Hockey 2.0 Stars - Where Are You?

"Heh, I'm just giving 110%, we're going to take it one game at a time, good lord willing, we'll come out on top...we've got a good set of guys in this room and we think we'll be there at the end."  - a composite of each pro hockey player comment to media I've heard in last month.

Ahhhhhhhhh it hurts.....living in Toronto and pretty much anywhere in Canada we've seen these over-used, hackneyed athlete cliches too frequently in sweat-riddled hockey locker rooms....BORING!!!!

You don't have to wonder why hockey has a problem marketing themselves when you hear this blather.

Not only do they intrinsically have challenges building the sport: it's a game most people don't grow up with, it's the fastest team sport on earth and tough to follow, it's the best game seen live of any of the big 4 and the worst on TV, it plays on a US TV Network between Buckeye Hunting and Midget Rodeo Riding and we cover up our stars with layers of equipment....BUT the NHL and NHLPA  do themselves no help by putting the noose on our stars when it comes to their public face.

The moment one steps out of line and does something or says something interesting like Sean Avery (who by the way is dating starlet Elisha Cuthbert) and says something colourful, they are vilified by all sides.

News to the NHL - you are in the entertainment business - to go to the ACC with 3 friends to watch the Leafs will cost me about $600 - for me, I'm a diehard, I'll likely do it 2 or 3 times a year...for most, it's a pain just getting them to watch 5 minutes on the tube in the sanctity of their own home. 

So Gary Bettman and complicit owners, if you're listening - let's fast forward this game to 2007,  and embrace the new world of entertainment through my top 11 social media changes for today's consumer:

1) Create a nightly Goalie YouTube video - a special highlight package of the game through the eyes of Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo and other masked stars

2) The Tough Guy Ring - a podcast of the toughest guys in the NHL, who ironically are also some of the smartest and certainly the most colourful, on their perspective of the game

3) Encourage Your Networks to Fire the Teflon Men - Why Don Cherry is so popular on Canadian TV (and nearly our favourite Canadian)?  He speaks his mind and whether you like his musings or not, you'll spend the time listening to him. Get a Don Cherry or Johnny Miller guy in each broadcast booth not afraid to insult the hockey fraternity when its justified  - Brett Hull is this year's freshest prospect, let's see how long a rope he'll be given to hang himself his the risk-averse NBC handlers - hire well qualified volunteer fans to run an online network with real opinions  

4) The 21st Man - allow citizen bloggers and fantasy pool coordinators to write about their first hand experiences sitting at the end of the bench 

5) Create a Facebook - deliver a 2.0 NHL-styled site with mandatory submission of profiles/nicknames for each player, Google Maps of each player birthplace, have each coach have to answer 10 questions after each game posed to them by their fans - you'd be surprised but I am interested in knowing what Mats Sundin does in his free time - look at the successful rise to commercial stardom of Gilbert Arenas in basketball due in part ot his own embrace of social media
- also create the 200 Celebrity Friends of the NHL - Hollywood disproportionately loves to watch hockey, I bet most people don't know Faith Hill, Adam Sandler, Jerry Bruckheimer, Tim Robbins, Tom Crusie, Garth Brooks plus the umpteens Canadians who have infilitrated Hollywood...this stuff matters

6) The Hockey Tricks Site - if you ever have been to an NHL practice, you'll realize how talented these guys are - create a "behind the stage" video of the best practice tricks, it worked for Nike's Ronaldhinho's "Touch of Gold" in soccer

7) A Day in the Life of.... - as a former grounds crew member and occasional ballboy for the Toronto Blue Jays in the 80s, it's amazing what goes on off the field - the NHL should host a daily upload of what hockey stars do from 7am wakeup to 12:30pm sleep - have a celebrity videographer shadow a key player each and every day of the hockey season - unedited

8) Invite 40 People after every team practice to participate in drills run by the assistant coach and skills taught by a rotating set of players  

9) Interactive TV Cameras - have additional cameras trained on the stars of the game...all game ...and streamed online - I would not have missed one invasive pop up ad  if I had only been allowed to follow Darryl Sittler and Borje Salming growing up

10) Why No Hockey Cheerleaders...it may appeal to base instincts here but they are part of every thriving sport short of Nascar - have a base cheerleader group per team with two new recruits voted on in advance of each game

11) Consumer Generated Marketing -
- the all-star skills contest has become a little bit lame - ask your customers what they'd like to see....Sidney Crosby on a breakaway vs. Martin Brodeur, Mascots in a Battler Royale Fight Match,  Richards & St. Louis vs. Sundin & Forsberg vs. Ovechkin and Kovalchuk, the Koivu Brothers vs. the Staal Brothers, 3 Average Joes vs. Pronger and Niedermeyer,  Howe, Gretzky, Crosby vs.  Lafleur, Lemieux, LeCavalier, Cuba Gooding and Joe Sakic vs. Kiefer Sutherland and Mike Modano   
- accept 2 recommendations annually from a panel of your most passionate and involved fans who sit on a Customer Advisory Board in charge of new rules
- dedicate one rinkside board ad to messages sent in from loyal fans

Gary, I don't want to be writing another post three years from now entitled "Where Hockey Went Wrong and Why Has It Gone?"