Quote:
Originally Posted by bubbsy
to be completely honest, i'm with "nik" i don't really care about hockey growing globally as a sport (ie. across europe/asia/etc).
I do care about the NHL growing, as a healthy league, should hopefully result in the best fan experience (the NFL is the cream of the crop north american sports league).
I'm in favour of more of a grass roots approach in growing the game. It is still looked at as a "rich, white kid" sport, especially in the states. If it can get over that barrier, it would be huge in turning the sport into a mainstream sport in the states.
Ice time cost aside, i would assume the difference in equipment costs isn't as dramatic when compared to football?
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All you need is a ball for a group of kids to play a game of flag/touch football. For a simple game of street hockey you still need 2 nets and sticks for everyone. Another big difference is how the leagues are setup. In the US youth football is primarily organized by schools which pay for the equipment, while hockey is done in private leagues where the parents have to pay for everything. If we could get more players opting to go the NCAA route, get hockey programs in high schools across North America and stop relying on the CHL as the NHL feeder program it would go a long way to making the game more accessible