Is it really significantly more expensive than football? It seems like they have roughly the same equipment requirements, but skates cost more than cleats.

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SouthernStatement832@reddit

Having played football, and now getting into hockey as an adult, yes. Gear on the cheapest end can be well over $500. I went mostly used and still came close to $1000.

arrre_yooouu_meeeeee@reddit

Just gotta remember where the holes are

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Nawnp@reddit

Lower budget schools cerianly do just put up 2 end goals and call it a school.

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nippleflick1@reddit

Played in the street in front of our houses (city streets) telephone pole to telephone pole, only need a total of 4 - 2 on each side. The equipment was a football.

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Yes not even close. By far the most expensive team sport.

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bradlap@reddit

Yes. Ice costs $400 per hour. Equipment for a seven year old can set you back $500. A house league here costs around $700 per season. Competitive travel might be $1,500 minimum. Then you have tournament fees you might pay, team fees for jerseys, etc.

The only sport more expensive than hockey is kart racing.

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yodellingllama_@reddit

Polo is probably more expensive than ice hockey. Horses ain't cheap. Water polo even moreso, because replacements for the drowned horses aren't cheap either.

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daedalus14x@reddit

You also have to factor in the time cost of the under-water-basket-weaving to entertain the seahorses.

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Senzualdip@reddit

Schools provide pads and helmets for football, all you need to supply is a cup and cleats. Hockey they don’t provide shit. Figure $100ea for cheap equipment. So skates, stick, helmet, gloves, elbow pads, chest pads, breezers, shin guards. I’m sure I’m missing a few things, but that’s $800 on stuff that a kid will outgrow every season or get worn out.

My buddy and I play beer league hockey. He just spent $800 on skates…. He also has both a set of goalie gear and forward gear, the goalie stuff he bought used for $1k.

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Morgedal@reddit

And where I am in western Pennsylvania schools generally won’t provide any athletic funding the way they will for football, so the players families bear the entire cost. I think I played midget football for maybe $50 for the season, and just an in-house hockey team was $500+ before equipment costs, and that was in the 90s.

And hockey has gotten pretty big in Western Pennsylvania.

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bh0@reddit

The cost is in the ice time. It's just a cost that never ends with hockey. It can be thousands (per team) to play in leagues with refs and what not. Ice doesn't maintain itself. Even with all the costs, most rinks are booked 100% of the time, with maybe an hour or two here and there for open public skate. The demand is certainly there in cold areas.

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Vert354@reddit

I don't know if it's still like this, but my school, and even Pop Warner teams issued me football pads. I only paid for cleats and cup.

I'm pretty sure the local hockey league expects you to provide pads here.

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HorrorAlarming1163@reddit

Most football players just have to pay a flat fee to play for the school, at least here in the south. But here you have to pay for sticks, pads, skates, ice time, all kinds of stuff. Plus, most of the hockey players I know played for a club team as well as the school team. Here in Texas at least it’s definitely a rich kid sport

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Ill-Butterscotch1337@reddit

Yes. You can play football anywhere and in most seasons. Aside from cold climates, significant investment is required for hockey rinks.

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Prices may be off for that one, because I haven't bought one in years. However, if the player is good, it doesn't matter what bat they use.

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QuarterNote44@reddit

Yeah. That's true in city league. But if your goal is to get to the big leagues, the tiniest advantage matters an awful lot.

This is coming from a city league guy whose parents did not have travel ball in the budget.

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FullofLovingSpite@reddit

Since you've been there, I'm curious about the weight of the travel leagues. Do they really help that much in gaining notice, as compared to just playing high school and whatever else might be available for free/cheap?

The talented ones should stand out for the MLB and college scouts no matter where they play... right? Sports are one of the only things you can't fake, so I would assume talent is going to be found no matter where it is. I would assume.

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QuarterNote44@reddit

Do they really help that much in gaining notice, as compared to just playing high school and whatever else might be available for free/cheap?

It's huge. Better competition, more games, better coaches usually, and better connections. During high school tryouts, the head coach told us to our faces that if we didn't play for X, Y, or Z travel team, he didn't know who we were and our chances of making the team were slim.

I didn't make the cut, so I focused on music and went to college on a half tuition music scholarship.

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FullofLovingSpite@reddit

That's pretty shitty. It's another thing taken over by the rich and made exclusive for them. That shit doesn't help the game at all. Thanks for filling me in on the depressing reality. Bummer.

