Sports popularity, and how to fit the NHL in America.

Hockey is a great sport, but the average ratings for the NHL's most recent championships was a relatively small 3.3 metered market rating (mmr) = 8.6 million viewers) when compared to the other North American team sports.   The 2013 Stanley Cup finals had their best ratings in history, and that amounted to just over a quarter (26.6%) of the viewers the NBA finals pulled (12.4mmr) per game.   If you added the viewers for every Stanley Cup finals game (8.6 x 3 = 51.6 million), and then doubled that number (103.2 million), it would still be less than the SuperBowl pull of 111 million viewers  (46.5mmr).  When the giants swept the World Series it did not provide drama (except to those in Norther California) and consequently drew historically low ratings at 7.7mmr; which is still over twice what the Stanley Cup drew.

The NHL is growing in popularity, but it is not catching up.

Why is the NHL less accessible (to American audiences)?  
Do American viewers only watch high scoring sports?  The rules the NBA and NFL have implemented to increase scoring underlines that point.  As does the popularity of NFL redone and it's ADD style worship of every score.  Hockey is low scoring game, can it compete?  Yes it absolutely can.   In the NFL the most famous stars are offensive players, but some of their most popular teams are defensively lead franchises (Steelers, NY Giants, the current 49'ers).  Baseball is also a low scoring sport.  We love the home run kings (until they pop dirty for steroids), but we also love pitchers who throw perfect games (and no hitters, when twitter spread the word that Tim Lincecom was going for a no hitter ratings spiked as giants fans rushed their way too the TV.).  Low scoring games are acceptable to the American audience, so long as it is low scoring because of defensive competence, not offensive incompetence, and (this is crucial) so long as we understand the difference.

I would love to play basketball with the president.
This has nothing to do with the article.

Do American viewers only watch sports they understand?  As a kid I played touch football in the street with my friends.  I shoot hoops with my brother on the lopsided basketball rim in our back yard.  It is not a coincidence that I far more invested in watching those two sports than any other.  I did not really play baseball as a kid, and I do not watch much baseball now (though I do watch more baseball than hockey).  Is my enjoyment of sport permanently linked to my experiences playing it?  Hockey has creative rules, the penalty box and in action substitutions are unique among major sports, and I think they are fascinating, but I do not watch Hockey.  I do not understand what makes a special player, though I can recognize spectacular plays.  It is hard for hockey to hold my attention when most of the action is meaningless to me.  Do I have a fundamental appreciation for the exploits of professional basketball and football players because I know how hard it is to compete against someone who who is 6'7" 260lbs?   Maybe the innovations of hockey are too alien to me, and I want to watch what I know.  Maybe we do not want to be able to go behind the goal and still be in play (also technically possible in basketball, but there is not a large grounded obstruction on the court--unless Kendrick Perkins is in the game).  Maybe hockey will forever be more popular in Canada and the northern states because they have the ice required for the recreational play that creates an attachment to the game.  I do think Americans are confused by hockey where we feel a connection to our the sports we play (or played) recreationally, but...

I believe early recreational influences can be overcome.  (As I previously stated) I almost never played baseball, and it is not my sport of choice, but when the SF Giants were making a run at the world series I watched most of it, and I thoroughly enjoyed sharing the experience with my girlfriend and family (who are wise enough to appreciate baseball).  Following those two world series wins my interest in baseball for the sake of baseball has increased, even if it is a distant third to basketball and football.  Youth soccer boomed in popularity across America in the 90's (and created the ubiquity of soccer moms (and the term soccer moms)), but where are all the soccer fans?  They grew up to watch more Football, Baseball, and Basketball.  Why?  I have no idea, some still watch soccer, especially the world cup, but soccer is not the ratings giant in America that it should be if childhood sport were the only ingredient.  The NFL is by far the most popular sport in America, and it has millions of female fans (there are more male fans, but female NFL fans are a rapidly growing market).  Unlike basketball, softball, and soccer it is very rare for young girls to play tackle football, yet they are fans.  The female audience acclimated to the game, largely without playing it.  If the NFL is the leading sport by viewership in America, then Hockey can reach a mainstream audience (both sports are low scoring, feature controlled violence, and the stars faces/bodies are obscured by helmets and padding).

How hockey can become mainstream:  I was drawn to football because my childhood friends were, and that was the early 90's when it was exciting to be a 49'ers fan.  I was drawn to basketball because I was tall, and I made new friends who wanted me to play with them, this was in the late 90's and early 2000's when the Sacramento Kings were good.  I was drawn to baseball because those that I loved were excited about the Giants during the most important and exciting part of the baseball year.  These sports were able to capture my attention at the right time and pull me in for good.  Hockey can do this too, but it needs to stop competing head to head with the NBA.  I had time and interest to invest in my new teams and the collective experience with other fans. The NHL can build on this better if it claimed a part of the year as its own.  As they currently stand their regular season starts a little after the NBA regular season and during the NFL season, and I do not hear much about it.  The rest of the NHL season is overshadowed by the NFL, NFL playoffs, and the NBA.  Casual sports fans do not have the energy to invest in the NHL with everything going on in two other major sports leagues (and their lives, jobs, kids, friends).  After the SuperBowl the major sports ratings transition to NCAA March Madness, then to the NBA playoffs.  The NHL has made the unfortunate tactical mistake to start their playoffs moments after the NBA playoffs begin.  Then they compound that mistake by starting their finals while most casual sports fans are focused on the NBA finals. This ensures that throughout the entire NHL season they must compete with the major story lines from other sports.  This is easily fixed.  The easiest time to draw in casual fans is in the championship round, we want to see history, protecting that event must be the goal for the NHL to grow. If the NHL moved their season back a few weeks they would still compete with the NBA and NFL for much of their season (all sports must face some overlap) but the most important part of the season (playoffs and finals) would own two or three weeks of being the most important North American sports competition with undivided media and fan attention (I was interested in the Stanley Cup finals, but I was already neglecting my girlfriend 3 nights a week for the NBA playoffs).  The NHL can create true fans when they have their undivided attention, then do something spectacular, and explain why it was spectacular, and that will make us want to watch for the next special moment.

Hockey is a winter sport, it will insult purists if they move the season to cover the majority of spring (and into summer), and they could achieve much of the same thing by starting the season earlier (allowing them to start their season/playoffs/finals before the NBA), but that means more competition with the NFL, which is currently a losing proposition, so NHL competition committee, move your season back three weeks.

The prediction:  This will not happen.  There is no reason not too, other than sticking with tradition, but the NHL finals are far better off competing with baseball spring training/early season than the NBA finals.
Odds I am right:  99% if they were going to change this they would have done so by now.