Ovechkin survey demonstrates the NHL still has a long way to go in the United States

Ovechkin survey article

Ovechkin survey demonstrates the NHL still has a long way to go in the United States

Written by Derek Felska
Wednesday, 21 July 2010 11:48

In the offseason, it can seem like an eternity for something of worthwhile hockey discussion in the months leading to the opening of training camp. Normally this is the case, but this offseason has provided a little bit more drama as free agency has slowed leading to more drawn out speculation as to which players are moving where. It still is not settled, and the same can be said for this summer's most high profile unrestricted free agent in Russian-sniper Ilya Kovalchuk. The discussion has had Kovalchuk been courted by long term offers by the New York Islanders, Los Angeles Kings but most notably the New Jersey Devils. In fact, that is the 'big' talk of the NHL right now after the Devils' 17-year, $102 million contract offer was denied by the league as they felt it circumvented the collective bargaining agreement. I could spend a while explaining why the front-loaded contracts (like what Kovalchuk was offered) that have already been given to Detroit's Johan Franzen, Chicago's Marian Hossa, and Vancouver's Roberto Luongo turn the league's salary cap into a joke but that really isn't the premise of this article. I would like to talk about another Russian-born scoring sensation, Alexander Ovechkin. The NHL's #2 most marketed player apart from Sidney Crosby, Ovechkin has already been the focus of features on the NHL Network and his picture has graced the cover of NHL-based video games. He has dazzled fans all across the knees as he has pulled off unbelievable goal after unbelievable goal. Like many major sports stars, from "A-Rod" to "T.O." to "LeBron" to "Kobe" this star was given his own standard nickname in "Ovie." Singlehandedly, "Ovie" has resurrected what was one of the most pathetic franchises in the NHL and the last few seasons Verizon Center has been filled with red-jersey clad fans, most of whom sport #8 Ovechkin. So needless to say he's a pretty big deal and rightfully so. Yet how big of a deal is he to those that don't follow the NHL very closely?

This is the question that perplexed me, an avid NHL fan who now resides in South Central Wisconsin after growing up in hockey-mad Minnesota. The NHL has spent millions of dollars marketing Ovechkin, and has committed itself to trying to give him and the Capitals as many nationally-televised games as possible, especially the head-to-head matchups with the Pittsburgh Penguins led by golden boy Sidney Crosby. There is little doubt that the NHL changed its scheduling practice so that all of the league's teams could cash in on the fan draws that were Ovechkin and Crosby. So what has been the benefit of all of this effort by the league to promote the two as the latest version of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux; players with distinctly different styles but both of whom are immensely talented. Both are players that also seem to be able to galvinize hockey fans where they tend to like one superstar player but not the other. So has this effort to promote Alexander Ovechkin been worth it? I decided to put it to a test. I decided to survey as many people as I could on a very simple multiple choice question. So here is the question I used in my survey.

Alexander Ovechkin is...

A.) the President of Russia.

B.) a Russian hockey player.

C.) a character from a Russian children's story.

D.) the first person sent into space.

(click on the link for the rest of the article)

I did this survey a while back and saved it for a summer article. I think the results are kind of interesting. What do you think of the results, is it an indictment of the way the league is marketed in the U.S.?

clearly he is the president of Russia!

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timotheuzi wrote:

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What happened here. I saw it.

Hmmm...

I don't see this as surprising at all. We take it for granted that others are interested in sports in general when that is simply not the case. Since when does Ovechkin appear in any commercial that is not on a sports channel or during a sporting event?
So if you are not a sports person how would you be exposed? What about the stoners and role playing video gamers? They don't know what baseball is for pete's sake.
There are all sorts out there that don't open a website on sports, or don't stop on ESPN as they scroll through the channels.
Actually I think the number is high because of the location the survey was taken. Wisconsin...I'm sure hockey is in the news when the Badgers are playing for a title.
Do this survey in New Mexico and see what happens.