The NHL’s Need For A Marquee Event

Every so often, reality has a way of slapping us in the face. Some people might think that the NHL was doing well in the wake of the Olympics. With teams like Chicago and Washington creating excitement that their cities haven’t seen in decades (if ever), sometimes we think everything’s going OK. And then, BAM—NBC’s game of the week gets the worst rating it’s received in 4 years. Yes, that’s bad—but it was also the lowest rated sports telecast of the weekend. On a weekend with the NCAA basketball tournament, that’s somewhat predictable. But just because it’s predictable doesn’t mean that everything is rosy.

Wouldn’t it be great for hockey fans if the NHL got the same kind of love in the United States as March Madness? Don’t get me wrong, I grew up on the NCAA tournament and it’s one of my favorite times of the year. But sometimes I look at the excitement surrounding the event and wonder how great it would be if the NHL had something similar.

To be clear, I’m not necessarily talking about Stanley Cup Playoffs. As much as I like the NHL playoffs, there’s not that transcendent feeling that March Madness has. You don’t have the office pools. You don’t have people coming to work the next day talking about how THEY totally called St Mary’s beating Villanova or Butler doing Syracuse.

The difference is the build-up of March Madness. That’s something that college basketball has that the NHL is desperately seeking. Don’t just think about the NCAA tournament, think about the build up to the madness. In many ways, that’s the best part of the tournament! It’s the hope of 64 (65) schools that think they have a chance. Some teams have a chance to win ONE game, some want to get to the Sweet 16, and some want to win it all. But there’s that anticipation that is filled with hope.

I'm trying to figure out my first round upsets. Who would pick the predictable San Jose Sharks upset?

For comparison’s sake, hockey in the Olympics didn’t have that same excitement leading up to the event. Hardcore hockey fans were looking forward to it for months. People in Canada were passionately arguing who should be Team Canada’s 4th line center. But in the States, no one cared until about halfway through the tournament. And the only reason they STARTED caring was because the Americans were winning (after all, everyone loves a winner). But let’s be honest, if the Americans started 0-3 in pool play instead of 3-0, NBC would have continued with their plans to tape-delay the games, no one would have cared that the games were on MSNBC, and the excitement level would have continued on its straight-line like the sport’s EKG.

I wish there was some kind of way that the excitement and anticipation of hockey could cross over to the mainstream; just one event that captures the imagination (and more importantly, attention) of the mainstream viewer. It seems like the NHL is content with the Winter Classic being the event that does it—but that’s ill-conceived on plenty of levels. At the end of the day, it’s a regular season gimmick. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Winter Classic and look forward to watching it. But once the first 30 minutes or so wears off—it’s still a regular season hockey game. And it doesn’t hold a candle to ANY playoff game.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could get casual sports fans to look forward to some of the BEST games that the NHL can offer? Sure, getting the sport actually televised more often would be a fantastic starting point. But somehow, it needs to crossover into the greater sports fan’s consciousness.

March Madness is bigger than college basketball. The Super Bowl is bigger than football. The World Cup is bigger than soccer. And none of them are gimmicks. When you watch the games, see the passion and intensity—at the heart of their game ,they are AUTHENTIC events.

How can the NHL bottle up this kind of excitment?

How can the NHL make it cool to fill out your Stanley Cup brackets? How can hockey figure out a way to have an event that makes you drop 5 bucks per square for a final score pool? How can they get you to stay up and passionately cheer for teams that you might not care about for the rest of the year—care so much that you’d be willing to call in sick from work and stay up all night?

Hockey doesn’t have anything like that for outsiders. For us hardcore fans—us diehards, the Stanley Cup playoffs are the best time of year. But it’s not transcendent. If you don’t believe me, ask a normal sports fan who Butler is right now. Ask them how far they had Kansas going. Then ask them if they think the Sharks will choke again and watch them reply with a blank stare. Ask them about the Edmonton Oilers magical run to the Stanley Cup Finals as an 8 seed and see if they think it was as magical as George Mason in the Final Four.

I just wish that there was a way that put the game in front of more people. Think about it: how many people care about college basketball for the majority of the year? It’s called March Madness for a reason. No one talks about it outside of college basketball circles from mid-April until February. Diehards do, but that’s just like hockey, isn’t it? The point is that they have a showcase at some point… they have something that culminates the season (and sport) every year that has the mainstream sports-watching public come in and see what they’ve been missing.

If the NHL had a marquee event, Versus could think about the whole “One Shining Moment” tradition that CBS does at the end of the tournament. Can you imagine a 4-5 minute song that sums up all of the passion and emotion of the playoffs, combined with highlights of all of the memorable plays from the previous 2 months of action?

If the NHL had a marquee event, they could have someone like Gus Johnson announcing the games. I’m already picturing him screaming with excitement for an entire 3rd period! If he can make Kansas State vs. Xavier sound like the best game EVER, then just imagine what he could do if he was announcing the best sport ever. It would be like Doc Emrick, only 20 years ago and relevant.

I’m sure every hockey fan in North America can think of a million things that would make a marquee event the best it could be. But first things first—the league needs a headlining event. They need to realize that it’s imperative to get the passive observer through the door.

The NCAA gets it with March Madness. The NFL gets it with the Super Bowl. Hell, soccer gets it with the World Cup! It’s time the NHL gets it.