Growing up in Buffalo, there weren’t hockey fans vs. non-hockey fans. Everyone played and everyone followed the Sabres. Being here it’s a little different, in no small part due to the fact that there are 4 professional sports options to follow as opposed to simply the Sabres and the Bills. But I will say that in my local hockey travels, I have come to learn that the game in alive and well here. Now if fans could get on board with a Sabres or Capitals style of hockey, it would be even more exciting and more popular.

Part of the reason that hockey is somewhat marginalized is the socioeconomic reason of the prohibitive cost of playing the game. Unlike basketball and soccer, hockey requires thousands of dollars for equipment and ice time, something that large portions of the population simply can’t afford. In Canada, everyone is cold for most of the year so the growth of hockey in that country has been a natural thing. In the same way Floridians, Texans and Virginians don’t have skiing as an important cultural undertaking, they don’t have hockey. Hockey is a game that is regionally specific and despite the NHL’s perhaps misguided efforts to universalize the game, the game is still enjoyed by millions of people. If you want to call that “niche” then fine but in no way does that mean it’s an afterthought.

As for the point about the the blue collar nature of the game, there is a lot of truth to that. As someone who has played quite a bit of hockey locally, I can attest to the fact that it does have a big draw in areas like the Northeast, South Philly and New Jersey. Of course, these are only parts of Greater Philadelphia and there are plenty of areas where hockey isn’t important. But that simply mirrors hockey’s importance across North America. In Canada, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New England and parts of the mid-Atlantic, hockey is quite big as evidenced by the consumption of the NHL as well as individual participation in the game. And there are plenty of affluent, white people who play and follow hockey–just look at the historical dominance of college hockey at the more prestigious (expensive) Northeastern and Midwestern universities.

So yes, hockey is not the biggest sport in North America. But by no means does that mean that “nobody cares” about it. Quite the opposite is true, both in Philadelphia and other major parts of the Northeastern U.S. I don’t care much to get into the hockey vs. basketball debate because at the end of the day, it’s simply a matter of individual preference. Although the concentrated following the Flyers enjoy may or may not be a function of some rabidized subculture, I guarantee that fan support is something the Sixers would love to have.

Before you crow about the Flyers vis-a-vis the Sixers, just remember that the Flyers 2.4 rating equates to about 42,000 viewers per Flyers game. In a metropolitan area of 5 million, that is a small following. Baseball and Football ratings far dwarf the NBA, so that shows where hockey really is—a niche sport with a truly devoted following, but much closer to soccer than anything big time. It doesn’t help that they have virtually zero fans in the black community and the fighting/wrestling nature of the NHL game have limited its support among (how do we say this kindly?) upper socioeconomic/post-college households.

So hockey has a rabid following in Philadelphia among white blue collar households—-which has become a smaller and smaller percentage of the overall population. I really think even if you went to JGT quizzo nights (rather white population there), you would find few people who know more than 3 current Flyers. Still, it is a niche sport.

I’ve said it myself, that the people aren’t into the Flyers right now. Part of that has to do with the fact that it’s early in the season. Another part has to do with the fact they’re slumping but to anyone who knows anything about Philadelphia sports, the real reason is that the Flyers’ first half of the NHL season will always play second fiddle to the Eagles. From the moment the Eagles start training camp, they’re the talk of the town (the past few Phillies’ seasons excepted). Once late January comes and the Sixers are 11-33, the focus will be on the Flyers.