Let's all thank Sidney for the ratings boost

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Nobody would have wanted to watch a Pens/Stars Finals.

[Jwo 7]

The average household doesn't know what hockey is at all. Which is why the ratings have been in the toilet since I have watched hockey. However, EVERYONE who follows the NHL knows Sidney Crosby. That being said, they are the best ratings since 2002 for these reasons....

The Red Wings are one of the most popular teams in the NHL. I think in terms of fanbase they are just behind Toronto and Montreal (or pretty much equal to the Habs). Sidney Crosby is very popular in Canada and a lot of Canadian fans are tuning in to watch him as well as fans of Crosby as a player.

If you look at the teams playing since 2002, you will see why the ratings were in the crapper between now and then....

Devils and Ducks?

Lightning and Flames?

Carolina and Edmonton?

Ducks and Sens?

More people watch when the popular teams and popular players are playing. Best of both worlds right now.

I don't think that is true with a lot of Canadians tuning in to watch Sidney Crosby. The TV Ratings are down in Canada.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ortsHockey/home

[grimace1970 81]

Did anyone actually follow the link associated with the "Thank you" in the article? If you did, you would have seen....

"Names like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin continue to inch into crossover territory with each impossible deke, thread-the-needle pass and goal. A stable of second-tier stars like Jarome Iginla, Joe Thornton and Pavel Datsyuk are less known nationwide, but also spectacular.

Underrated, ignored, and relegated to third mention in the second tier stars under Iginla. This is a conspiracy!

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Did anyone actually follow the link associated with the "Thank you" in the article? If you did, you would have seen....

"Names like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin continue to inch into crossover territory with each impossible deke, thread-the-needle pass and goal. A stable of second-tier stars like Jarome Iginla, Joe Thornton and Pavel Datsyuk are less known nationwide, but also spectacular.

Underrated, ignored, and relegated to third mention in the second tier stars under Iginla. This is a conspiracy!

No, it isn't a conspiracy.

The three of those mentioned last are lesser known. The order that they were mentioned in really shouldn't and doesn't matter.

[TrueBlueblood 0]

Sorry, but to suggest the ratings are up because of the Redwings and not Crosby's presence is naive and uber-homer. Crosby is the reason the ratings are the way that they are. He's the one NHL player everyone knows, he's the one with the hilariously bad Gatorade commercial, and he's the face of the NHL. There's no battle to be lost by admitting that.

Crosby never got them ratings before, why should now be any different? Truth is, Red Wings are an original 6 team with a wide-reaching fanbase. That has more to do with it than anything else, but of course the Crosby lovers in the nhl will be quick to make him the reason.

Edited June 2, 2008 by TrueBlueblood

[Coolio Mendez 7]

Redwings finals years always put the ratings up. The ratings in 2002 were higher than any year since until this year.

The Redwings have the largest fan base, and the largest merchandise sales of any team.

Crosby might have a few people across the nation watching who weren't watching before.....but to imply that Crosby alone brought in 300% more viewers than the tampa/Carolina series is rediculous. Ratings are up because the Redwings are incredibly popular, and Pittsburgh has really shined this season. Pittsburgh is always a big sports town, so their success is certainly bringing the ratings up, and Crosby is a part of that success.....but I promise you if Pittsburgh was playing someone like Pheonix....ratings would be down considerably.

The rankings I provided before were for ALL Official NHL merchandize (jerseys, hats, water bottles, glassware, winter wear, jackets, etc (thousands of items actually)) not just jerseys.

And the Toronto Maple Leaf are #1 in Canada, and #2 in the US. The Pittsburgh Penguins are #1 in the US.

In terms of individual players

Sidney Crosby is #1 in both countries.

Sorry to break it to you buddy.

[egroen 384]

And if the Redwings faced any other team, the ratings wouldn't be as improved as they are now either.

A Wings - Rangers finals would be just as big, if not larger, as now.

[Probert 5 For Fighting 0]

Crosby never got them ratings before, why should now be any different? Truth is, Red Wings are an original 6 team with a wide-reaching fanbase. That has more to do with it than anything else, but of course the Crosby lovers in the nhl will be quick to make him the reason.

