Look at how many viewers the NHL ever has...

Not even comparable to the NBA as a whole. The Stanley Cup Finals never compare to the NBA Finals in terms of ratings and viewers. The fact that last year the NBA Finals had more fans watch 1 game than the NHL Stanley Cup did in 6 games COMBINED is pretty fucking pathetic LMAO

So take your little hockey argument up to Canada where people care a lot about the sport please.

This post was edited by DarkMarine on Feb 28 2013 12:27pm

They are comparable if the NBA has small market teams instead of one of the super teams.

You're point is again moot because you blatantly lied about attendance. The NHL is in much better shape with regards to gate revenues, even in shared markets with the NBA. The NBA can't sustain itself, and could look to contraction. The NHL is looking at expansion.

From the SBJ numbers, the only US cities where the NHL got higher ratings than the NBA were Detroit, Philly, and the Twin Cities (The Rangers almost pulled ahead of the Knicks and significantly outdrew the Nets) - the Wings passed the Pistons, but the Caps fell behind the Wizards.

The only US cities where the NHL got higher ratings than MLB were Pittsburgh and Washington (The Sharks out drew the A's were far behind the Giants) - no changes from last season

Atlanta - Hawks: 1.65/2.03 - Thrashers: 0.34 - Braves: 3.42
Boston - Celtics: 3.46 - Bruins 2.14 - Red Sox: 9.46
Chicago - Bulls: 2.39 - Black Hawks: 1.94 - Cubs: 4.16 - White Sox: 2.28
Dallas - Mavs: 2.15 - Stars: 0.72 - Rangers: 2.54
Denver - Nuggest: 2.7 - Avalanche: 1.52 - Rockies: 4.12
Detroit - Pistons: 2.41 - Red Wings: 4.06 - Tigers: 6.89
Bay Area - Warriors: 1.39 - Sharks: 1.09 - Giants 3.27 - A's: 0.82
LA - Lakers: 3.48 - Clippers: 0.47 - Kings: 0.30 - Ducks: 0.39 - Dodgers: 2.15 - Angels: 1.22
Florida - Heat: 2.46 - Panthers: 0.26 - Marlins: 3.23
Minn - TWolves: 0.76 - Wild: 1.57 - Twins: 6.25
New York - Knicks: 1.03 - Nets 0.32 - Rangers: 0.96 - Devils: 0.55 - Isles: 0.38 - Yankees: 4.66 - Mets 2.69
Philly - 76ers: 1.39 - Flyers: 2.16 - Phillies: 7.13
Phoenix - Suns: 3.13 - Coyotes: 0.56 - D'Backs: 3.32
Washington - Wizards: 1.44 - Capitals: 1.17 - Nationals: 0.60
St Louis - NBA: NA - Blues: 2.27 - Cards: 7.97
Tampa - NBA: NA - Lightning: 0.61 - Rays: 3.53
Pittsburgh - NBA: NA - Penguins: 8.08 - Pirates: 3.25


Total Revenues: NBA

Attendance (raw numbers): NBA

Attendance (%-age of capacity): comparable, this is the only area the NHL really might have gained an edge.

Merchandise : NBA - especially overseas (~30% of NBA licensing revenues comes from overseas).

TV Contracts: NBA

National US TV Ratings: NBA (the NBA pulls in a 1.4 rating on ESPN vs the NHL's 0.3 on Versus)

Local TV Ratings: NBA




Oh and btw, the NBA is not contracting anytime soon buddy. They're looking into expanding NBA teams into other countries because of the leagues popularity now around the world.

This post was edited by DarkMarine on Feb 28 2013 01:09pm

No they're not. That's absolutely absurd. The only league that could expand into other countries beyond the ones they're in is the NFL because of their one game a week travel schedule. The NBA would never be able to have teams outside of North America. The NBA has numerous teams in horrible financial shape, probably around 10-15. The NHL has two, Phoenix and Long Island.

Face it, the NBA is a league of haves and have nots, a league of financial turmoil and lack of on court performance parity. It's a league that struggles in at least a third of its markets, but is propped up by the Lakers, Heat, Knicks and Celtics. The NHL is a league of parity, stable franchises, growing markets, exploding participation at the junior level and strong attendance.

And what we have here ladies and gentlemen is a biased opinion from a clear hockey fan who seems to really think hockey is bigger in the U.S. than basketball. No matter how you put it, the NHL is and never will be as big as the NBA. The viewers and ratings alone in America for the NBA blow the NHL out, and that's not even factoring college basketball (march madness, etc) and high school.

There really is ZERO argument here. Basketball dominates hockey in the United States, period. NHL has grown, yes. But as far as overall popularity in the U.S.? The numbers don't lie, a SHIT ton more people watch just the NBA more than the NHL let alone factoring in college basketball which is HUGE in America also.

btw, as far as expanding around the world:



This post was edited by DarkMarine on Feb 28 2013 01:33pm

Except on numerous markets in the US

The NHL dominates the NBA in attendance and average ticket price. Those numbers don't lie. 20 years ago the NBA dwarfed the NHL. Today they are neck and neck, with the the NBA regressing and the NHL expanding.

The NHL does not dominate the NBA in attendance or ticket prices LMAO. The average ticket price overall might exceed the NBA which also has a lot to do with there being so many Canadian teams and up there they have nothing else to watch, but dominate? And attendance? They don't dominate that either, the NBA has a larger attendance # than the NHL overall. The NHL might fill more to capacity % wise because of some smaller venues but that's about it. But using mere ticket sales and attendance at games to judge popularity in an entire country is an awful measure of how popular a sport is anyway..

You're a delusional hockey fan that actually thinks the NHL is on par with the likes of the power sports like football, baseball and basketball in America. Keep dreaming man. I've already pointed out the HUGE difference of viewers and ratings alone, Hockey isn't even in the same league in the United States.

For every Hockey fan in the U.S. there's like 5 or 6 basketball fans, and that's proven by the HUGE difference in ratings/viewers.

Your Canadian sport is popular up there, no denying that or the fact that it has grown in popularity compared to 20 years ago. But do not get crazy here (which you're doing), Hockey is the red headed step child of the 4 sports everyone knows that besides you Hockey homers.

This post was edited by DarkMarine on Feb 28 2013 03:15pm

I don't think I need to say much more than this...

NBA playoffs regularly see 2.5 to 3 MILLION viewers each game across America. That's not even factoring the NBA Finals which saw as I said, 18.5 Million for game 5.

The NHL is lucky to see 500-600k fans watch their games across America, with the Stanley Cup Finals averaging a mere 3 Million viewers a game...


Not even remotely a comparison.

Basketball is probably the most international sport right after soccer lmfao..

Don't tell this kid that, he thinks Hockey is so huge.