NLL Insider

If all it took for financial success in the NLL was an open arena and a winning team, the league’s landscape wouldn’t look a heck of a lot like it currently does. Dan Dawson would be leading a Champion’s Cup-contending Arizona Sting, the Titans barn would be filled to the rafters, and the Buffalo Bandits…well, no. Banditland would look about the same. But since the league exists in that thing called the real world, the roundtable topic turned to marketing. And then it turned again.

TY PILSON: Two things NLL teams need to be successful off the floor: NHL/NBA/building ownership and TV.

What do those things give you: legitimacy.

Sure you can survive and maybe even thrive, as with the Toronto Rock, but having those two things in place will improve your odds for success greatly, at least from a business perspective. The Colorado Mammoth are a prime example. They are owned by Kroenke Sports which owns the Pepsi Centre and the Avalanche and Nuggets. Way back when following an Avs game, fans were invited to stick around and see the ‘new lacrosse’ team. I think they even got a free hotdog and beer. Basically, 18,000 folks got a glimpse of this great sports right off the bat. The Kroenke Group went on to use its money and clout to market the Mammoth along with its other properties making the team seem big-time to a new market and new fans. It was a revenue stream that contributed to the greater good.

Sure the team was talented and won games, something you can’t put a price on, but this business model made the off-floor success possible. If you have a owner of that magnitude, who is committed to pro lacrosse, I must add (see Arizona Sting), then you’re off on the right foot.

BRIAN SHANAHAN: I think that TV is necessary in selling lacrosse. Sure I love the fact that all the games are on the web now but lets not fool ourselves: only insiders and diehards are watching it. While Internet access is great for us it does nothing to grow the game.

As for TV it is quite a different animal in the US from Canada. We’re chasing fool’s gold if we think lacrosse is ever going to get a network deal in the U.S. and the better decision is to get as many games on locally as affordable. Colorado has it great with Altitude but other teams should be trying to get at least 5 or 6 games on per year. We’re after the sports channel surfer here. We have a exciting game and if it’s a good production (hide the empty seats if possible) it sells itself.

TY PILSON: Not having TV is a killer. It exposes new fans to the game. When games were broadcast on Sportsnet or The Score in Canada, attendance was higher than it is now without TV. Calgary’s crowds have gone down quite a bit. Out of sight, out of mind. TV is not a competitor when it comes to home attendance like football, instead it helps. Televised games also lead to highlights on nightly national sports shows and local TV sports stations further exposing it.

In my opinion, the NLL has taken a step back, not forward, over the last few years in terms of its status and notoriety. Having games on NLL.com is great. I love it. But really, you’re preaching to the congregation — the die-hard fans — not growing the game.

BOB CHAVEZ: I think the TV deals are a two-edged sword. At least here in Rochester. Admittedly, it’s a small-market team and a minor-league town. But TV here hurts the Knighthawks, I think. The thing with Rochester, which is a great sports town, is that there are a lot of teams competing for dollars. The baseball Red Wings, the outdoor Rattlers (for now), the hockey Amerks, the basketball RazorSharks and the indoor football Raiders. That’s a lot of choices for Rochester fans and if they want to go to multiple games, why pay for a ticket to a Knighthawks game if they can watch it for free at home? Save your money for tickets to the other teams.

That said, having teams on TV does lend itself to legitimacy and gives the game a “real sport” feel. Selling this game to the masses is tough right now and it may be another generation or two away, but I think there’s a big future for the game.

BRIAN SHANAHAN: In Canada the Toronto Rock grew a fan base because every loyal Toronto Maple Leaf fan trusted their hockey play-by-play man Joe Bowen when he gushed about what a great sport lacrosse was.

During the first few years of the Rock, they televised every home game, playoff games and a handful of road games. It helped that Toronto was always winning but if it wasn’t on TV, no one would have known about the excitement at Maple Leaf Gardens. This year there is no television in Canada and many periphery fans have asked me when the Toronto Rock season starts.

I’m not naive enough think that networks are begging for lacrosse. Conservatively it costs 30K to produce one game and many teams can’t afford it. The economy – especially in the U.S – is killing teams as sponsorships have dried up but as one insider told me its even tougher to sell rink boards if the games are not on TV. If 1000 new fans come to a game because they saw it on TV, that will bring about 20,000 dollars to the team (assuming an average ticket price of $20).

The bottom line is that we don’t have to sell box lacrosse to those who read NLLInsider. We need to sell it to hockey fans and TV is still the best way to do that.

STEVE KOJIMA: I agree that T.V. is a double-edge sword for the reasons Chavez stated, especially regionally. And I don’t think we’re there yet for national coverage…but we’re close so people should support the facebook group – Put LAX on TV!

That said, bad T.V. ratings will only hurt the sport long-term. Create first an exciting in-game product that fills the lower-bowl to near capacity, say two years realistically, then add a national ‘NLL Game of the Week’ off-set by sponsor contributions to promote the NLL to the masses and legitimize the league. If you do it too early, without cleaning up your act professionally, then you’re just going to get bad viewer ratings, and it’ll be another 7-10 years before T.V. execs give the NLL a legitimate time slot.

As a marketing professional who has worked with franchises in the NHL and NLL, Steve Kojima had plenty more to say on what could be done by the NLL. Tune in tomorrow for ten things he thinks the league could do to help itself.

Rate This Story:

(+68 rating, 15 votes)

 Loading ...