Adam Proteau of The Hockey News is indeed one of my favorite hockey writers of all time. Even though we do not see eye-to-eye on many things, especially all things NY Islanders. However, he’s an excellent writer, radio personality and funny guy.
When he posted his link to an article about
how the NHL can attract female fans, of course I was interested. When I read he asked female fans to give their opinions, I felt a little disappointed that I had not been asked to contribute. But that’s not what I’m going to discuss.
While reading some of the female fan reaction to his question, the prevalent answer was ‘ditch the pink.’ Okay, I understand that many females may feel it’s condescending and silly on any female over 12-years-old, it doesn’t bother me that much. I have a pink jersey that I used to wear to games around Easter. For that game it makes sense.
Better fitting female items that are the same price as the mens' items. That would be awesome! I have ONE Islander “women’s” jersey that is cut tighter, with longer sleeves, and softer material. I love it. They made a limited amount and put what they had on the clearance rack immediately. I guess I was the only one that loved it.
The other recurring theme is a dislike for the Ice Girls. Another topic I do not feel strongly about. Probably because I know them for who they are and how hard they work. They are fans too and are there to enhance the fan experience. At Islanders games, that’s damn tough work.
However, how many responses did Adam get from women who aren’t ALREADY NHL fans? Isn’t that the point? The NHL needs to grow it’s fan base so the question should be posed to women who have no desire to watch the game.
“Excuse me, Miss…. What would we have to do to get you to an NHL game or to watch one on TV?”
Would it be star-power? The celebrity sightings of Hillary Duff at the Coliseum did increase the amount of young girls in the Islander audience and having Mr. Kevin Connolly around doesn’t hurt either.
Would Adam say "less violence in the game" will attract more of a female audience? Oddly, from all the women I know, they don’t want to lose that part of the game. Most women, even hiding their eyes, enjoy the occasional beat down. As long as it is justified, of course!
The truth is… the NHL has done a decent job of attracting the female fan. They must have. Take a look at Puckdaddy’s take on the subject based on a report by Sports Media Watch.
Puckdaddy January 2014.
2. The NHL Has Strong Female Viewership
From SMW:
Female viewers made up between 37% and 40% of the audience for the NBA Finals, with 10.6 million tuning into Game 7 — 40% of the total audience (26.3M). For the World Series, female viewers were 39-41% of the audience, topped by 7.9 million for Game 6 — 41% of the total (19.2M). Women made up similar proportions of the audience for the Stanley Cup Final (between 36 and 42%), NCAA Tournament Final Four (38-39%), Bowl Championship Series (33-36%), and WNBA Finals (34-40%).
So despite being a knuckle-dragging sport filled with blood and violence and deplorable behavior … women are nearly making up half the viewership for the Stanley Cup Final.
(One thought on this: Is there a Chicago effect in these numbers, considering the strength of their female fan base?)
The bottom line is that woman hockey fans are significant, important part of the overall viewing audience in the U.S. And that’s even with male fans being myopic, clubby jerks to them because they assume boobs equal lack of hockey knowledge.
Lack of ‘Hockey Knowledge’ led Lisa Ovens to create the Hockey And High Heels book and initiative to bring females to the rink. She felt if more women understood the game even better than their male counterparts, they would have to fall in love with it just as she had. She was right. So, when I read some of the comments that found Hockey And High Heels nights offensive, I was also disappointed. They are designed to be fun, interactive events where women can relax and have fun and really LEARN about hockey. They’re not meant to be degrading.
But maybe the problem isn’t the NHL marketing to the female fan, maybe it’s just marketing to the correct age group of female fan. Here is more from SMW.
For all-but-one event examined, the women 55+ demo made up a greater proportion of the audience than any other female demographic.
Ahem. How about them apple pies, Adam? Hey, even Christie Brinkley, Islander fan and occassional spokes model, is over 50!
The NHL is still a niche sport, no matter how well they have done marketing the game. But perhaps it’s not the female audience the NHL has to reach. Perhaps it’s really the minority audience which was also brought up by SMW:
The Stanley Cup Final was an especially weak performer among minority viewers. African Americans made up between 1% and 5% of the audience for each game, Hispanics made up between 2% and 6%, and Asian viewers made up between 3% and 4%. Overall, the demographics made up just 6-13% of the audience for each game, making the Stanley Cup Final easily the least diverse sporting event examined.
Marketing is a difficult science. What works for one demographic doesn’t work for another. The NHL has made tremendous strides the past few years. My personal opinion is that it’s real issue is that it is an elitist sport. It’s too expensive to play or attend. That alone makes it less desirable to a big chunk of the population.
Although a women’s tee shirt in a “large” that isn’t really a junior size 10 would really, really make me happy.
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