL minimum salary is $310,000 and up to $845,000 based on experience. NHL league minimum was $500,000 NFL $770,000 NHL $1.9 Million
Not much difference but look at average salary

This is all because of roster size

NFL has 53 man roster with some being specialists and situational guys. NHL has 22 man roster which play constantly on specific lines. This calls for only 2 or 3 roster spots that play specific roles such as kill, enforcer, etc.

THE BIG PICTURE ABOUT MONEY

NFL 770,000*53=40,810,000*32=$1,305,920,000 NHL 1,900,000*22=41,800,000*30=$1,254,000,000 This means that despite the average salary being lower, the payout to teams is higher due to 31 more roster spots and two additional teams. The numbers get even higher for basketball where the average salary is $5.356 million MLB cant really be included due to there being no salary cap.
I could pay $800 billion just for MR. T to sit out in right field and heckle to crowd yelling I pity the fool

HOW IT ALL RELATES TO HOCKEY POPULARITY

From a parents perspective:
If your child has athletic ability, where would you try and put them?
*Not saying that all parents look at their kids as a way to make money*

Baseball obviously has the more lucrative payoff at the end Football has larger roster size and therefore more opportunities to make a team
This way of thinking has changed due to efforts from the USA Hockey League
Various hockey youth leagues for multiple age groups Makes it easier to become noticed from a collegiate or professional team

THE COST TO PLAY HOCKEY

Starting from scratch:
Basketball: shoes, shorts, basketball, socks. Jerseys provided in most leagues. League fees applied comes to roughly $150. Football: cleats, helmet, football, shoulder pads, cup, girdle, pants, league fees = roughly $400 Hockey: skates, helmet, gloves, shoulder pads, elbow pads, pants, cup, stick = around $300.
Not bad until you add league fees costing between $200-500 per season. Also add the fact that there used to not be that many leagues and drive teams to practice/games could take hours.

With the rising popularity of the sport this has driven down the cost of league fees due to the increase in the sheer number of them.