What are you talking about? What do you mean "before?" He's been in the league 3 years and it's the first time his team has made it out of the first round. What do you want from him? Pitt NBC games are a big draw. Pittsburgh has the highest local ratings of any team in the US. They embarrass us with their TV ratings. I don't know how much more of an impact you can make in 3 years.

The irrational hatred some of you display is astounding.

[RedArmy 4]

this is silly, who is to say what is responsible for it? It is like trying to measure the affect of marketing. Anyone working in product management or marketing, will tell you that is impossible to truly to do return on investment when it comes to marketing. YOu basically allocate resource and hope it works... I think people love to hate Cindy:) and love to love Ovechkin... in any case I am only thanking the wings for having an awesome season and awesome playoffs so far

[egroen 384]

Pittsburgh has the highest local ratings of any team in the US. They embarrass us with their TV ratings. I don't know how much more of an impact you can make in 3 years.

The one thing you discount, however... and it would be very difficult to prove, I admit -- is that there are probably a lot more Wings fans outside of Michigan, than there are *in* Michigan, or Penguins fans in Pennsylvania.

The mass exodus of Detroit (and now Michigan) has been going on for decades.

[55fan 5,133]

Just a couple of observations in favour of thanking Sid the Kid:

1) He has attracted new fans. This gives us an opportunity to educate them. There is a young boy at my church who crowed on about Sidney Crosby and how he was going to kick Detroit's butt. This was during the first week of the playoffs. All he knew about hockey was that Sidney played for Pit, and Sid was great.

This gave me the chance to "introduce" him to players like Shanny, Sakic, Modano, Ovechkin, and other greats who were in the playoffs. He paid attention because he knew who Sid the Kid was. By the end of the Dallas series, he was engaging in intelligent conversation about how Franzen being out effected the Wings in that series. Young kids latch on to Crosby because he's one of them. Then we can take it from there. I'll make him a Wings fan yet.

2) How many casual fans of other teams stop watching when their team is out? They may pop in for a peak if someone has 3 wins in the final, just to see the Cup awarded, but thanks to Sidney Crosby, we now have fans all over the continent who are tuning in to see that whiny little brat get beaten.

Disclaimer: I think Sid has great talent. I believe when he has a chance to mature, he will be remembered as one of the greats on and off the ice. He has shown that he is willing to try and to do what is asked of him. I couldn't live with the public pressure he faces. His handlers haven't had much time to work with him, and this is his first appearance on the big stage. Flaws are more noticable in the brightness of the spotlight. Detroit is fortunate that we have so many role models in our locker room for our younger players.

So... Thank you, Sid. Thank you, Detoit. Go Wings.

[Cern 0]

Record numbers of people tuned in to watch Crosby fail, HARD. I can live with that.

[Guest Cup_champ08]

Thanks Cindy Criesbee

[VM1138 1,921]

Sorry, but to suggest the ratings are up because of the Redwings and not Crosby's presence is naive and uber-homer. Crosby is the reason the ratings are the way that they are. He's the one NHL player everyone knows, he's the one with the hilariously bad Gatorade commercial, and he's the face of the NHL. There's no battle to be lost by admitting that.

No, hardly. Crosby wasn't in the 2002 Finals and those were the highest ratings, even hgiher than this years, I think. The link is the Red Wings, not Crosby.

[Guest Cup_champ08]

Trust me the red wings have a huge fan base internationally probably the biggest in hockey

[marshadblack 0]

atleast the red wings can say we got the sweeds watching the finals!

[Datsyerberger 279]

Homer goggles aside, and relying more on observation and statistics, I'd say the Wings are far more of a factor here than Crosby. I'm not saying he isn't a factor at all, because he certainly is, but I'm willing to bet it's relatively small as compared to the "Wings factor".

