Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
The World Cup had 0 draw in attracting new US viewers though. Nobody cares about the World Cup of hockey in the US except the hard core hockey fan that already watches. In fact many casual hockey fans likely had no clue the US won the World Cup, and if they did they likely didn't watch. I was actually going to college in the States in 06. Of the 10 people or so that I hung out with, one, a guy from Portland who watched the Winterhawks and personally knew Adam Deadmarsh (I bring this up because I believe the only reason he knew about the World Cup was through his relationship with Deadmarsh) new that the US won the World Cup or that the event even took place. But every single one of my friends there knew the US had won the gold medal with the Miracle on ice in 80 (and they all would have been 2 or 3 years old when that happened.
Point being, is its that kind of exposure the NHL was looking for. The whole US sporting world watches the Olympics, not just the already converted hard core hockey fan, and it was that unique opportunity to sell and showcase the game to potential brand new fans in Salt Lake is the reason why the NHL went to the Olympics in the first place, not something the World Cup of hockey can create.
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I accept this argument. I somewhat disagree because I think they could have pounded the marketing on a 2000 World Cup in Dallas and LA with the World Champion American team but that might be my own wishful fantasy and I'm totally wrong.
Having said that then the NHL shouldn't be considering withdrawing from the Olympics to start up a World Cup that Americans won't watch. The owners really shouldn't be gripping about something that grows the game and interrupts two weeks out of every 4 years. That's just short-sightedness greed.