The NHL had itself a very successful 2018-19 season. The unthinkable happened—twice. The St. Louis Blues went from worst to first, winning the Stanley Cup. And the Tampa Bay Lightning went from best ever regular season NHL team to first out in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Both were exemplary of the randomness that makes the game of hockey so intriguing. Sure, mistakes were made, especially in Game 7 of the Western Conference Playoffs’ first round between bitter rivals the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks.
This Vegas fan stopped watching the NHL postseason after the Golden Knights were eliminated, but disgruntled Vegas fans didn’t seem to affect viewership. The 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs broke all previous ratings records. But it’s going to take more than one good postseason to grow the NHL fanbase. The growth of the NHL, women’s professional hockey, and hockey in general depends on diversifying the faces playing the game.
Step 1: Invest in a North American Women’s Professional Hockey League
Offering some support for a women’s North American professional league would be a good place for the NHL to start diversifying its fanbase. Until there’s more than one member on each NHL team from a minority group whom minorities can aspire to emulate, appealing to white women is the best the NHL can do. Failing to do so would be an opportunity lost over a fear of a women’s league being unsustainable. But the Isobel Cup Champion Minnesota Whitecaps of the now defunct National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) turned a profit in its first year. So there’s now evidence against NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s fears.
What Bettman and men must realize is that an investment in a professional women’s hockey league is not just an investment in a risky business, but an opportunity to market and promote the NHL to women. Supporting a women’s professional hockey league financially is a marketing and advertising expense, not just an investment in a potentially unsustainable business venture. The WNBA has operated at a $10-million average, annual loss for two decades because the NBA realizes the women’s game is a means to spark girls’ interest in the game of basketball. Once girls play the game they’re more likely to become fans of the game. But girls have to want to play, and seeing women being paid to do so on television is the best advertising the NHL can buy.
Step 2: Help People Afford to Try Hockey
Only lacrosse is more expensive to play than hockey, and it’s close. That almost assures participants are white given their economic advantage resulting from slavery and the increasingly unequal, economic playing field that persists due to racial discrimination. In Minnesota, the State of Hockey, there are inner-city, Black youth who like what they’ve seen of hockey and can’t afford to play. Even if the NHL piques
You can create all the viral content you want and buy all the social media advertising you can, but to diversify the fanbase of a sport, members of minority groups need more than one player per team whom they can aspire to emulate. And in order to emulate anyone, they must be able to afford to try your sport. Watching it on TV or even in person doesn’t compare to the love players develop for sports they play.
In order of participatory hours, I played baseball, basketball, tennis, and football growing up. My favorite sports to watch, in order of preference, are baseball, basketball, tennis, and football. I didn’t even see hockey until 2011-12, and then lost interest again due to the lockout. Since I didn’t play hockey or soccer, I don’t love hockey or soccer like I do the games I played as a kid. Get kids playing your game. Invest in nonprofits like mine that provide the equipment and means to try your game. Then watch your new, diverse fans become the heroes that further diversify your fanbase.
