When the National Hockey League went into a lockout in early October, some fans thought the break of play would be the end of the league as we know it, but little did they know that a shortened season might be exactly what was needed to jumpstart popularity.
Because of the lockout, the start of the season was pushed back until late January and each team played a 48-game shortened schedule when all was said and done.
Though the start of play was delayed almost four months, the compacted season helped gain immediate interest from sports fans in North America.
Some also thought the brutal lockout would not help the league in the short-term, and even the long-term, but I believe the lockout essentially saved the NHL.
With fewer games for each team, every game ended up being significantly more important for playoff implications and standings, which is why attendance numbers were up from previous years and the interest during the shortened season also grew.
In past years, the Stanley Cup Finals have earned sub-par television ratings compared to other sports, but the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals and the playoffs, overall, were the most watched since the NHL began tracking ratings in 1994.
With an increased attention towards the hockey this past season, I think that the NHL will be able to compete with the NBA and NFL in a few years, as it can only get better.
As fans watched an amazing, two-goal comeback in the final minutes by the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 6 to clinch their second Stanley Cup in four years, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was most likely smiling.
He pulled off the greatest marketing scheme for himself and the league by using the lockout as a negotiating tactic for collective bargaining — the employment agreement between owners and players — while using the shortened season for an incredible marketing plan.
The lockout was anything but pretty for hockey fans like myself, as it seemed like it would never end, but it may have been a blessing in disguise to the league.
With the sensation the lockout brought to the league after the fact, it still financially hurt in the short-term, as team losing money during months of no play because owners and players couldn’t reach an agreement.
The current 10-year collective bargaining agreement is the longest in NHL history, and I’m hoping that the time in between will give the two sides enough breathing room to avoid another lockout in 2022.
ab109410@ohiou.edu
