What sports contracts are up soon and where would you like them to go?
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Yes, but the following statewide is huge.
People in South Georgia though aren't going to drive hours to go to a game when they can watch every game for free on tv.
Not to mention prices of games these days.
My comments about it's popularity is not about fillings stands, it's about popluarity in general, just as Wil94 pointed out. Nothing here shows that Hockey is a nationally followed sport in the US, otherwise this coversation would not be happening.
Baseball isn't followed at a major league level in Atlanta.
Some people are too far away to drive? Seriously? That affects every team, everywhere...yet they still somehow find a way to sell out playoff games.
You definitely get the feeling college sports rule in Atlanta.
Sandra
The problem with the hockey games being on NBC, is that they only show 1 game a week ... so they really are not a Hockey outlet where you can see games every night like ESPN would be.
When VS has 2 channels to show playoff games and fails to take advantage of that ability, (again tonight ... 3 games on at the same time, 2 of them in OT and you can only see ONE game) thats wrong and what I don't like about VS.
If the Braves have such a great baseball following, why is it no one goes to the playoff games ?
I have NO IDEA, but they are wasting an opportunity to draw more fans to thier channel with the Alt turned off.
Variety of reasons (my guess would be their lack of success in so many post seasons, or that they've pretty much had a tv following fanbase since Ted first threw all their games up on WTBS), but their following is still far ahead of most hockey teams, especially those in the South.
Can you honestly say the sport of hockey has a national following anywhere near the level of Baseball, Basketball, or Football?
I'm not arguing that their arn't teams that arn't successful, just that hockey is not a nationally followed sport in the US.
Just take the number of people who know what that Final 4 is vs. the Frozen 4 as an example.
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You get that in almost every Southern State for any sport. But you still have a following for the sport (football, hockey, baseball).
Well, except hockey. I don't even think most Southern Colleges have a Div-1 Hockey team. They would if hockey was a national sport though.
I would not try to compare BASEBALL with Hockey when it come to "National" following, unless you want to include worldwide in witch it holds it's own very well outside of the states.
The Frozen Four ? IF your not a hockey fan, you have NO IDEA what it is, maybe a drink for 4 ?
My point about the Braves was the fact that YES they have a following, thanks largely to the fact that they were allowed in EVERYBODY homes years ago when no one else was .... (Cubs weren't even allowed everywhere till AFTER the TBS situation had already been established), but sadly when it comes time to supporting thier team in the playoffs, they do a miserable job .... they sell out about 1 games a decade in the playoffs.
Thats PATHETIC ...
Back to HOCKEY, the RED WINGS till recently, sold out EVERY GAME for YEARS and getting PLAYOFF tickets was unheard of(early 90's till present day for the most part, the recession has taken effect in the last few years breaking the string), they would sell out in less than 15 minutes.
As to hockey, the decision to deal with NBCU is wise. And the deal requires that all playoff games be on TV via alt channels starting next year. ESPN undercovers sports it does not have the rights to, but I think people have figured that out and in the long run, this is going to hurt ESPN when NBCU and CBS mount a challenge to it on their own channels.
As to the original question. IMHO Indy Car would be well served to get off ABC and in a deal with NBCU. The current split system does not help them. I very much like he current system in college football. NASCAR needs to dump TNT unless it can commit to quality coverage. Baseball needs to play hardball (pun intended) with ESPN. Move the regular season to TBS or Versus or CBSSC and ESPN is D E A D all summer.
As to the original question. IMHO Indy Car would be well served to get off ABC and in a deal with NBCU. The current split system does not help them. I very much like he current system in college football. NASCAR needs to dump TNT unless it can commit to quality coverage. Baseball needs to play hardball (pun intended) with ESPN. Move the regular season to TBS or Versus or CBSSC and ESPN is D E A D all summer.
I said nothing about worldwide, all my posts were about NATIONAL following, ie in the United States.
I know that football is not even on the radar in most of the world in the manner that soccer is, and hockey kicks everyones ass in Canada.
But here in the good old US of A, hockey is not followed on a national scale. I wish it were, but it's not.
Yes, Hockey is big in some of the Northern States, never said it wasn't, in fact I believe I said it was.
The Red Wings fan base also happens to include Windsor.
I was just trying to point out that Atlanta is a terrible sports city. A good sports city sells out playoff games in a matter of hours.
Atlanta is generally accepted to be the worst sports city in the country. Understand that Atlanta is, just standing alone, the 8th largest media market.
NHL Thrashers - marginal.
NBA Hawks - marginal.
NFL Falcons - the NFL can survive anywhere, but never a great shakes.
NCAA - Georgia Tech's following is pretty much limited to its alumni. Georgia is the SEC, and the SEC is the center of the world, but really, you will meet more UGa fans in the "rest of Georgia" than in metro Atlanta.
NASCAR - Atlanta has been an underperforming track since day one. Always low ticket prices and sparse crowds.
And now the Braves. Leave out the "America's Team" era, which was, IMHO, one of the largest mistakes MLB ever made. The Braves have a larger total market than the Yankees. All of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, and the more populated half of North Carolina, is the largest total market (excepting Toronto, of course) in the sport. A market that supports three NFL, NBA and NHL teams, and still they cannot sell out a baseball game.
NHL Thrashers - marginal.
NBA Hawks - marginal.
NFL Falcons - the NFL can survive anywhere, but never a great shakes.
NCAA - Georgia Tech's following is pretty much limited to its alumni. Georgia is the SEC, and the SEC is the center of the world, but really, you will meet more UGa fans in the "rest of Georgia" than in metro Atlanta.
NASCAR - Atlanta has been an underperforming track since day one. Always low ticket prices and sparse crowds.
And now the Braves. Leave out the "America's Team" era, which was, IMHO, one of the largest mistakes MLB ever made. The Braves have a larger total market than the Yankees. All of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, and the more populated half of North Carolina, is the largest total market (excepting Toronto, of course) in the sport. A market that supports three NFL, NBA and NHL teams, and still they cannot sell out a baseball game.
Probably because UGA is in Athens and not Atlanta (a good hour and a half drive).
Again, not in Atlanta, the track is actually in Hampton, a good half an hour from Atlanta and actually only about 10 miles from my dad's house. The track did much better before NASCAR yanked the last race of the season from the AMS. Pretty much all the highways in Henery & Spalding County were packed on race days.
But yes, Atlanta sucks for sports fans, the rest of Georgia not so.
But I wouldn't say Atlanta stands alone for sucking for pro teams. How many NFL teams has LA lost because they can't compete with USC & UCLA?
Having lived in Central florida area all my life I can certainly atest to the fact the Tampa Bay lightning are but a gimmick in the area. You will find true hard core fans sure, but by and large they are a novelty. You never hear anyone talk about them unless they are in a championship game and then its only briefly. Do people go to the games? Sure, but people also go to the Tampa BAy storm games.. They are fun events to attend. And usually pretty cheap. Specially compared to an NBA game. The people who go to these games the most are either A. From the north and converted bolts fans. B. From the north and fans of the teams the bolts are playing against. C. From the north and just general fans of hockey D. Looking for something to do on a boring night. or E. Hardcore Bolts fans.. The later being the smallest group.
Hockey is just not a big deal in this area, you are hard pressed to find a league to play in (for kids) heck your hard pressed to find an ice rink to even skate on. But you can find 2 or 3 soccer leagues, baseball leagues, football, even basketball leagues in just one city.
Hockey is just not a big deal in this area, you are hard pressed to find a league to play in (for kids) heck your hard pressed to find an ice rink to even skate on. But you can find 2 or 3 soccer leagues, baseball leagues, football, even basketball leagues in just one city.
