To the tens of people who will read this, thank you. I appreciate you giving this a click. I am “the hockey guy” here at GENY. That allowed me to watch the unrivaled success of the 4 Nations Faceoff with a more analytical approach than someone trying to watch after a lapse in viewing the sport. The takeaways from the event are multiple and I think it positively impacted growing interest in the game regardless of the fact that Team USA came up short in the title game.
First Take (don’t @ me ESPN)
Every All-Star game is terrible and needs to be reformatted in a similar fashion or just retired from existence altogether.
The All-Star game has become passé, to say the least. The effort in these games is nonexistent and there is no appeal to the general public to watch something that has no stakes, has a minimal amount of effort made by the stars, and feels as bloated and useless as Charley Lancaster after a Birds game on Thanksgiving.
Unfortunately, this unmitigated success by the NHL has resulted in a double-edged sword because they can’t go back to the All-Star game in the next few years, if ever again. Next year is a non-issue because the break will be for the Olympics and there won’t be any need. But a little investigation shows that the league has announced an All-Star game location in 2026 at UBS Arena on Long Island. Here’s hoping that it doesn’t happen. The Olympics will bring back best on best so I guess having both is acceptable but I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets destroyed in the ratings by a Law and Order: SVU rerun on cable.
The NBA All-Star game was panned by universally everyone for being a waste of time and I have to think that this was made more evident by the fact that these 4 Nations games were intense and played like they were Stanley Cup playoff games or Olympic Games… but they weren’t and that takes me to my next point.
2nd Take: We’ve taken the artificial creation of “big” events and assigned them meaning and significance to a level that has made everything “special”
Hear me out on this one because I’ve been thinking about it for a while. The “experience economy” that has arisen in the last decade or so has seen the creation of events like the 4 Nations Faceoff and countless other concerts and sporting events (NBA in-season tournament, MLB Field of Dreams games, NFL games in several countries where football means watching a riveting 1-1 tie, etc.). While this is on its face a cool way to bring unique events to attendees and viewers, it also has made for the rise of my least favorite byproduct, dynamic pricing.
Dynamic pricing is a shitty marketing buzz term from an asshat Wharton graduate, what it really means is “How can we extract as much money from the fans as humanly possible while still making them feel like they are attending something worthwhile?”
In addition to this new hell, we also have the introduction of tiered ticketing that promises “VIP experiences” that typically amount to early entry, free food and drink that is the lowest quality level imaginable, and access to areas that aren’t accessible to general fans. These perks often fall nowhere near the added cost of the ticket and often are forced upon the buyer to sit in the best sections of a building. I hate it.
I’ve frequently told Charley, Kev, and Tyles when they’ve been kind enough to accompany me to Flyers games this season that I see the future. I believe that the new building for the Flyers and Sixers will officially price me and many more like me out of season tickets or at least force me to seats that I will ultimately not want and thus end my time as the guy who comments every January that he’s tired of seeing the Gritty X Rocky intro for the 30th time.
But back to the initial point, this tournament was invented at NHL headquarters and has absolutely no cultural or historical significance whatsoever, but it was a rousing success despite this. What does this say though? If we as a public are willing to spend the money then maybe I’m just being the old man yelling at the clouds in this scenario! The get-in price to the 4 Nations championship game on Thursday was over $2000. Folks that is only SLIGHTLY less than the get-in price to the Super Bowl… that is categorically insane.
3rd Take: The owners are going to push back on this format because their stars are going to get banged up right before the stretch run toward the playoffs
The Ottawa Senators watched as two of their young stars shone brightest for Team USA and they were put on a national spotlight, which is great. The Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights are not as thrilled as they saw their stars get injured during this tournament in Matthew Tkachuk and Shea Theodore respectively. Both of those teams are playoff contenders who are in a weaker position as a result of this tournament. The result is that owners aren’t going to be thrilled as stars injure themselves while they gain nothing from it. It’s for this reason that this format probably isn’t going to become a yearly staple.
So where do we go from here? Well, in the immediate future NHL players will return to the Olympics which is great, but hopefully this encourages the other leagues to try new formats to try and make All-Star games must-see again. The easiest way to accomplish this is to add stakes but the drawback is the now infamous MLB World Series home field debacle of yesteryear. I would like to see a World Baseball Classic occur simultaneously during the season with the championship occurring during the All-Star break (Tyles will tell me if that makes sense or not on an upcoming episode). Anyways thanks for reading and enjoy your Sunday Philly.
What did you think of the Four Nations Faceoff? How should the other leagues handle all-star style games? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, BlueSky, or TikTok. Email us at [email protected] and we’ll share the story on the show. Join our Discord for further discussion with the GENY community!