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Mighty Wings

ESPN: NHL planning to stage games in London

By Mighty Wings, in General

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royedwards    0

royedwards
Posted

How popular is ice hockey in England? There was something on the tube recently showing how it is catching on in Northern Ireland. One reason is that hockey is a 'foreign' sport, and so the teams don't break down along the old sectarian lines.

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irmk    0

irmk
Posted

How popular is ice hockey in England? There was something on the tube recently showing how it is catching on in Northern Ireland. One reason is that hockey is a 'foreign' sport, and so the teams don't break down along the old sectarian lines.

Northern Ireland (where I'm from) has the Belfast Giants - a team to be proud of! :thumbup:

One of the main problems with hockey over here is accessibility. Our own Elite league has no TV deal right now and the NHL games are really only available on NASN via subscription so probably most people don't even know that hockey exists! :rolleyes:

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yzerman&thewings=CUP    0

yzerman&thewings=CUP
Posted

Northern Ireland (where I'm from) has the Belfast Giants - a team to be proud of! :thumbup:

One of the main problems with hockey over here is accessibility. Our own Elite league has no TV deal right now and the NHL games are really only available on NASN via subscription so probably most people don't even know that hockey exists! :rolleyes:

didn't Theo Fleury play for them?

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SouthernWingsFan    854

SouthernWingsFan
Posted

LONDON BABY!!!!!!!!

Why not? It's not like they're going there to start a new franchise. Definitely wouldn't hurt to generate some more international fan interest with a few glorified scrimmages.

It will never trumpet soccer/futbol in those areas but hopefully people will catch on after those few preseason games and learn that a lot of NHLers are from neighboring countries such as Sweden ad the Czech Republic.

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SouthernWingsFan    854

SouthernWingsFan
Posted

This is stupid. The NHL needs to get the U.S. more excited about hockey then Europe. If the NHL was having the same sucess as the NFL/MLB I would be fine to go around the world, but we should concentrete on our own turf first.

It's only 2 games.........

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Guest ZetterBurger40   

Guest ZetterBurger40
Posted

This is stupid. The NHL needs to get the U.S. more excited about hockey then Europe. If the NHL was having the same sucess as the NFL/MLB I would be fine to go around the world, but we should concentrete on our own turf first.

Exactly. They can't even fill the seats in their big market U.S. teams- oh well, that Las Vegas team should help that problem...

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craighead88    0

craighead88
Posted

I know college football came up here to canada

Yes there is talk of theres being 3 games of Oct 5-7 to start the 2007-8 regular season , to be played in the new 02 Arena (part of the millenium dome) the arena holds 23,000

The same company AEG , own the LA kings so the kings will be the ones to play, all should be finalized in the summer.

I live in England, Uk hockey is quite a minority, we do have a Elite league and had a few stars 2 years a go during the lock out, me being a Nottingham Panthers fan , we aquired Nick Boynton, Ian Moran and Steve Mckenna.

I hope to be making the 120 mile trip south to London for this weekend :D

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akustyk    84

akustyk
Posted (edited)

thanks to all of you who curse Bettman for the idea but... you know what? hockey actually has fans outside North America and people out there would also like to see the stars. which are, already to big extent, coming from Europe.

what exactly gives you the right to demand NHL players not to come here, to Europe, to display their skills? with that many Euros in NHL rosters there will actually be many players in front of their countrymen fans. because there will sure as hell be many Swedes, Finns, Czechs or Russians.

why must the NHL not do this, please?

sorry for being a harsh ass but I hate this kind of attitude. hockey players are not US/Canada property. period

Edited by akustyk

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Draper4$1    0

Draper4$1
Posted

thanks to all of you who curse Bettman for the idea but... you know what? hockey actually has fans outside North America and people out there would also like to see the stars. which are, already to big extent, coming from Europe.

what exactly gives you the right to demand NHL players not to come here, to Europe, to display their skills? with that many Euros in NHL rosters there will actually be many players in front of their countrymen fans. because there will sure as hell be many Swedes, Finns, Czechs or Russians.

why must the NHL not do this, please?

sorry for being a harsh ass but I hate this kind of attitude. hockey players are not US/Canada property. period

I agree completely. There is nothing wrong with trying to grow the game outside North America. What better way than letting the people of Europe experience the greatness of a live NHL game themselves??

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Guest Crymson   

Guest Crymson
Posted

thanks to all of you who curse Bettman for the idea but... you know what? hockey actually has fans outside North America and people out there would also like to see the stars. which are, already to big extent, coming from Europe.

what exactly gives you the right to demand NHL players not to come here, to Europe, to display their skills? with that many Euros in NHL rosters there will actually be many players in front of their countrymen fans. because there will sure as hell be many Swedes, Finns, Czechs or Russians.

why must the NHL not do this, please?

sorry for being a harsh ass but I hate this kind of attitude. hockey players are not US/Canada property. period

I didn't mean my comment to say this. I more referred to the fact that while the NHL is having significant issues with plummeting attendance, revenue issues, discontent from fans, Bettman decides to spend his time on matters like form-fitting jerseys and exhibition games overseas.

You've got every right to see the players play, but I think Bettman is a moron.

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akustyk    84

akustyk
Posted

I didn't mean my comment to say this. I more referred to the fact that while the NHL is having significant issues with plummeting attendance, revenue issues, discontent from fans, Bettman decides to spend his time on matters like form-fitting jerseys and exhibition games overseas.

yeah, no doubt about it. but Bettman is a manager :lol: and he is not supposed to know the product, but to sell it ;-)

of those condition he definitely suffices the first (indeed, he knows $hit about hockey) but the same can't be said about the later, because NHL as a product is sold pretty poorly

You've got every right to see the players play, but I think Bettman is a moron.

dito

Bettman robbed this sport of "accumulators" - teams that buy quality players and are boasted with skill that fans love to watch. he flattened the league in terms of competitiveness and skill-distribution which is not good for sport followers. it has some advatages (I actualy like the fact that there's emphasis on building teams smart rather than bold) but it's not gonna be good from the media perspective :(

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