This year’s NBA All-Star Weekend found itself clashing with an unlikely opponent for viewership. The NHL??? That’s right, this year’s 4 Nations Hockey Faceoff left many people impressed with the current state of hockey and with a sour taste for the NBA as the all star weekend was, once again, a severe let down for them.

Let’s be honest, hockey does not have anywhere near the same size market of the other 3 major North American sports leagues. Just look at the salaries that the best players are making across the different leagues. Ohtani and Soto both just signed for 700 million in the MLB. Lots of players in the NBA and NFL make well above 50 million annually. While the NHL can only pay its best athletes 12 million a year. These numbers reflect the leagues viewership and revenue. I’m not saying that the NHL is doing anything wrong; the population numbers are simply not on their side. For example, Canada is home to roughly 40 million people, many of whom follow hockey to some degree. Whilst Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts and New York (the 4 states widely considered to have the best hockey culture in the U.S.) combine for another roughly 43 million. That’s 83 million. On the other hand, California, Texas and Florida combine for roughly 91 million people. There we have 3 states in the U.S. that combine for more people than the entire country of Canada plus the 4 most “hockey minded” states. And yes you might be saying that California, Texas and Florida are all home to NHL teams, but the majority of the folks that live in those places just don’t care about hockey the way they do about other sports. Heck, there are more leafs fans in the building when the leafs play against the panthers or lightning WHEN THE GAME IS HELD IN FLORIDA.

So where am I getting with all of this? Well, I’m trying to say that it was impressive the kind of numbers that the NHL drew in over the course of the 4 Nations tournament based on the elements that are stacked against them.

I want to make 2 more points:

1) We desperately hope the 4 Nations Faceoff is here to stay. That is pretty self explanatory… we as fans would love to get to watch “best on best” hockey once a year.

2) People want to watch players who care about their sport, their team, their country, and winning. And that is why the NHL gained fans this weekend and the NBA continues to struggle. And again you might say wait, the NBA isn’t struggling, they just signed a massive TV deal for the next decade that sets them up financially… Yes that is good for the owners who are in it for solely for business. But I am talking about the league itself and what is going on with the players on the court and the fans in the stands / at home.

People tuned in to watch the 4 Nations final in Boston because there were fights, there was diving to block shots, there was emotion… and it was essentially nothing more than an exhibition tournament. People were drawn to how much the players cared about it. Yes it benefitted from a political narrative that was happening at the same time but that doesn’t change anything on the ice.

Meanwhile, you’ve got guys in the NBA who can’t even be bothered to play at half speed for the All-Star game in San Francisco. You’ve got Lebron who didn’t even have the decency to tell the league he probably wasn’t going to play in enough time to get a replacement. Honestly, it’s just a poor showing for the NBA. But even still, I can get passed all that because it’s an All-Star game and I don’t think it matters that much. The problem is that these issues are starting to pile up for the NBA and it’s starting to become hard to get behind teams and players that don’t seem to play with the same intensity, drive or passion as other sports. Load management is embarrassing, plain and simple. It’s one thing to actually be injured, but load management and having to instill ‘games played’ minimums in order to win league awards is borderline out of control.

Anyways that is all for today’s rant. Props to the NHL for doing something great and the players for their dedication to their game and countries. Nothing too special to report about the NBA All-Star game other than the talent that we have in the NBA right now is amazing. They truly are unbelievable players… if only we could get them to care a little more.

Cheers,

-E