Point. Counterpoint.
Tom Boswell is a long time respected columnist for the Washington Post. Deservedly so. I like Tom. I read his work but kid MSM journalists some times about “relevance to this next generation of sports enthusiast.” One of the reasons I enjoy publishing my blog is to be able to make observations about other folks’ observations and create a punch/counter punch kind of interactivity.
He is on record about his love of baseball; the lazy hazy days of summer; sepia toned highlights of sports heroes from the 50′s and 60′s dancing in his mind’s eyes in sloooooooooow motion; HBO Documentary like images; black and white videos; and Ike in the White House. Life was better then. Only organ music played here.
Tom also loves football. Football is a made for television sport. In an average 174 minute broadcast, there are only 11 minutes of actual action in a game. See this great Wall Street Journal article on this subject. There are many times more commercials played than plays run in a football game. Basically viewers are simply treated as a “target audience by marketers” with a few plays thrown in to keep you interested until the next commercial runs. Divide your ticket price by the number of minutes of actual in game action. How is that for return on investment?
Hockey? Tom has watched it for 35 years but believes it may move too fast and that there is too much action and too much drama. You can’t catch your breath. The players play HARD and FAST for 45 second shifts. The players have too much physicality. The “welter” of action can’t be seen by the normal eye.
OK. So based on new viewer habits created by the web on TV (MTV anyone?); in video games; with iPods; with iPhones; with Avatar-like next generation films being produced; with third screens everywhere; with Google telling you on every search that they searched the web and found 1 million listings in 1.3 seconds; in a Web 2.0 world - what sports do you think are best positioned for the new generation of consumers? The “fast” ones or the “slow” ones? The ones that reward a viewer’s investment of time with fast paced action or with commercials?
This is my bet: Younger viewers like multimedia, speed and pace and action. I am a zealot for hockey and for the NHL. I believe our fans “get” hockey; can process the speed and can follow the puck; and that there will be a large new generation that falls in love with the game. In a world of interactivity, speed rules. It doesn’t kill. It enhances the experience.
That is my take.