Waiting for the real season in April, or women who won't watch because it's #notmyNHL?

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Jour ... -RSNs.aspx

Mind you, the Hawks are still ranked 3rd out of the 21 American teams who make their ratings available -- local ratings in Nashville and Raleigh can't be measured because of how Fox Sports South is set up, but I think we can safely say no one's watching or they'd find a way to report encouraging numbers. Buffalo is up 55% and back in its rightful first with the conclusion of the McEichel Tank, even though the Sabres still haven't won as often as I thought they would.

What's really scary is the Islanders' ratings going down 24 percent on the heels of their first legitimately solid season since 2004. Of course, it's also on the heels of moving away from the community where they had spent their entire existence. Everyone knows it's a pain in the ass for suburbanites to get to Brooklyn, and an even bigger pain to watch a hockey game in the bourgeois shithole Barclays Center, but apparently no one is even watching in the comforts of home, and again, during another solid playoff season. I'm an Islanders well-wisher, hoping for a Final between them and the Hawks, but man, things are looking grim for them.

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I think it's just cuz people realized, after this 7 year run, that they'll just wait for the playoffs cuz they know they got this year's regular season thing since they've been the #1 or #2 seed for a while. So what does it matter? But with the Bulls being shit this year, you'd think they'd get some of their audience on nights they both play. They'll kill it locally in the playoffs.

But, like you said, despite the drop off, still doing good compared to other hockey markets.

Kane might have turned people off this year as well.

Patrick Sharp is gone, just sayin'.

NHL is a little NBAish. You kinda know what teams will be there in the end. We've not watched more games this year than normal and haven't gone to one this year. I don't really know why. There are lots of new faces on the Blackhawks roster.

I skipped a good handful of games this year and don't feel like I missed all that much.

Also remember that with local ratings, a ratings point in one television market isn't the same as one in another. The Sabres may have a higher percentage of viewers tuned in (but I don't know whether they count the Buffalo media market alone or the entire reach of MSG's upstate feed: Rochester, Syracuse, Erie, etc., plus they finally got Niagara Falls ON after all these years), but the Hawks would still have more households. Of course, when you get to a medium-sized market like Miami and Los Panteras are only pulling a .20, well, that's big trouble.

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Agree on Sharpe. Not sure who is the new 'mature female" heart throb on the team. I know Stahlberg was a favorite for awhile.

Guess they will just need to wait to get SAAD back soon....

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

careful, men. Casey totally let us know it wasnt about the Ice Girls being HAWT or what they wore. Or the Shoot The Puck bunnies they rolled out every game. Or that they only watched because handsome dudes. Its because THEY ARE FANS OF THE GAME TOO.


*dies*

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

In all honesty, this probably comes down to two things: losing a good deal of RSN games to NBC, and the Cubs monopolizing the first week or two of hockey season. That would pretty well explain a tiny dip in local ratings. Still gotta be Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Pittsburgh paying the freight when it comes to local viewership.

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2014-2015 = "Peak Bandwagon" so some fall off was inevitable.

I'm sure everything will be fine. The city will pretend to care about hockey in May again.

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I'm feeling hockey fatigue, and as a result I haven't watched more than 2 games all season. Even in the cup run last year, I was feeling it. Its like having too much of a good thing. On top of hockey fatigue, I focused so much on the Cubs last fall that I've spent pretty much every day the past four months asking myself if baseball started. I'll likely care more come playoff time.

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There is some burnout. There has been a lot of hockey on for 7 years.

I seem to get the right amount. I get the occasional network game. Once the playoffs start then all are on. Need to pace ones self.

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Elections have consequences.

Napkin math says the Panthers are getting about 4,900 households. Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch. Hawks around 136,000.

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I can't remember the last time I missed a Hawks game. Look forward to every one of them. Don't care who the opponent is.

Shame on some of you for not savoring every last second of the golden age of Chicago Blackhawks hockey. You're probably the same assholes who spent the last year of the Bulls dynasty worrying about if they were gonna sign Phil Jackson in the offseason instead of savoring the greatness that was happening on the court.

Watching 2 games all year??? Whoever said that is no hockey fan. We've got the best line and player in the NHL this season and you've only watched them twice?

Did I actually read someone saying they weren't watching cause they were thinking about the Cubs? Who ever wrote that should go kill himself.

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To be fair, sometimes the golden age of Chicago Blackhawks hockey is showing up in Raleigh without a single fuck to give and losing 5-0 to a team that's going to miss the playoffs for seven years in a row. I'm sure some people were able to miss the Bulls booting one to the Vancouver Grizzlies without much guilt.

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I'm no masochist. I'm not saying you should sit there through one of those shit shows, but you don't know in advance when you're gonna get a clunker. I watch every game, but if they look like crap from the start and get down a few goals the rest of the game gets watched in fast forward unless they make it competitive.

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Hi Shakes!

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