Luke Cutler
Getting married was, and forever will be, the biggest decision I make in my life. There are so many exciting things that happen when you decide to pop the question. You get to call your family and friends to share the news of your recent engagement; you get to pick out the venues for the rehearsal dinner, the service, and the reception; Chose cake or cupcakes (OK, may not seem awesome at first, but do you know how many samples you get to try?? Uh… yes please). One issue that is kind of a hot and touchy topic after marriage, and even during the engagement, is money. What loans/debt do WE have? What should OUR monthly budget look like? Where should WE invest?
The last question is one that really intrigues me, and prompted me to play out a little scenario: If sports were like a company or a stock you could invest in, what would be the biggest ROI (or for you slow ones out there, return on investment …) ten years from now? The measuring stick here is overall popularity of the sport in the US of A. So for example, the NFL right now is a stock that is very high. It may have reached its ceiling (I think Mark Cuban is just a little jealous), but it’s a pretty safe bet, or shall I say… investment, that probably it won’t lose popularity in the next 10 years. I’m going to give my opinion on which sports will have a steep climb to popularity by 2024.
Thinking of the 4 major sports in the US (NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL), I think the NHL will have the greatest ROI in the next 10 years. The first reason is really just comparing it to the other sports. The NBA and NFL are already very popular with their superstars, off season drama (don’t know how many times Lebron and Melo were talked about on SC this summer), young talent, and recognizable players. The MLB blows, and I don’t expect it to get any better. With the fast paced world we now live in, no one wants to watch 1853167 games a year. WHO CARES!!! Each game during the season becomes less and less meaningful. When Mo’ne Davis and the LLWS gets 17x the ratings as an MLB game (one was on ESPN, the other on ESPN 2) on a Wednesday night, something is wrong. Especially when you had the MLB’s best team playing the defending World Series champions. Just hilarious.
The second reason is that I don’t think the NHL can get much lower on the popularity scale. I don’t have exact ratings and number of viewers to back my opinion; all I know is that this past season, when I wanted to watch the Stanley Cup Finals between……. Anyone…… The…… Mighty Ducks??? Nope, the Kings and Rangers, the game wasn’t even on TV. Not a major network. Nowhere to be found. I almost gave up on actually becoming a fan of this sport (thank you Torey Prahl, and NHL ’12). It was finally found on NBC Sports Network. Is that even a thing? It reminds me of the NFL Network that .016 of people in America have. Baseball hasn’t even dropped that low. There is nowhere to go but up.
In terms of a positive thing that the NHL has going for them, I love the outdoor games. This is something to break up the season, provide a fun event for fans to go to, and very entertaining to watch (in Chicago last year, the snow was going crazy. Pretty cool). I also believe a solid rivalry is building between the LA Kings (defending champs in case you missed it) and the Chicago Blackhawks. They are both very young teams, and are from 2 of the biggest sports markets in the US. Between them, they own 4 of the last 5 Cups.
What is your stock of choice?
common knowledge 