Sports TV ratings, etc. Random sports talk

LewTheShoe said:
Considering all the advantages hockey has as one of the 'big four' mainstream sports, I was shocked to see how small the TV audience actually is. Hockey enjoys regular coverage in every newspaper and news sports report; an established youth development ladder with tons of taxpayer funding in schools/colleges; and the benefit of having 'home teams' that automatically tap into casual fans. And yet those TV viewer numbers resemble a morning Xfinity-series practice or qualifying session. Wow.

I'm not suggesting this is a problem for the NHL, as the numbers undoubtedly beat bowling, roller derby, and other things that maintain a presence on major sports networks. The NHL will remain on TV for the viewing pleasure of their relatively few fans. But for a mainstream sport, the numbers surprised me.
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Hockey has made huge strides in the United States since 1980 but it is a regional sport at the grass roots level. Drive by any school and you will see football and soccer fields along with baseball diamonds and basketball nets but no indoor or outdoor ice surfaces to play on. On a global level hockey is huge and a point of pride for many nations. I do not think the US populace will ever really embrace hockey but it will always be around.
 
FLRacingFan said:
http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/skedball-weekend-sports-tv-ratings-4-14-15-2018.html
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What stands out to me isn't so much the number of viewers but the where they slot in demographically. 26% of the Nascar viewers were between 18-49 and 41% of NHL viewers were in the same age group and the NBA kicked demographic ass with almost half the viewers in that age span. While Nascar clobbered the NHL in total viewership they were very close in actual numbers in the 18-49 group.

I will patiently await the spin from the usual suspects!
 
AtomicPunk55 said:
I will patiently await the spin from the usual suspects!
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If you're trying yet again to promote the view that more meat and more potatoes is not better than less meat and less potatoes, then I'd say we've already seen "the spin from the usual suspect!"
 
LewTheShoe said:
If you're trying yet again to promote the view that more meat and more potatoes is not better than less meat and less potatoes, then I'd say we've already seen "the spin from the usual suspect!"
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I found the breakdown in age groups interesting and I will leave it to others to determine what if anything it means. I will go out on a limb and say that I think cable companies would like Nascar fans as I sense they pay their bill on time. That is it.
 
Someone will not be happy with the NHL and NBA ratings but I am happy for both leagues. Major kudos to the VGK!
 
AtomicPunk55 said:
Hockey has made huge strides in the United States since 1980 but it is a regional sport at the grass roots level. Drive by any school and you will see football and soccer fields along with baseball diamonds and basketball nets but no indoor or outdoor ice surfaces to play on. On a global level hockey is huge and a point of pride for many nations. I do not think the US populace will ever really embrace hockey but it will always be around.
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Agreed. I consider hockey to be much closer to soccer in this country than to basketball or baseball.

Still, I don't think 400k+ average viewership is bad for 100+ games on national TV. That, and a lot of NBCSN games are blacked out locally to protect the RSNs, which is probably where the diehards are watching anyways. But yeah, not close to what MLB or NBA average nationally with twice as many and just as many games.
 
FLRacingFan said:
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They were up considerably more earlier in the season, close to 20%. I'm not sure whether the lack of a compelling title battle in the top class has brought recent numbers back down, or the injuries to several notable riders. It's still good that they will probably still show a YOY increase at season's end.
 
To me, the bottom line conclusion is that the broadcast networks and their affiliated sports networks pitch a big tent. Surprised to read there are 100 hockey games, but it's all good. There are 93 Nascar races, so that much hockey makes sense. Supercross ends, but then MX starts.

The bottom line is, you don't have to post NFL numbers to be an attractive TV property.
 
LewTheShoe said:
The bottom line is, you don't have to post NFL numbers to be an attractive TV property.
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Very true. ESPN is getting back into the NHL, with their ESPN+ subscription package including 180+ games a year starting with 2018-2019, along with a highlights package and some other ancillary programming. And there is some optimism that they could make a run for at least a portion of the new TV contract once NBC's comes to a close.
 
LewTheShoe said:
To me, the bottom line conclusion is that the broadcast networks and their affiliated sports networks pitch a big tent. Surprised to read there are 100 hockey games, but it's all good. There are 93 Nascar races, so that much hockey makes sense. Supercross ends, but then MX starts.

The bottom line is, you don't have to post NFL numbers to be an attractive TV property.
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Live sports are a more important part of the TV business than at any other period in history. While some specific sports will trend upward and some will trend downward, overall sports viewership has held up better than any other form of linear TV content, possibly except for news. The networks are more reliant on sports because viewership for entertainment programming has eroded to a far greater extent.
 
