Tonight's "Game"

I had the NHL Network on as I drove home this evening, and hosts Steve Kouleas and Anthony Stewart were setting up the 4 Nations Face-Off game between Canada and the United States. There were a lot of useless stats and analysis spewed out over the air, but the setup hardly mattered. The SiriusXM network is based in the US so I expected a lot of US-slanted coverage from the two Canadians, but it seemed like the two men were almost pulling for the Americans. I'm not a conspiracy nerd so I shrugged it off, but, once the game started, it became very apparent that the NHL Network was broadcasting specifically for the American populace on this night. Let me explain this further.

The NBA Skills Competition was being held on Saturday evening, and we know that Gary Bettman measures his league against the NBA on a number of fronts including ratings and TV market share. Being that both All-Star Games have suffered ratings hits in recent years, there has been an effort to add gimmicky "skills" to the skills compeititon while modifying the format of the All-Star Game itself. It hasn't worked for either league very well, and that opened the door for Gary Bettman to pounce on a chance to crush the NBA with their 4 Nations Face-Off game scheduled for tonight.

Three fights in nine seconds to start the game was all the convincing I needed. This is an international tournament, but, with no IIHF rules hanging over their heads, the players were free to engage in all the violence and fighting they wanted since there would be no further punishment. After all, the NHL isn't going to punish them for the very thing that American viewers associate with the game, especially if it means more people tune in for the remaining 59:51 of the contest.

And then it hit me: Gary Bettman is the modern-day version of Damon Killian from The Running Man, played by Richard Dawson. Dawson's charater in The Running Man is 5'9", charismatic, and ruthless. Gary Bettman is 5'7", charismatic, and ruthless. The similarities are striking when it comes to these characters!

What stands out is the speech that Dawson gives as Killian to Arnold Schwarzenegger's Ben Richards in The Running Man. Watch below.
That film was released in 1987, and it's scary to think that screenwriter Steven E. de Souza wrote those words nearly forty years ago. Make no mistake that Richard Dawson was the perfect choice for the character of Damon Killian as he brought Killian to life in a way only he could, but de Souza's commentary on American life back then is eye-opening considering that none of what Killian said was written by Stephen King in The Running Man that was published in 1982.

In saying that, isn't Killian's 30-second speech the most catch-all description for the 4 Nations Face-Off? It's a competition between four nations who make up the largest cross-sections of the NHLPA players where the NHL is looking to capture ratings and figure out what ticket pricing works for future events. The theater was always going to be entertaining with the best players from those four nations playing, but adding in the violence and fighting in this specific game would allow the NHL to point at the ratings and celebrate like they hadn't for some time. After all, you didn't see Sweden and Finland scrapping it out in the earlier game, did you?

Did I mention this Canada-US game went head-to-head with the NBA Skills Competition on network TV while Finland-Sweden didn't?

And that's why these lines say so much:

"This is television, that's all it is. It's nothing to do with people, it's to do with the ratings. For fifty years, we've told them what to eat, what to drink, what to wear... for Christ's sake, Ben, don't you understand? Americans love television. They wean their kids on it. Listen. They love game shows, they love wrestling, they love sports and violence. So what do we do? We give 'em what they want!"

It's all about ratings and numbers to the NHL can sell the next television contract for more money. And if the IIHF isn't involved, the NHL can sell the skill and the violence, as opposed to just the skill, that its largest market - the US television viewer - loves so much. Yes, there are people in Canada who celebrate that as well, but the NHL doesn't worry about Canada's viewing numbers.

Gary Bettman could be Damon Killian with his dedication to ratings and American television numbers. Americans do love sports and violence, and it helps to explain the NFL, UFC, and the WWE during its "Attitude Era" as those sports and sports entertainment companies combine the best of both worlds. With the NHL opening that door tonight, they likely sold a few more tickets as the tournament moves to Boston, but they also likely earned more eyeballs for the next game from US viewers who want more of what was delivered tonight.

Look, I get that the NHL has to make money. I understand that's how capitalism works, and that the NHL is up to its neck into the world of capitalism. We were told that Canadians shouldn't boo the US anthem as these games were about unity and friendship, and yet the NHL will be quite proud of the ratings tonight's game brought with a pile of people focusing solely on the scraps. Yes, the hockey was probably good, but I didn't watch and I turned the radio broadcast off after the third fight because it's not what international games promote.

It's clear that I'm not the fan the NHL wants. I cannot afford $700 tickets to any hockey game. I cannot afford $295 USD jerseys. I cannot afford $52 t-shirts. As the NHL continues to raise prices on tickets and merchandise while abandoning the very heart of what international games are supposed to mean, it's very apparent that I'm no longer part of the demographic they seek when it comes to available entertainment and merchandise dollars.

If I can paraphrase another Damon Killian line from the film, he says, "Look, it is a contact sport, right? You cannot have it both ways. You want ratings. You want people in front of the television. Well, you're not gonna get that with re-runs of Gilligan's Island."

With the NHL saying one thing but promoting another about what the meaning of this tournament is, it's seems the unity and friendship part of the equation was left stranded with Gilligan on the island tonight. Gotta win those ratings, right, Killian, er, Bettman?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!