NHL would do well to take page from NBA playbook

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This article was published 31/05/2019 (2353 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — Their plate is pretty full these days, what with the Stanley Cup playoffs still going on. But the NHL would be wise to keep one eye on what’s happening north of the border, specifically in their biggest and most important market.

It’s clear some of their top players are. Just look at what 2018 Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall, a member of the New Jersey Devils, had to say on Friday about the NBA finals between the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors.

“Following the NBA more closely with this Raptors run has really opened my eyes to how great a league it is. There is a real sense of bravado and showmanship that you don’t see in other sports. The stars are on display every night and it’s impressive,” Hall said to his more than 500,000 followers on Twitter.

Insert a raised eyebrow emoji here. More than 6,000 people had “liked” his Tweet by early evening, with hundreds chiming in with their own takes. A quick view of many of them — presumably most hockey fans themselves — agreed with Hall.

I’d been thinking the same thing, now just three days into my brief foray of covering the NBA. I was a casual observer at best, but getting an up-close view this week of how the league operates has been a real eye-opener.

The NBA is all about selling entertainment. Even controversy. They are edgy and hip. And let their best players shine bright, both on the court and off. Mix that all together and you have a recipe for success, which is a big part of why the NBA just happens to be the coolest sports league in the world, attracting the kind of young fans that leaves sponsors and advertisers drooling and other leagues green with envy.

“No shade. Just complimenting another league. They have so many advantages over other leagues. Visibility through the roof,” Hall added in a follow-up Tweet, perhaps wanting to ensure he doesn’t ruffle too many feathers considering where he works. Such a hockey thing to do.

Canadians are tuning in like never before, with a record 3.5 million people, on average, watching Thursday’s 118-109 victory by Toronto. Sure, U.S. ratings for the opener are down a bit, which is to be expected considering only one American team is playing.

But they are still blowing away Stanley Cup viewers (10.77 million Americans watched Game 1 of the NBA Finals, 5.38 million viewed Game 1 of the Boston-St. Louis series), and this is pretty much a dream scenario in terms of growing the league and bringing aboard new fans.

Look, the NHL is likely never going to compete with the NBA when it comes to popularity in the United States. They’ll probably always be well behind basketball, football and baseball when it comes to ranking the big four sports leagues.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some valuable lessons to be gleaned. And Hall hit the nail on the head, honing in on some of what makes the NBA so popular.

No, I’m not suggesting every NHL team should appointed an ambassador who’s allowed to be on the bench and interact with rival players with virtual impunity. Yes, I’m looking at you, Drake. The Raptors superfan was at it again during Game 1, roaming the sidelines and trash-talking Golden State’s Draymond Green once the final buzzer had sounded.

But go figure: Rather than make a big deal out of it or pour cold water all over the situation, the NBA seemed to actually embrace it, knowing full well it brings extra attention to its product.

“Drake talking on the sideline, I think so many people make a big deal out of it. It is what it is. He’s a fan. He talks and it gets more attention because he’s Drake. So many people are complaining about it, like, ‘You don’t let any other fan do that.’ Yeah, any other fan is just not Drake, so they probably shouldn’t be able to do that. That’s just kind of how the cookie crumbles,” Green told reporters on Friday.

“He’s worked his ass off to be who he is. I think we all know when you do that, you get more leash than others. I think there’s so much talk and the NBA needs to — no, they don’t. He worked to be who he is; you should get more leash. But I don’t mind it. It’s fun for me.”

And for the league as well, no doubt. Green is one of the true characters in the game, playing the role of resident villain and getting under opponents skin. But rather than treat media like the enemy and refuse to say anything of substance — hello Brad Marchand — Green embraces it. That’s just the NBA way.

Of course, the biggest difference — which I suspect is at the heart of what Hall was getting at — is how the best players are given the freedom and protection by officials to put on a show. That means Steph Curry and Kawhi Leonard can truly go head-to-head without fear of being cheap-shotted, hacked or drilled from behind. Let the best man, and best team, truly win.

Contrast that to the NHL, especially come playoff time, where pretty much everything short of attempted on-ice murder becomes perfectly acceptable as fourth-line checkers go to great lengths to slow down the game’s most skilled stars, often rendering them invisible. Sure, it can add some drama and intrigue, where underdogs often write the kind of stories you rarely see in the NBA.

But you have to wonder how much it’s actually helping to sell the sport, outside of the most die-hard fans who would tune in regardless.

It doesn’t help that off the ice, the majority of players often speak in tired cliches, any potential controversy or issue is quickly shut down by team PR types, and it all comes out looking and sounding rather bland, to be honest.

Not so in the NBA, where the stars are almost always the story, they’re made available every single day to speak (and sometimes twice a day), and they’ve obviously been well-coached to hit all the right talking points along the way, especially in this era of 24-hour news cycles and instant social media sharing and opening.

I’ve seen plenty of chatter here in Toronto this week about whether the NBA could one day surpass the NHL in popularity in Toronto. Some feel it’s only a matter of time, especially with the shifting demographics in society.

Right here, right now, the Stanley Cup playoffs are about the furthest thing on the minds of locals. And while that is just a temporary blip as NBA Finals fever takes over, the NHL would be wise to start taking some notes and thinking about the future.

If they need some suggestions, Taylor Hall is just a phone call away.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg