NHL shows gains but NBA still wins 2010 television sweepstakes

Having game 5 of the NHL's 2010 Stanley Cup finals go up against game 2 of the NBA Finals Sunday night might have been unfortunate scheduling for both leagues and their fans but it did offer up a great chance to compare hockey apples with basketball oranges, so to speak, when it comes to television drawing power in North America.

Among the findings that stick with me are that NBA basketball is almost as popular among Americans as NHL hockey is to Canadians, at least when it comes to this spring's match-ups between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals and the Chicago Blackhawks and the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup.

The head-to-head showdown showed that on a per capita basis, Canadians are this year 5.75 times as likely to watch Stanley Cup championship hockey than those living south of the border. It also demonstrated that Americans outwatch -- again per capita -- Canadians by 5.43 to 1 when it comes to NBA Finals basketball.

On this given Sunday, the NHL outscored the NBA on Canadian television by a 13:1 margin. In the U.S., however, the NBA beat the NHL by a ratio of 2.66:1 (approaching threefold). Hoops also won the continental battle by a margin of almost 60 per cent, with 16.0 million North Americans watching the Celtics beat the Lakers and 9.7 million tuning in to see Chicago move to within one game of its first Stanley Cup in 49 years (which the Blackhawks clinched in overtime tonight to win in six games).

The television scorecard Sunday looked like this...

                               NBA                              NHL
                               LA/Boston                                Chicago/Philadelphia
                               Game 2                                     Game 5


North America      16.0 million viewers         9.7 million viewers


United States        15.7 million viewers         5.9 million viewers
                              ESPN on ABC                             NBC

Canada                  291 thousand viewers     3.8 million viewers
                              TSN                                            CBC/RDS

The head-to-head comparison is particularly interesting in the U.S., where four of the top eight television markets in the country are directly engaged in the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals. This year's NHL and NBA championship series span the second-largest media market in the country, LA (5.7 million television households), #3 Chicago (3.5 million) and #4 Philadelphia (2.9 million), along with #8 Boston (2.4 million).

Sunday continued to show how heavily the NHL relies on the strength of its local markets when it comes to U.S. television ratings, with more than a third of those Americans tuning into Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final coming from either champion Chicago (where local market shares hit 40%) or Philly (almost 30%).

The New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls could theoretically drive larger combined local audiences if they found a way to return to the NBA Finals, but for ESPN on ABC, there is no stronger match-up in terms of national television interest than the NBA's two heritage brands, the Celtics and Lakers.

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With matchups like this, series sweeps are not what the leagues or their broadcast partners want

Seven-game championship series are always the cat's meow when it comes to driving fan interest and television audiences. But it's even more intriguing a proposition this year for the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association and their U.S. broadcast partners.

That's why Claude Giroux's overtime goal in tonight's 4-3 win for the Philadelphia Flyers over the Chicago Blackhawks had to come as a relief for the NHL, Versus, NBC and anyone in all-sports television and radio who cares about hockey.

The clutch goal prevented the Blackhawks from taking a 3-0 stranglehold against the Flyers and likely reducing the length of this year's Stanley Cup final to five or even the minimum four games (which would have prevented it from gaining another second of air time on NBC).

The NHL and its broadcast partners are even more interested in a long series this year because the 2010 final can boast a direct local market engagement of almost 6.5 million television households. It pits the third-largest media market in the country (Chicago, with 3.5 million television households) against the fourth-largest (Philadelphia, with 2.95 million).

It's the best Stanley Cup showdown in terms of the Nielsen's ratings company's Designated Market Areas since 2003 when the New Jersey Devils and the Anaheim Ducks brought together the New York and Los Angeles DMAs and ranks third all-time in terms of television households (behind New Jersey/Anaheim in 2003 and New Jersey/Dallas in 2000).

Given that it showcases two American cities that actually care about hockey, it's the strongest U.S. hockey market match-up since Detroit swept Philadelphia in 1997 and -- if it lasts at least six games -- will drive the best American television ratings since the New York Rangers won the 1994 Stanley Cup in a seven-game thriller against the Vancouver Canucks.

Yet that's only part of the story. The Chicago-Philadelphia Stanley Cup final and the Los Angeles-Boston NBA final make this spring a high-water mark for sports television and radio, combining to make up one of the largest aggregate local market engagements in the history of the NHL and NBA championship series.

The 6.5 million TV households available to the NHL, Versus and NBC are joined by the more than 8 million households in LA and Boston that are being targeted by the NBA and ESPN on ABC. That's almost 15 million U.S. television households directly engaged with the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals and all of the sports television and radio news and talk shows that come along for the ride.

