Thursday, September 27, 2007

Icy Reception In London Town

As suspected, the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks are now parading around London on a double decker bus touting and showing off the Lord Stanley prize. They open a two-game league opening series against the Los Angeles Kings this weekend.

English spectators are baffled and don"t understand what it is, who they are and what they are doing in London. An English marketing director friend of The Dark Ranger reports that there is virtually no buzz or coverage on the local level, and even the annual (and also sold out) dog show is getting more attention. Great idea Bettman - cash that Phil Anschutz check today!

All in all, this is still a bad idea, though it does signal the beginning of the hockey season. There will not be any coverage in the States. If I were a Ducks or Kings season ticket holder, I would be pissed.

Leave the "around the world" NHL games in pre-season exhibition land, and keep the splashy openings on our own turf!

Cheers!

TDR

4 comments:

  1. I fully agree that regular season games shouldn't be held anywhere but at home and England was a bad idea from the start. But teams should tour Europe in lieu of senseless, barely-attended preseason games that aren't even televised -- imagine the Rangers in Prague! The place would be a sell out and all of the Czech Republic would tune in.

    And I stand by my theory that the All Star Game should be held overseas ... hockey is a world game and its a corporate event anyway. What can the league possibly gain by having its top players go to Atlanta for a weekend? In Stockholm, Prague, Moscow, Berlin the game would get a lot of beneficial worldwide exposure for its stars -- and definitely moreso than it would, say, in Dallas on a Wednesday night on Versus.

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  2. Agreed. Same reason Puerto Rico was stupid last year. However, I would still keep the All Star game here for the sake of time. You only stop the regular season for four days here where it may be a week overseas. If you do it at the end of the season, you risk the pointlessness of the Pro Bowl.

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  3. Bettman should take a cue from the NFL by having preseason games between teams that rarely play each other, instead of trying to create a non-media event out of a game overseas. This allows displaced fans to maybe see their favorite team in person, and also allows for normal rivalries to "keep the mystery" until it actually counts.

    But then again, this fan is still more interested in watching the Phillies take over the NL East as the Mets sh*t the bed. Any situation where Philly overtakes NY is fun to watch...

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  4. You know my feelings on it... but the game in London IS sold out. Granted London isn't a natural choise for me (Stockholm, Prague, Oslo seem like better choices), but I like the idea

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