- Check out the new look the Red Wings will be sporting this winter. The team did a great job keeping the overall look the same — after all, the old sweaters were classics. Tradition and new materials together in one piece of sports apparel. [On the Wings]
- Defenseman Chris Chelios has testified at the trial for the double-murder of two of his employees at Cheli’s Chili Bar. [ESPN]
- The NHL is a niche sport, and is failing by trying to sell itself as a sport for the masses in America. I love hockey. Many people around this country do not. NHL teams that are in large cities may not necessarily be in proper hockey markets. So what about Tampa Bay or Arizona? Large cities, great sports towns, but probably not suited best for hockey. Perhaps the league would just be better off if teams from non-hockey cities moved to Winnipeg or Kansas City. It beats having teams in larger cities that treat them only as a casual way to cool off next to a large slab of ice or as a sideshow. [Out of Bounds]
- While the NHL may make plenty of marketing mistakes it appears as though they realize how unsuitable a presence on Versus and NBC has been for the sport. The word out on the street is that the good old hockey league is talking to ESPN, and that games may be shown on ESPN2 again as early as 2008-2009. Anything beats Versus… [Deadspin]
August 11, 2007...2:23 pm
Blueline: New Wings Jerseys
Jump to Comments
1 Comment
August 13, 2007 at 10:02 am
I have always thought that the NHL expanded into new markets too quickly for it’s own good. Forcing hockey into non-traditional cities and then creating artificial rivalries has not been good for the game. It is a watered down product today all for the sake of money and parity.
The league, I believe to survive has to cut back on the number of teams it has. There are just too many clubs that are losing money year after year. And the league needs to make a schedule that makes sense. There are enough games for the league to restore some of the traditional rivalries that existed before all this recent expansion.
It turns me off as a hockey fan that I won’t see some of these games. Not being able to see Boston, Montreal or Toronto play here in Detroit is a crime. Just as it is for fans in other cities not to see their “traditional” rivals play their team.