It might not be the biggest-ever local market combination in sheer overall capacity (Denver, New Jersey, LA and Philadelphia in 2001 and Detroit, Raleigh, LA and New Jersey in 2002 rated higher in terms of cumulative television households at north of 16 million each year). There's no denying, however, that this year's showdowns -- third overall in aggregate DMA size -- are anchored in a final four that includes two of the very best American hockey markets and arguably the two greatest big basketball markets in the U.S.

It's not just quantity this year, it's quality of market demographics for the NHL and NBA. Chicago-Philly for hockey and LA-Boston for hoops are dream television match-ups on both counts.

ESPN on ABC will bring the best-of-seven final between the NBA's two heritage brands -- the Lakers and Celtics -- to those strong local markets and to an interested national television audience. Meanwhile, the NHL is basking in arguably its best-ever U.S. hockey market match-up.

Now if only more Americans could find the mid-week Stanley Cup games on Versus.

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Improbable Stanley Cup playoff run allows Montreal Canadiens' centennial to resonate

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: the most important part of the business of sport is the business of winning. It's certainly the most persuasive part.

Winning is the best marketing. It's all about substance and cliches such as walking the walk and talking the talk. If business success in sport is one part product and one part marketing, the product is by far the bigger part.

That's why those who make the Montreal Canadiens the best-marketed franchise in Canada and arguably the best in the National Hockey League can thank their player roster for validating the 100th anniversary festivities in which the oldest hockey club in the world has invested so much of their resources and our attention.

This year's unexpected playoff run -- to the fifth game of the National Hockey League's eastern conference finals -- has given substance to the centennial celebrations that have become the club's staple industry the past 18 months; if not the past five years.

No amount of clever marketing can replace the inspirational impact of winning on the ice.

In this case, the Montreal Canadiens have done everything imaginable to mark the 100-year milestone with a sense of thoughtfulness, history and class: by retiring a series of sweater numbers in the five years leading to the 2008-'09 centennial; using last year to showcase and market a cross-section of the club's retro jerseys dating back to their first game in 1909; producing a 100th anniversary DVD; and culminating everything with the actual anniversary game in November of 2009, which was an unprecedented presentation of pomp and circumstance in Canadian -- if not North American -- sport.

Yet the 2008-'09 centennial season missed one important piece: a winning season...a bridge to that long and storied history... a sense of connection to the lineage represented best by Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau and Guy Lafleur...and of course the illustrious tradition of 24 Stanley Cups.

After finishing first in the eastern conference and reaching the second round of the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs (before losing to the same Philadelphia Flyers), the Habs faltered badly during the Centennial season, finishing eighth and enduring the embarassment of a four-game sweep at the hands of their arch rivals, the Boston Bruins, in the first round. The very glory years that were being celebrated in 2008-'09 seemed so long ago.

These past two months in 2010, however, the players and the team ignited what the entire Centennial was designed to provide; pride of association, memories of yesteryear and what it felt like to be in the hunt for the trophy Canadian sports fans cherish most.

It's been 17 years since the Canadiens last reached the Stanley Cup finals and won. It could be another 17 years or more before they do so again. But Montreal's run in what Stanley Cup-winning head coach Mike Babcock calls a "marathon of hope" was a final touch this year to the 100th anniversary celebrations that was better than anyone in their front office could have scripted.

It has not only given the organization and its fans a sense of hope and optimism but a restored sense of identity for a team that, for the first time in its great history, has gone this long between championships.

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Business Tale of the Tape: Chicago and Philadelphia makes for solid Stanley Cup final

The end of the Montreal Canadiens' improbable run to the 2010 Stanley Cup finals means smaller Canadian audience numbers for CBC and dramatically lower ratings for RDS, but it makes for a solid showdown between two of the strongest American brands in the National Hockey League. And in that light, the championship round bringing together the Chicago Blackhawks and the Philadelphia Flyers is great news for the NHL's U.S. television rights holders, NBC and Versus.

It's a worthy follow-up to last year's Stanley Cup final between the eventual 2009 champion Pittsburgh Penguins and the 2008 winners, the Detroit Red Wings; the two most popular road teams in the NHL over the past three years.

There's no Sidney Crosby in this year's Stanley Cup final, but a quick look at the sport business tale of the tape pitting the Blackhawks against the Flyers suggests it might be the best U.S. match-up in at least a decade based on sheer hockey market strength:

Franchise valuation - According to Forbes Magazine, this Stanley Cup series showcases the fifth and seventh highest-valuated franchises in the NHL. Philadelphia is valued at $273 million US while Chicago comes in at $258 M (and rising as the hottest property in the NHL). In 2009, Detroit was fourth while small-market Pittsburgh was middle of the pack.

