Friday, May 28, 2010
Crosby/Ovechkin in Winter Classic IV, Bettman not totally incompetent?
Gary Bettman didn't get his wish of Crosby vs. Ovechkin in the Stanley Cup playoffs thanks to those pesky Montreal Canadiens, he will showcase them on what is fastly becoming the league's biggest showcase, the NHL Winter Classic.
The 4th edition of the NHL's answer to largely meaningless college football games on New Year's Day will feature the closest thing the NHL has to superduperstars, as Sidney Crosby and his Pittsburgh Penguins host Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, from Heinz Field.
This is the best possible matchup to try and suck on casual viewers. While historic franchises such as the Original Six mean a lot to hockey fans themselves, a casual fan really wont care all that much if they hear "Red Wings vs. Rangers" but the casual fan will take notice if they hear "Crosby and Ovechkin."
Now, that person may think "Crosby Ovechkin" is one person or that its a new buddy cop show where Crosby is the straight laced by the book rookie and Ovechkin is the loose cannon veteran who doesn't play by the rules, but they know the names.
With the NHL facing a finals for the first time in 3 years that doesn't have the Yankees of the NHL and the sport's annointed savior, the NHL will need some momentum going into next season.
If the NHL knew what they were doing, they would beg, borrow and plead NBC to give them two 15-second spots for every NFL game when Sunday Night Football return in the fall. But knowing the NHL, Gary Bettman will probably tweet about the game on December 29th and conisdered the game promoted.
Speaking of Bettman and the competency thing, he surely hasn't learned his lesson from over expansion and thinks you can never have enough of a good thing. On February 20th, the Calgary Flames will host the Montreal Canadiens in an outdoor game in Calgary's McMahon Stadium.
This takes a unique event the NHL has once a year and begins to make it common. Now, I know the idea of outdoor hockey is no longer a novel idea but the fact that Bettman would let something the NHL actually has built up as unique and special and has gotten a foot hold in this country on a day tradiotonally reserved for college football be diminished by a game on a random Sunday in February demonstrates that the guy's marketing skills are barely above a used car salesman.
In this instance Gary, more is not better.
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