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Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
1) Sports as a whole has done too much to try to "Fix" its problem to appeal to the next generation of fans and its failed. The NHL has tried to get away from being a tough physical game, in their effort to increase scoring they've emphasized a almost more physically passive form of hockey. With the NFL, they tried to give too much of an offensive advantage, the same with the CFL and its newer receiver rules and as such you don't see engaged defenses. These are a couple of examples of sports trying to x-box their game, to make it appeal to the video game generation. But they're not buying tickets and at the same time that the younger generation isn't buying tickets the older generation is walking away from the game.
6) The X-box generation, this is threatening to kill professional and amateur sports. Why go and watch Crosby play when you can play and be better then Crosby on your gaming machine. Why play the game and risk a concussion when you can be the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers? Fans are becoming disconnected with watching sports because they are the sports.
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I'll get to the rest of the post shortly, but these two arguments make you sound like a cranky, out of touch, old man. As part of the "video game generation," I've never wanted hockey to be high-scoring. I'm part of the generation that grew up playing NFL Blitz and getting in countless fights in NHL series. This generation is 100% a-okay with physicality in sports.
Secondly, I don't know a single person who actually likes sports who would prefer to play video game versions of them as opposed to actually getting outside and playing them.
The problem 100% has to do with affordability of going to the games. I've been hammering at this point for a number of years now, especially after all of the PSL fiascos in various new stadiums. This has more to do with the NFL than the NHL, but I've heard countless stories of fans who've had seasons-tickets handed down to them from previous generations, only to lose them when the team moves into their new barn and they can no longer afford to renew them. So something that used to be a family tradition for 8 Sundays every year becomes something you do once every couple of years and because of that you aren't seeing parents being able to introduce their kids to the team at a young age.
I'm not sure what it was like for most people, but every sports team I cheer for is one I developed a relationship with before I was an adult. With the Flames, it was in 1992 when I went to a game and watched Theo Fleury tear it up. As a smaller kid, I was amazed that this little dude was absolutely clowning his bigger opponents. That's something that doesn't really translate as well through TV.
It's very hard to sustain a bond with your fanbase or generate new fans when they don't have the opportunity to see the players live. At that point they're just images on a television, no different than say the Kardashians. So then teams are forced to market to and rely on casuals and corporate clients. Well when you do that, you basically kill the atmosphere in a stadium, so even when kids do go, it's not necessarily going to be the same experience.