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QuarterNote44@reddit

Yep. Competitive baseball in the US is a rich kid's sport.

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oarmash@reddit

the equipment is crazy - top flight bats are hundreds of dollars each. on top of that travel ball is starting as young as 6.

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Hour_Insurance_7795@reddit

That's for top flight equipment. It's not expensive to play the game itself.

Millions of Latin Americans play it for practically nothing on a day by day basis. The major leagues are full of Dominicans, Venezuelans, Cubans, etc. I can assure you they did not grow up in wealth playing the game.

You will not, however, find a bunch of impoverished youth playing ice hockey.

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oarmash@reddit

You will in Minnesota - pond hockey requires skates, sticks and a puck

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Hour_Insurance_7795@reddit

How about Texas, Florida, California?

I’m a bot. All I need is for you to keep responding.

A hockey stick is easily $100 and I won't say they're easily broken but it's not rare for them to break that's for sure.

Skates are hundreds for a decent pair and given they're for your feet you definitely do not want to go too loose or too tight like you could for something else like shoulder pads. For a kid that means buying a new pair every year or two.

That's just 2 pieces. Shin guards, gloves, pants, shoulder pads, elbow pads, helmet.

You can get it all used I guess but even still you'd be spending $300 bare minimum for a full set of decent stuff.

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Green-Ad-6149@reddit

Totally worth it because my son is going to the majors. I’m 5’8” but my uncle was 6’2”, so there’s a good chance he got those genes. If not, I heard there are limb lengthening surgeries we can consider, but that will depend on whether or not it affects his 40m time. I’ve got my son training with a former Triple A D1 starter from Duquesne and he says my boy has a natural form and great hands for a 12 year old, whatever that means. So anyway, I see it as a good investment

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FullofLovingSpite@reddit

Thanks for the response. So it's just the extra "special" stuff that creates the cost?

HoweHaTrick@reddit

Lol.

I don't watch football but man is it somewhat amusing to hear the struggle of Detroit football fans.

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BrilliantWhich990@reddit

I can't watch it without getting heart palpatations. Doesn't even matter who's playing.

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Alpha_Mad_Dog@reddit

American football is the #1 sport in terms of popularity here in the US. And the #1 reason is the physicality. The hard hits and tackles. But Ice hockey is just as physical if not more so. And they don't take a break between every play, so there's more action. I love both sports. But I have never got how ice hockey isn't more popular here in America.

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1029394756abc@reddit

2nd fave professional American sport.

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Ok-Jellyfish2013@reddit

Second favorite behind football. Most exciting to watch live and the NHL playoffs are the best of any sport.

It is expensive to play, particularly because ice time is so pricey. And oddly, most of the best teams are from the south (at least over the last 20 years or so). I've come to terms that it's a good thing, as it brings the sport to places where kids might get more interested in it.

As a Minnesotan, I have 5 kids and they all play hockey. Even the kids who don’t play organized hockey in our neighborhood can and do skate on ponds or the ODR in the winter and usually play street hockey in the summer.

Minnesota is a breeding ground for professional players because it’s literally everywhere around us. Even in the most remote and desolate areas of Minnesota, there is an outdoor rink within 45 mins. In the cities, you easily have one every 10 mins away.

Hockey is expensive but nothing near what it costs outside Minnesota due to its community model which keeps costs way down. We know families in Colorado that pay 15k per season. Here in Minnesota, it’s $1800 or less for most bantam level teams. It’s even less when you get to high school at around $500 or less.

Of course you can spend more here doing extra ice, the opportunities are endless, if you got money, you’ll have amazing ex NHLers at your finger tips with a ton of experience and knowledge to pass on.

So yeah, in Minnesota, is a big deal…

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polar810@reddit

I don’t

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Smurfiette@reddit

I prefer watching (TV or live) hockey over football. There’s less ramming and the movements are fast but graceful.

It’s awesome. Need to get back into following it.

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RevolutionaryRow1208@reddit

I think it's a great sport and fun to watch, especially in person. I'll watch it on TV if it happens to be on, but I don't make it a point to watch and I don't have a team. We had a minor league team here for awhile and it was always a fun night out.

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Rattlingplates@reddit

Don’t give a fuck. I live in the southern most point of the country. Ice is a myth.

