Introduction
For a variety of reasons, ice hockey has reached a point where its growth has stagnated in its most popular countries. In these countries, participation rates are in decline and the popularity of ice hockey compared to other sports is also in decline.
Fortunately for the International Ice Hockey Federation, also known as the IIHF, the sport of ice hockey has many countries that are waiting to be tapped into. These countries currently have low interest in hockey but, at the same time, these countries also have high potential to increase ice hockey’s global popularity. The IIHF has a great opportunity to reach these markets and make immense strides in growing ice hockey worldwide.
Problem
Simply put, ice hockey’s popularity and …show more content…
In an analysis done by A.T. Kearney, ice hockey only has a 4% share of the worldwide sports event market (https://www.atkearney.com/documents/10192/6f46b880-f8d1-4909-9960-cc605bb1ff34). That is a share on par with tennis and lower than basketball, baseball and Formula 1 Racing. Numerous media articles, on average, rate ice hockey, as the eighth most popular sport worldwide (http://www.biggestglobalsports.com/, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/169462-most-popular-team-sports-soccer-cricket-basketball-baseball, http://www.theharrispoll.com/sports/Americas_Fav_Sport_2016.html). Being the eighth most popular sport in the world is not a negative award to win, but with ice hockey there is room to move up the …show more content…
Asia. Asia is the solution. With just under 24,000 people in China, India, Japan and South Korea being registered ice hockey players, there is an incredibly large market that has not yet been reached (2015 IIHF survey).
In order for the sport to be grown properly in a new region, the IIHF must start from the ground up. A key to growing the sport and keeping the growth sustainable is to appeal to youth. In ten, fifteen or twenty years, the youth will be adults, they will get the current youth into the game and the cycle will continue. In order to do this, creating a developmental league and infrastructure is a must. Currently, in the four previous countries mentioned (China, India, Japan, South Korea), there are only 325 indoor and outdoor hockey rinks (2015 IIHF survey). For four, large countries, that is not enough rinks to accommodate any current or future participants. An increase in the amount of rinks will make the game much more accessible for everyone. Another way to make the sport more accessible is to increase the easiness of purchasing equipment. For non-hockey countries, purchasing equipment is difficult and in some cases has to be done online, which deters potential
For a variety of reasons, ice hockey has reached a point where its growth has stagnated in its most popular countries. In these countries, participation rates are in decline and the popularity of ice hockey compared to other sports is also in decline.
Fortunately for the International Ice Hockey Federation, also known as the IIHF, the sport of ice hockey has many countries that are waiting to be tapped into. These countries currently have low interest in hockey but, at the same time, these countries also have high potential to increase ice hockey’s global popularity. The IIHF has a great opportunity to reach these markets and make immense strides in growing ice hockey worldwide.
Problem
Simply put, ice hockey’s popularity and …show more content…
In an analysis done by A.T. Kearney, ice hockey only has a 4% share of the worldwide sports event market (https://www.atkearney.com/documents/10192/6f46b880-f8d1-4909-9960-cc605bb1ff34). That is a share on par with tennis and lower than basketball, baseball and Formula 1 Racing. Numerous media articles, on average, rate ice hockey, as the eighth most popular sport worldwide (http://www.biggestglobalsports.com/, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/169462-most-popular-team-sports-soccer-cricket-basketball-baseball, http://www.theharrispoll.com/sports/Americas_Fav_Sport_2016.html). Being the eighth most popular sport in the world is not a negative award to win, but with ice hockey there is room to move up the …show more content…
Asia. Asia is the solution. With just under 24,000 people in China, India, Japan and South Korea being registered ice hockey players, there is an incredibly large market that has not yet been reached (2015 IIHF survey).
In order for the sport to be grown properly in a new region, the IIHF must start from the ground up. A key to growing the sport and keeping the growth sustainable is to appeal to youth. In ten, fifteen or twenty years, the youth will be adults, they will get the current youth into the game and the cycle will continue. In order to do this, creating a developmental league and infrastructure is a must. Currently, in the four previous countries mentioned (China, India, Japan, South Korea), there are only 325 indoor and outdoor hockey rinks (2015 IIHF survey). For four, large countries, that is not enough rinks to accommodate any current or future participants. An increase in the amount of rinks will make the game much more accessible for everyone. Another way to make the sport more accessible is to increase the easiness of purchasing equipment. For non-hockey countries, purchasing equipment is difficult and in some cases has to be done online, which deters potential