The NHL has been promoting Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard at every turn this season. To keep from falling behind in North American sports, it's exactly what it should be doing, writes Mike Stephens.
Lionel Messi is one of the worst things to happen to the NHL in recent memory. When the legendary footballer decided to take his talents to Major League Soccer this summer, it represented a seismic shift in the North American sports landscape. Messi is arguably the greatest player the sport has ever seen, after all. A true global icon. And here he was, opting to spend what could be the final years of his career in the United States. The ripples were bound to be massive. And, undoubtedly, they were. Inter Miami FC, Messi's new team, was bombarded with newfound popularity from the moment the signing was official, gaining a whopping 1.3 million followers on Instagram within four hours of its announcement. That total over doubled overnight, with the club today exceeding 15 million followers. MLS' own account, to put that in perspective, stands at 4.1 million, thanks in large part to a Messi-induced spike, as well. Would you like to know how many followers the NHL has? I'll give you a hint: It's not 15 million. Messi's arrival put the NHL on notice, vaulting MLS into an entirely new stratosphere and establishing it as one of the fastest-growing professional sports leagues on the continent. There are only so many sets of eyes in the world, after all, and millions of new ones were shifting their focus to soccer. The NHL, which had been content to nestle itself on the periphery of North American sports for years, was in danger of being left behind. And then, a miracle happened – one by the name of Connor Bedard. Bedard is, of course, not Lionel Messi. He's an 18-year-old kid with three NHL games under his belt who cannot legally drink in the city in which he is employed. But who says he can't be hockey's Messi one day? The fact of the matter is that Bedard is a generational prospect, a world-beating wunderkind who, if all goes well, has the potential to retire as one of the greatest players his sport has ever seen. He's the real deal, folks. Even three games in, it's hard to argue otherwise. That's why they call them generational talents. They only come around once in a generation, making it imperative for the NHL to strike while the iron's hot. Now, that's easier said than done, especially when talking about the NHL. This is a league that doesn't have the best track record when it comes to promoting its players, to put it kindly, and that lack of visibility has seen hockey lag behind sports it once directly competed with. Walk the streets of any middle American city, and the majority of passers-by probably couldn't pick Connor McDavid out of a police line, let alone know who he is. Even Sidney Crosby's name might elicit more shrugs than nods, and he's had nearly two decades of promotion potential. In no other major North American sport is that the case. Everyone knows LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes and Shohei Ohtani. Each player is a brand in and of itself. And that brand represents their respective league. The greats always find a way to transcend their medium if given a little push, allowing them to bleed into popular culture and become symbols recognised across the globe. The NHL has failed at that, fumbling a number of chances to replicate what those other sports have achieved since the days of Wayne Gretzky, whose final game was played amidst the threat of Y2K. But Bedard offers an opportunity for growth, for hockey to break back into the conversation that has so often dismissed it at every turn. And in the social media age, the tools to do so have never been more available. It takes two seconds to make a TikTok these days. If a 14-year-old can do it with nothing but a ring light and a dream, one of the biggest sports leagues in the world can, too. And to their credit, the NHL has actually done a decent job of presenting their prized prospect to the world thus far. Bedard's debut was a nationally televised broadcast on ESPN, putting him up against Crosby, his childhood idol. Bedard was even mic'd up during that game to offer fans an in-depth look at history in the making and was then a featured guest on ESPN's The Pat McAfee Show, one of the most popular radio shows in the United States, the next day. The Bedard social media push has been going hot and heavy, too. Between Sept. 1 and the time of publishing, the league's official Twitter – or X, I guess – account has posted about Bedard 29 separate times, with no other team, let alone individual player, coming even close. And, as luck would have it, all that promotion paid off. Bedard's debut on Oct. 10 was watched by 1.43 million people. That's the largest recorded audience for a regular-season NHL game on cable, except for the Winter Classic, and nearly doubled the viewership for last year's Oct. 11 match-up between the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers, per sportsmediawatch.com. And data from audience measurement company Nielsen shows Bedard's debut blew season openers from the last 13 years out of the water for viewership. This is why the NHL has been shoving its golden goose in every face it can. It's why you've been inundated with Bedard content since the moment he was draughted, why you can't escape him no matter how hard you try. You're not supposed to escape him. This league doesn't have the luxury of coasting on its place in the consumer's consciousness. An all-out onslaught is the only way the NHL can make a dent in a landscape that has been tougher for them to penetrate than ever before. And if you don't like it, frankly, it's because three decades of the NHL refusing to turn its best players into globally recognised brands has conditioned you that way. It hasn't been perfect, of course. The Blackhawks did not make Bedard available to the media before or after their game in Toronto, for instance, shielding him from hockey's biggest market for the entirety of his first trip there. And while there should indeed be a plan to ensure the kid is not overwhelmed by the attention or crushed by the pressure, having him front and centre when touching down in the hub of the sport's national hockey media must also be worked in there eventually. LeBron speaks to reporters when he's in New York. Mahomes tosses out cliches before playing the Cowboys. It's what stars do. But that's just a nit pick. For the NHL, baby steps are just fine. The Connor Bedard Media Machine isn't stopping any time soon. In fact, it's just getting started.
Comments
|
AuthorStolen from the interwebs Categories |