Why dont thy just get rid of this league already. This is the fourth work stoppage the NHL has had in the last 20 years. Not to mention in 2004 the entire season was canceled, although Im sure no one cared other than the players. Hockey gets no where near the number of viewers as the NFL, MLB, or NBA. In fact I have never even seen a hockey game on a real network. If they ever air one its always on Versus or some random channel. Yet even Tennis, Golf, and NASCAR get shown on ESPN and the other major networks. Hell I have seen more Euro league soccer games on TV than Hockey games. So why even keep this sport going if no one cares about it? I mean why are these guys even arguing over something that would lead to a lock out? Maybe they should wake up and realize they are a 4th rate sport, that no one cares about, and should just be thankful that theres something called the WNBA that keeps Hockey from being the worst sport with the worst ratings.
I'm assuming you're American…? Or, at least, non-Canadian.
Hockey has, historically, never done very well in the US market, true. However, it has, in fact, seen rather large gains in American viewership in the last decade and is still growing at an ever increasing pace. Also, if I'm not mistaken, NBC recently signed a deal with the NHL to showcase games on their network. NBC isn't a "real" network now?