US base: The Wings have, easily, the largest fan base of all the US clubs. And that's only taking the US fans into account. For that matter, the Wings are also better off than any of the Canadian clubs, fan-wise, except the Habs and (maybe) the Leafs. I'm also willing to bet that once you expand the fandom outside of North America, the Wings outdo even the Habs. (Edit: We just don't burn as many cars)

Another important thing to point out is that most of the Habs success goes a generation or more back. The most well-known hockey club of this era is the Wings, hands down. It's all a good deal of non-hockey fans know about hockey (besides Gretzky), and one of the very very few (or only) clubs many of them can match up the name with their respective city. Hell, the Wings even get random movie quotes about them due to their various successes this generation. This one is taken out of "The Rock" .. Sean Connery film, came out around the time the Wings were having a crapton of success with all the Russian players:

John Mason: You must see a certain pattern emerging here... Alexander Solzenhitsyn...

Agent Paxton: Yeah, I heard of him. Didn't he play hockey for the ******* Red Wings?

John Mason: That's the chap.

XD that one cracked me up.

Speaking of which, lets look at european fan base. One previous poster mentioned the fandom of the Wings internationally. I concur. Of all the organizations, the Wings were to have first major success with a large group of europeans.. obviously, the Russian 5 (and nevermind the individual success of each of the players, or their already existing importance in Russia). That got a very large amount of fans in Russia that still follow the Wings--hey, we've atleast got Pasha now, and that works for many of them. Neverminding the individual success of Lidstrom and Zetterberg, we now have a very large and solid core of Swedish players, 2 of them stars, and 2 more of them highly successful. But I'll let the Swedes that we have here on our damned fan forums talk about the Swedish fan base.

Down here in NW Florida, where I'm at, I haven't met a single non-hockey fan yet who has any idea who Sidney Crosby is (most of them assume an actor). However, most of the people I know who follow sports at all know who the Wings are (and that's all a good number of them know about hockey at all). Add on to that, almost everyone I know down here who is a hockey fan is a Wings fan (a few FL and TB fans, and 1 Stars fan.. but they're from TX). I'm from FL.. granted, my dad is from Detroit so you can imagine there's influence there. However, many of these Wings fans I know are native Floridians with native Floridian parents. They picked up on the Wings during highly successful era from the mid 90s til 2002. Many of these are people around my age group, late teens to mid/late 20s. Hockey has caught a decent amount of success in my generation, and I'd put that in no small part thanks to the hockey console/PC games (which have been quite consistently successful sports games).. and some of that is just holdover from Gretzky.

Most of the people that know Crosby already were hockey fans. Not all, and I'm sure there is a growing number, but I'd still say a large majority. A good percentage of those that didn't know hockey before him and do now are probably bandwagoners, some of who probably jumped ship last season. As for the people buying the Crosby merch, I'd attribute that in great part to 2 categories: pre-existing hockey fans.. keep in mind there are several people here, Wings fans, who have bought Crosby merch. The other group is sports collectors in general, who are hoping to buy up early Crosby merch and keep it/cash in on it later (assuming he has a large of a career as he's supposed to).

For a little statistical evidence? The 2002 playoffs was the last time hockey had this much success... another Wings finals year. Attribute that as you will, I'd say it stands out as atleast possible evidence.. more than you could find to attribute the ratings to Crosby. Nevermind the fact that the teams between these two times have been, for the most part, less than spectacular. TB was one of them, they actually have a pretty successful fan base. Another 2 are Calgary and Edmonton.. while not the most popular of the Canadian teams, they're still Canadian teams and the vast majority of Canadians I know would watch a SCF that had any Canadian team in it (if nothing else, so they can cheer against them in case it's a rival Canadian team).

Out of curiosity, I'd like someone to find the ratings for 97, 98, 99, 2000, and 2001, and compare them to 2002 and 2008. It would be curious to see if 97 and 98 stand out more than the other 3 years there. I'm willing to bet they do, by a sizable margin.

All that said, I hope Crosby HAS brought a good number of additional fans to the NHL. But I'm willing to bet the success of this SCF is much more due to the presence of the Wings, a both highly successful and original 6 franchise.

Edited June 2, 2008 by The Wheeled Winger

[truebladearmy 33]

being in the military i run into allot of people from all over the states, rarely any of them know who cindy crosby is, but you bring up hockey and the first thing they say is "Detroit Red Wings"... its like a household name...i'd have to say that the ratings are up due to the wings in the playoffs not cindy...

