NHL

NHL

There are many pundits out there who classify the NHL as no longer being part of the big 4 in terms of sports in the USA. Though statistically speaking this may be true, there is no reason why the NHL cannot make it back into the big 4. Most recently, its been noted that the NHL has surpassed the NBA in average arena attendance.

Tickets: In Canada, getting access to tickets for nhl games is a task as hockey is the number one sport in Canada and sells out every game in every nhl city in Canada. Often people who are not season ticket holders are usually buying tickets from scalpers and sites like ebay for over face value. This is how it is in Canada and chances are it will never change. In the USA however, ticket prices are very cheap and often not hard to get. A great example of this is when the Toronto Maple Leafs play th Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo. Since the distance between Toronto and Buffalo is not at all far, many fans make the trip across the border to see there leafs play at a much cheaper price then it would be to buy a ticket at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The league average for ticket prices in the NHL is roughly $49 per ticket though vastly hire in Canadian cities. Toronto in the 07-08 season had an average ticket price of $88.32, Vancouver at $71.39 while in St Louis the average ticket price was $25.48. No team in the USA had an average ticket price more then $58. Compared to the big 4 (Nascar, NBA, NFL, MLB) only the mlb has an average ticket price cheaper then the NHL which is due in large part because the mlb plays 162 game schedules.

Gameplay: The NHL is clearly unique from its counterparts. Going to an nhl game is exciting due to the fan experience, the skill level in the game, the speed and the fighting. There are some observers in the media which think fighting should be removed from the game but if you are to ask the 20,000 screaming fans in the arena when a fight is taking place, they would show you how they disagree with the removal of fighting from the game. The crowd gets into it and the atmosphere is second to none. Many of the other sports can be dull from a fans perspective. In the NBA, there is really no flow to the game as there is way too much stopage in game play. In baseball, you may have to wait an hour before something exciting happens, in football again there is an incredible amount of stoppage and lets not even get into nascar where a bunch of cars just go straight around an oval track for 500 laps. The NHL is a fast action, high scoring, exciting sport which shows off outstanding moves, team play, hard hitting, fighting, lots of goal scoring.

You get a great sport to watch which is by far the most exciting sport to watch live for a bargain. If you don't believe me the only thing to do is to try one game from each sport for yourself and I am convinced that after experiencing the big 4 and the NHL, you will see how the NHL is the way to go. The problem in the USA is that many people have not been exposed to an NHL game live. The ones that do see the game in person have a much different perspective of the game after attending one. Try it out, I think you will be surprised.