LewTheShoe said:
To me, the bottom line conclusion is that the broadcast networks and their affiliated sports networks pitch a big tent. Surprised to read there are 100 hockey games, but it's all good. There are 93 Nascar races, so that much hockey makes sense. Supercross ends, but then MX starts.

The bottom line is, you don't have to post NFL numbers to be an attractive TV property.
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I agree as the NHL generally flies under the radar yet has 31 teams with each playing 82 regular season games. Average yearly attendance for the regular season league wide is over 22 million and the NHL enjoys very good corporate support. The last team admitted to the league was the Vegas Golden Knights this year and they paid 500 million for their franchise and when the next team, likely Seattle, is admitted the price will have gone up to circa 700 million.

I believe that Nascar will always remain in some form and will be a valuable property for years to come. I also believe it will continue to suffer fan/follower erosion for many more years and some races may not attract 1 million viewers and that could happen within 5 years. Much of what Nascar will look like is dependent on the next broadcast deal as most people assume it will be significantly less than what it is today but we don't know that. I was amazed at the size of the current deal as there was no real competition given to FOX and NBC as TNT and ESPN could not run away fast enough and CBS and the others had no interest.
 
LewTheShoe said:
To me, the bottom line conclusion is that the broadcast networks and their affiliated sports networks pitch a big tent. Surprised to read there are 100 hockey games, but it's all good. There are 93 Nascar races, so that much hockey makes sense. Supercross ends, but then MX starts.

The bottom line is, you don't have to post NFL numbers to be an attractive TV property.
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You don't have to post hardly any numbers, much less have game attendance. But it does help if you can get the taxpayers to pitch in

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StandOnIt said:
You don't have to post hardly any numbers, much less have game attendance. But it does help if you can get the taxpayers to pitch in

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You are one tough cookie expecting the fans to stick around after the game is over. I did check and the game played to over capacity so around 20,000 seats were sold and the cheapies were 130 bucks and the better seats 300 bucks. Not bad at all eh?
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AtomicPunk55 said:
You wouldn't be the first person unable to keep up with the pace of the game or appreciate the talent of generational players like Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby or Auston Matthews. IDK what the demographic is for the average NHL fan but I know not many rednecks follow or understand it which is fine as there are other things to occupy them.
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wasn't just me I'm afraid. NBC scored a 1.3 overnight rating for Game 2 of the Maple Leafs-Bruins Stanley Cup playoff series Saturday night, up a tick from last year (Predators-Blackhawks: 1.2). The 1.3 is still the second-lowest for a primetime Stanley Cup playoff game on broadcast television, ahead of only last year.
 
StandOnIt said:
wasn't just me I'm afraid. NBC scored a 1.3 overnight rating for Game 2 of the Maple Leafs-Bruins Stanley Cup playoff series Saturday night, up a tick from last year (Predators-Blackhawks: 1.2). The 1.3 is still the second-lowest for a primetime Stanley Cup playoff game on broadcast television, ahead of only last year.
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With ratings like that I bet the owner of the VGK is pissed he paid a half billion for his charter....err....I mean franchise.
 
The ratings for the Leaf-B's game will be 100% in my domicile this evening. Wish I could get the HNIC broadcast.
 
gnomesayin said:
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LeBron on the brink.

The Cavs should manage to win one of two, which the NBA will love. Indiana over LeBron would be a big downer for ratings. Surely they're pulling big for Boston and Washington to win as well, OKC to pull some miracle, and the Warriors over the Pelicans.
 
AtomicPunk55 said:
I was amazed at the size of the current deal as there was no real competition given to FOX and NBC as TNT and ESPN could not run away fast enough and CBS and the others had no interest.
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Fox signed early, back in 2011 I think. NBC wanted NASCAR rights bad.

I don't think ratings will matter much. Networks need content now to compete with streaming media.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Through 42 games, the Stanley Cup Playoffs are averaging 769k viewers.

NBC SPORTS’ COVERAGE OF FIRST ROUND OF 2018 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS IS BEST IN SIX YEARS
http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2...18-stanley-cup-playoffs-is-best-in-six-years/
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One thing that is different between Nascar ratings and those of stick and ball is that Nascar's are down, often markedly, year over year but stick and ball seems to have ebbs and flows. As you have noted golf is enjoying a resurgence, hockey is up as is basketball. It remains to seen if the NFL will continue to drop in ratings but they have themselves stretched so thin it is almost inevitable. Still the NFL could remain flat or even gain back some of what it has lost but there is no chance of this with Nascar as their elevator only goes down and often times skips a few floors in the process.
 
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