I too am in the military, and while I hardly find any true hockey fans in the military, most of the people I know who do watch hockey are out of state RedWings fans. Some of those people might only catch a few games a year, but if you ask them their favorite team, "Redwings" comes up more than any other team.

[SSG WingNutz 0]

Captain Sid, "the next great one", Man they are putting a crap-ton of pressure on this "kid". Sorry I don't see it! He is a decent offensive player, but it seems to me he needs mentoring and seasoning in the NHL to earn that "C" on his jersey! I will take the likes of Captain Nick, or Captain Stevie. Instead of pushing the FNG for the ratings, push the guys that have earned the respect of the fans and fellow NHL players. Buttman "CHOKE YOURSELF".

[Nightfall 871]

I don't think that is true with a lot of Canadians tuning in to watch Sidney Crosby. The TV Ratings are down in Canada.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ortsHockey/home

Uh, they are down because no canadian team is in the finals this year unlike the previous when you had the Sens, Edmonton, and Calgary in the finals. Course it will be a down year this year when compared to previous ones. Still, the share in Canada is pretty good considering.

[Char Renee 0]

what the sports person forgot to mention.is

the ratings weren't the highest they have ever been they were just the highest since the wings won the cup last,

should i put 2 and 2 togather?

[Char Renee 0]

And if the Redwings faced any other team, the ratings wouldn't be as improved as they are now either. There is a new generation of fans now, and hardly any of them care about Detroit's success in 2002. Considering how our hometown fanbase has dwindled since the lockout and all that, Detroit's national fanbase may not be as big as it once was. In fact, it's certainly not. A lot of casual fans abandoned ship after the early exits and their N. American heroes left.

As for the 2002 Finals: No crap they were the highest. Who were the last few champs? NJ? TB? CAR? ANA? We damn well better beat out those markets.

All I'm saying is, the causal fan that the NHL is desperately trying to bring in - the one who doesn't know who Mikael Samuellson or Max Talbot is - knows a helluva lot more about Crosby than the Redwings right now. The playoffs were going to get a boost regardless thanks to some big market teams advancing past round 1. Detroit and Pitt both contributed to that, but it's pretty apparent the point they were hammering home in marketing was "Crosby, Crosby, Crosby"

when they played against carolina the ratings were up so it's already been done.

wings have a larger fan base then any other team by a large margin.even the people who hate the wings will watch them to watch them lose.redwings have already boosted the ratings when they have been in prior finals so they have proof and pitt on the other hand.

Edited June 2, 2008 by Char Renee

[Hank 0]

nope wings are the most popular franchise in the league sorry can't even give Crosby this

The Wings have certainly helped. But I have a feeling that Crosby is a big factor as well.

I don't know what the fascination is with people piling on, or hating on, Sidney Crosby.

This kid will do nothing but good for the league.

And for everyone bitching and moaning about the NHL not being present on ESPN, hiding Crosby in the shadows won't answer your prayers.

Crosby means big ratings, and that translates into ESPN being interested.

I look forward to watching Sid the Kid dominating this league for years to come.

Sure, he's not as well rounded as Zetterberg but he's only 20 years old.. Zetterberg was 160 lbs and lightyears away from being the player he is now at 20. Cut the kid some slack.

He'll do nothing but good for this league and it's fans.

[NC WINGS FAN 5]

This wouldnt have anything to do with the finals not invloving these teams would it?

Anaheim

Calgary

Edmonton

Carolina

Tampa

Ottawa

I love this sport above all else, but I must say that if we have another SCF match-up involving two of the above or any team similar, the ratings will be right back down where they were. The NHL and people do not want to see another Anaheim vs. Ottawa series, they want to see Detroit, New York, Philly, Boston, Chicago, and of course Pittsburgh( because of Crosby).

[NC WINGS FAN 5]

Crosby is probably part of the reason for the surge, but the fact that the Redwings are still in it is also a contributing factor just like if any other original 6 franchise or the Flyers were in it. Plus you have to look at the last 4 years as the bar isn't exactly that high.