Overall revenues: It's a meeting between two of the top eight revenue-producing franchises in the NHL. After quadrupling their sponsorship sales since 2007, the Blackhawks are tied for sixth (with Boston) at $106 million US while the Flyers are eighth at $101 million.

Box office revenues: It's #3 (Philly) against #9 (Chicago), each driving well more than $50 million of their revenues at the gate.

Ticket prices: Philadelphia is top-five in the NHL (at $60.25) while seeing the Blackhawks at the United Center is still one of the best bargains in professional hockey at $46.80 (19th overall).

Home attendance: After ranking 29th out of 30 four years ago, the Blackhawks make the Madhouse on Madison the biggest building in the NHL, packing it with more 22,000 fans per game and leading the NHL in attendance for the second straight year. The Flyers average 19,503 at the Wachovia Center; sixth-best in the league.

Road attendance: This final brings together the seventh (Chicago) and 14th (Philadelphia) most popular teams on the road this season.

Media market size: In addition to Versus and NBC, the NHL's U.S.-based sponsors are smiling as they contemplate the third and fourth largest designated market areas (television DMAs) on the continent. Chicago is #3 and Philadelphia is #4.

Regional television audiences: Chicago and Philadelphia were two of the top five U.S. hockey television markets during the 2009-'10 regular season. The Blackhawks drew an average regional audience of 196,800 viewers on Comcast and WGN while the Flyers attracted 147,900. That's #6 and #11 overall in the NHL and #2 and #5 in the U.S.

Hockey market: Forbes Magazine's research suggests this is a clash between the fifth and seventh strongest hockey markets in the NHL and the third and fifth best in the U.S. (based on franchise value attributed to city and market size).

Simply put, the 2010 Stanley Cup final features two of the best marketed U.S. franchises in two of the best hockey markets in the U.S. When one considers both market clout and brand appeal, it's arguably the best U.S. match-up since the Flyers last reached the finals in 1997 against the Detroit Red Wings.

It also comes with important intangibles based on history and tradition: one is an Original Six franchise that hasn't won a Cup since 1961 and the other a first-wave 1969 expansion team that hasn't done so since 1975. It's that hunger -- shared by the respective organizations and their fans -- which will make for good storylines throughout the series beginning Saturday at the United Center.

And good stories make for good ratings.

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Quebec Flyers, BC Blackhawks and Canada Sharks each have their merits, but only Montreal Canadiens register economic impact in Canada

The San Jose Sharks have more Canadians on their roster than any of the four teams remaining in the National Hockey League's 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.


The Chicago Blackhawks have the biggest bevy of British Columbians while the Philadelphia Flyers boast the most Quebeckers.

Yet despite having fewer Canadians than the Canada Sharks and fewer Quebecois than the Quebec Flyers, only the Montreal Canadiens have a macro economic impact on their city, their province and, by extension, their country.

Nine unanswered goals in a 2-0 series lead might suggest the Flyers will limit the number of home games left in Montreal, but the Canadiens will drive box office revenues of more than $5.5 million per game night at the Bell Centre after earning $25 million in ticket receipts from their seven-game series miracles over the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Add a half-million dollars in concession and merchandise sales per game and you have a winfall not only for the Habs, but for their official suppliers, licensees and the federal and provincial tax agencies.

Each televised game fills restaurants, pubs and brasseries in Montreal; each home game moreso. The beer flows and wings fly at sports bars throughout Quebec and across Canada, expanding the economic impact beyond the confines of the second largest city in the country.

The buzz is also economically palpable for CBC and RDS, who are generally doubling their audience numbers on the strength of having a Canadian team in the conference finals. When a combined average audience of more than six million Canadians watch Hockey Night in Canada and RDS -- almost one of every five Canadians -- it's good for those broadcast companies. Radio rights holders glean similar upside.

More eyeballs and ears following a Canadian team in the final four also means -- at least theoretically -- more returns on investment for domestic advertising sponsors such as Scotiabank, Tim Hortons and Golf Town.

So whatever your take is on what makes a local franchise take on national team status or whether the Montreal Canadiens have any right to your spring allegiance, make no mistake that they are the only team left registering an impact on the Canadian economy.

The Sharks, Flyers and the Blackhawks have varying degrees of fan equity in Canada, but love them or hate them, only the success of the Canadiens on and off the ice makes a tangible, financial difference for Canadians, Canadian broadcasters and other Canadian companies.

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