L.A. Kings Winning With Tweet Game



From SportsBusinessJournal.com

In the latest edition of “things Ryan finds cool” we go back to the NHL to see how the Los Angeles Kings are changing the social media game for pro sports, one Tweet at a time. Chris Botta’s SportsBusiness Journal article this week takes a look at the franchises’ official Twitter page, “@LAKings: irreverent, entertaining, sarcastic and controversial.”

Three years ago, LA ranked 29^th out of 30 franchises in website engagement (calculated as “average time spent per user.”) According to the most recently league data, the franchise now ranks first in the league. The Twitter page has also added over 37,000 followers since April 1 of this year. This can largely be attributed to the social media staffers, who use Twitter as a fun way to engage with the fans. Over the years, official social media pages have given just facts and figures—consistently dry and lacking for engagement. The Kings are changing that by breaking the rules. Who’d expect to ever see smack talk from a team’s official Twitter? Certainly not me, but the Kings are giving fans just that. Twitter is aiding in adding some heat to their playoff series, on and off the ice (Ahahaha, I get it; the games are in Phoenix and LA. Hot. Funny!)

Regardless, I think this is good. Heaven knows the league needs something to talk about come Stanley Cup Finals time (I certainly don’t care about New Jersey or the Phoenix Red Jackets right now.) I like a little smack talk, especially when it’s witty. Just reading last night’s Tweets during Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals made me chuckle—it’s akin to reading fans Tweeting about the game (but with less cursing and anger.) 

For example, “Not great at math, but #LAKings getting a whole bunch off PP time. They kind of need the practice anyway.”  @LAKings 10:41p.m.

It’s smart, it’s funny, it’s original, and it’s giving us all something to talk about. That’s a mix fit for royalty, don’t you think?

The Chase for Lord Stanley's Cup: The Money Battles

The NHL Playoffs are underway, and we’ve already had enough excitement for an entire season for many fans in the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia series, High scoring games, violent, passionate fights, spectacular saves, suspensions between bitter rivals, let alone the other fourteen teams still playing hockey.

Nevertheless, the battle behind the games wages on. The NHL is on the cusp of another CBA negotiation period—last time the NHLPA and Board of Governors met to renegotiate the CBA, there was a lockout that wiped out the entire 05-06 season, damaging the league’s standing as one of the “Big Four” sports.

Nontraditional markets like Los Angeles (leading Vancouver 3-0), Florida (leading New Jersey 2-1), Nashville (leading Detroit 2-1), and Phoenix (leading Chicago 2-1) are doing quite well this postseason. The question is: is this good for the NHL? One of the major concerns going into the 2004 lockout was parity—small market teams felt as if they did not have as good a chance to compete with the large market teams (the New York Rangers especially).

In the six (not counting this season) years since the lockout, we’ve seen six different champions between 10 different franchises. In the six seasons before the lockout, nine different teams made the Stanley Cup Finals, with 5 different champions. Since the lockout only two non-traditional market teams (Carolina in 05-06 and Anaheim in 06-07) have won the Cup. In the six seasons before the lockout, four nontraditional franchises made the finals (Anaheim, Dallas, Carolina, and Tampa Bay) made the finals, with two champions (Dallas in 1998-99, Tampa Bay in 2003-04). For all intents and purposes, there’s not been a remarkable difference.

The lockout has done little to help smaller/non-traditional market franchises. New Jersey, Florida, Columbus, New York Islanders, and Phoenix are all struggling financially, while two franchises (Phoenix and the now relocated Atlanta) have struggled to find ownership groups to solidify their futures financially.

Daniel Kaplan’s April 16 SBJ article, he discusses two first round foes, the New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers, who have struggled to break even this past year. Without deep playoff runs, both are expected to finish millions in the red. This can partially be contributed to poor TV ratings. Florida’s 0.21 and New Jersey’s 0.34 ratings this past season ranked 30^th and 27^th in the entire NHL. To make matters worse, the teams average percentage of arena capacity at home games ranked 24^th (86.6%) and 23^rd (87.6%) in the league. Only one other playoff team, Phoenix (dead last, at 72.5%), had below 95% home attendance this season.

The league cannot continue to have franchises struggle so mightily. Something has to change. A major TV contract would go a long way, but the current NBC Universal deal leaves much to be desired compared to the other major sports. There has been very little progress on CBA negotiations thus far. The league cannot afford another season-damaging lockout.