Ted Leonsis, watching his $85 million investment in the Washington Capitals melt away, knew he had to keep interest alive. But instead of courting traditional reporters, the owner and AOL executive turned to the Web–inviting the 25 most vocal commenters at Washingtoncaps .com to a private dinner at a D.C. restaurant. This month, as the NHL returns for its second post-lockout season, newspapers and TV shows are still cutting back on coverage, but the hockey blogosphere is exploding. While the Los Angeles Times announced recently that it would no longer send sportswriters on most road trips with the Kings and Ducks, hundreds of fan sites have launched. Puckheads say they no longer even bother to watch SportsCenter; instead, homemade highlight reels on YouTube have taken its place.
The league, still dwarfed by the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball, is focusing on a smaller base of more-intense fans. Officials cite statistics that say hockey followers are the most tech savvy and most likely to consume content via new platforms like wireless devices, as compared with fans of other sports. “Our demographic is younger, and that’s what they want,” says Doug Perlman, the NHL’s head of new media. “We went as viral as possible during our relaunch.”
“Viral,” of course, is another word for “cheap,” and the struggling league is grateful for any attention it can get. That means embracing sites that it might have winged cease-and-desist letters at not too long ago. Blogs like HockeyBuzz, OffWing and Kukla’s Korner do an impressive amount of original reporting, but they also host videos that technically belong to someone else. When they cause real sensations, however, the league will look the other way. (One reel of jaw-droppers by rookie phenom Alexander Ovechkin, set to a thumping Chemical Brothers soundtrack, is referred to around league HQ as simply “the ‘Boom’ video.”) And bloggers are only getting more important: in at least five stadiums, you’ll find them credentialed for the press box, typing away next to their dwindling peers.
