How do you think hockey compares in popularity ?

[delpiero27 0]

well....

in italy we have two BIG problems.

1st it's called Soccer.

2nd it's called big weather difference between north and south of italy.

The first problem cause all the other sports to be on the 50-60 position in the overall ranking. Why? the first 20/25 positions are for A-series soccer, the other 10/15 for the B-series soccer, and after that there are in order, basket, volley, all motor-related sports. finally, you can find hockey, and many others "minor" sports...

the second problem is a consequence of the first. Rinks are only located in the north of italy, and so the only teams are form this part of the country. And more, only in the sorround area of the cities that have a team you can feel hockey. just 100km (or less) away hockey is a non-sense english word...

The final thought is that in any case until alla the TV here will continue to show only soccer, motoGP, F1 and sometimes volley and basket, any other sport will have many difficulties to increase the number of players, at all levels. The worst situation was during the last B-series world championship. Italy was the only country that did not buy the rights to show on tv the games.... and we were able in any case to won and catch again the A-series with canda, usa, sweden, germany....

I left out intentionally the equipment cost problem. At first you can think it's a BIG problem, but it's something that can be solved buying the stuff in other european countries or directly from the other side of the atlantic ocean. It' a nonsense having (expecially with actual rate change between euro/$) skates that cost you 700 euros. or more if you want the top. but you can play (or start) with a low-end stuff and cahge it during years...

[roadrunner 12]

how does it compare in overall popularity worldwide to sports like basketball, baseball, football, rugby, volleyball etc....

If you asked people to take a survey and check off all the sports they've played, and then ask them to list which is their favorite to play, I guarantee you hockey would come in first place for those people who have played hockey. My guess is rugby would come in second. (I'm classifying golf as a recreation on the survey.)

Given that passion, we just need the NHL to figure out how to market the sport better....

You forgot the largest sport in the world: Soccer

As much as I love hockey I will never encourage my children to play hockey unless its something they're really after. The cost is too great. My relatives in Rome don't even know what hockey is.

[Jason Harris 31]

how does it compare in overall popularity worldwide to sports like basketball, baseball, football, rugby, volleyball etc....

If you asked people to take a survey and check off all the sports they've played, and then ask them to list which is their favorite to play, I guarantee you hockey would come in first place for those people who have played hockey. My guess is rugby would come in second. (I'm classifying golf as a recreation on the survey.)

Given that passion, we just need the NHL to figure out how to market the sport better....

You forgot the largest sport in the world: Soccer

As much as I love hockey I will never encourage my children to play hockey unless its something they're really after. The cost is too great. My relatives in Rome don't even know what hockey is.

I understand soccer may be the most popular sport in the world, but I think that may be due more to finances rather than passion. Soccer can be played in any area of the world, whereas as hockey has to be played in areas cold enough for ice to freeze or wealthy enough to build rinks (ice or roller).

However, I don't think soccer generates the passion among its players as much as hockey does. I think that is evident somewhat by the number of adult rec leagues for hockey versus soccer. In Denver, there are FAR more hockey leagues, although that could be due to recovery time; I've had friends tell me they are quite sore in the legs the day after playing soccer, but not after hockey. Over time, maybe the low impact of hockey becomes more desirable.

Still, I think hockey just generates more passion. Let's say we ask someone what sports have you played in your life, and their response was, "Football, baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, tennis and track." If we then ask them which was their favorite, I'm positive the highest percentage would say hockey.

They have 75-and-over leagues for hockey. Not to say they don't exist for the other sports, but I've only heard of Masters Tennis.

[roadrunner 12]

The only time I've seen passion in hockey that's even remotly close to the passion of soccer, is whenever I watch a game in Montreal. Those fans are incredible. Just because an arena is sold out every game doesn't mean they are passionate about the sport. Greatest example...The Leafs. I worked at the ACC for 4yrs and never seen such passionless fans in my life. Fans rarely cheer. They leave during playoff overtimes, I mean that series 3yrs ago when they played the Sens the place was cleared out before OT 2 began. This is because most of these ticket holders are Corporate Sponsers and they don't give a crap. They're just there for the schmooze fest.

On the other hand, "soccer", I don't even want to call it that because it's pretty much meaningless in North America, has die hard fans every game, ticket costs are decent. I went to a game in Rome for 50Euros and had great seats. The atmosphere was incredible. Not to mention the streets in Toronto when World Cup/Euro Champioships are on. Every car has a flag on it. As far as I know from my GF's cousins in Hartford and Cleveland they don't even show World Cup in the States unless US is playing. That maybe why some don't understand the passion of soccer.

However, I would agree somewhat that PLAYING hockey requires a more fiery passion to play than soccer. That's wy soccer is "the beautiful game" its mostly finesse.

[mack 44]

The Swiss have some insane crowds; easily more passionate than any NA crowd I've seen.

[Jason Harris 31]

I think we're talking about different things.

You seem to be referring to the passion of the fans, and I woud agree that soccer fans can be crazy. There's a movie that came out last week with Elijah Woods about British "firms" that rumble after the game; they could lose the game, but as long as they win the brawl, the afternoon wasn't lost. I know parents can fight in the stands of hockey games, but nowhere near the soccer brawls.

But I wasn't referring to the fans. I was referring to people who have played the sport. I know far more kids who grew up playing soccer who stopped playing soccer, than kids who grew up playing hockey who stopped playing hockey. Given hockey is far more expensive to play, I think it really shows how much desire/passion/fun hockey engenders in its players versus many other sports.

[Petey21 1]

I personally think that in the USA, hockey is not as important to most ppl as it is to other countries such as Europe.

thats just my thoughts on it though

Most European buildings are half the size of NHL arenas and te=hey still don't sell out as often as NHL teams.

Well that doesn't mean anything, keep in mind that many teams in the top leagues in Europe come from small towns with maybe 50,000 inhabitants (in Europe the location of teams isn't based on "TV markets" or the size of the city, but on how well the team is doing as teams aren't relocated to other cities for financial reasons but can be relegated to a lower league or promoted to a higher league depending on how well they played during the previous season). An arena for 5,000 spectators is still about 10% of the total population in those towns, compare that to 18,200 people at the Madison Square Garden... :P

Hockey is big in only a few small European countries, such as Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Switzerland. It's not as popular in Germany as in those other countries I mentioned I believe, and especially not in other major countries like England, France, Italy etc, where hockey does exist but hardly anyone cares for it. Soccer is the main thing in almost all European countries.

[hocckey77 0]

i tihnk it depends by location in the USA...but if not

I tihnk the best one is SOCCER...because it the CHEAPEST sport you can play...and you can PLAY ON ANY SURFACE!! (you can't play B-B on grass..)

Hockey is freakine xpensive and you can't play it anywhere

Soccer has been the #2 participation sport in the US for years but has never been able to consistantly draw a crowd to a professional game or get even marginal ratings.

soccer's only #2 because of the heapness of the sport ( that has already been discussed.) but basically all my friends played soccer when they were younger.

whats the #1 particapated- in sport in here( america)? baseball/softball?