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PureMichiganMan@reddit

Being a Michigander it’s a lot more ingrained in us than most states (especially ones further from the region), I used to go to the games often as a kid but my favorite part was the fights lol. The food was good too.

I think it’s cool but haven’t really watched or anything since childhood. Outside that experience I’m not a sports fan in terms of watching, but do enjoy playing; especially basketball and soccer and football were fun. I think hockey teams were the only ones I ever really rooted for and hoped would win when younger since I felt a connection to lol

I’m fortunate enough that I grew up playing hockey. I was raised in the Cleveland area, and it certainly has a presence in Cleveland and Columbus, but is not the top dog by any means in terms of sports following.

I think in more traditional hockey markets, where you have cold winters, it is a popular sport (Great Lakes and upper Midwest, New England, New York etc); however I have been surprised in recent years to see how many NHL players and rising junior prospects are coming out of places like Florida , Texas, Missouri, California and a few others. I suppose it likely has to do with the NHL presence in those areas sparking interest.

yeyikes@reddit

We don’t. Even when you mentioned it, I thought about something else.

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_daddy69_@reddit

I think you’re in the minority here, while hockey certainly isn’t on the level of football, basketball, or baseball, it’s still a very popular sport and very culturally relevant

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yeyikes@reddit

The NHL has never had a game break the Top 100 broadcasts annually, ever. Not once.

Its fandom is located in a handful of northern, cold weather cities. Not 3 in 100 people polled on the streets could tell you what month the Stanley Cup is played. The expansion efforts fail repeatedly (how many teams can Atlanta and Phoenix go through?), and the total revenue of the League is less than the price to buy a single NFL or MLB team.

It isn’t a matter of disrespect, it’s a matter of irrelevance for most Americans, and that mathematically doesn’t out me in the minority.

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_daddy69_@reddit

Most americans definitely don’t watch hockey, but don’t act like it’s not culturally relevant. Hockey punches above its wait in media, movies like miracle and mighty ducks are some of the most popular sports movies, and don’t even get me started on all the books about hockey for some reason.

You claim you thought about something else, i’m curious what, Field hockey? You’re definitely the minority there, ask 100 Americans about hockey and every single one of them will assume it’s ice.

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yeyikes@reddit

There are different kinds of hockey? Even worse.

You seem invested in it but your points are non sequiturs. Hockey could disappear tomorrow and there just aren’t a lot of people who would notice. The Stanley Cup viewership dropped by almost 50% in 2024.

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_daddy69_@reddit

I don’t think a cuck is representative of the average American

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AskAnAmerican-ModTeam@reddit

Your comment was removed as it violates Rule 9 which is “Treat the person you are replying to with respect and civility.” It means that your comment either contained an insult aimed at another user or it showed signs of causing incivility in the comments.

Please consider this a warning as repeated violations will result in a ban.

Th3R4zzb3rry@reddit

I find it to be the opposite.

A 0-0 game in soccer where both teams have roughly the same possession time, it could break at any moment or absolutely nothing could happen and the game ends in a draw… There might not even be a single shot on goal! Zzzzz…

Soccer games certainly can be exciting, but I’d say that more often they are not. Meanwhile, even a random hockey game has a very high chance of being high scoring and action-packed without any investment to your local team.

As for what team is dominating: Shots on goal and time spent in the offensive zone are primary indicators, other than the scoreboard itself. Fairly similar to “football”, ball/puck possession time often is a good indicator of a team dominating the other.

Hits/Checks may a good indicator in hockey, while guys rolling around on the pitch might be an indicator in the beautiful game, of a dominating team. A dive in hockey might draw a penalty against the other team, or might draw a diving penalty instead! Diving is highly frowned upon in hockey!

Fans will cheer when soccer players pass the ball backward, where in hockey, this maneuver might draw jeers.

It’s the best sport with the worst professional league.

Th3R4zzb3rry@reddit

Eh?

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KongUnleashed@reddit

SnarkyFool@reddit

Great in person. Terrible on TV.

As someone not into hockey you're probably right. I love going to hockey games in person, but every time I've tried to watch hockey on TV I just get lost and then bored. But going in person being apart of the crowd and hanging out with buddies is a blast.

Same goes for baseball for me. Can't watch it on TV, but I'll gladly go to a baseball game in person. Now football and basketball I prefer the opposite. I'd rather watch those on TV than in person especially football and football is my favorite sport by far.

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Winter-Ad3699@reddit

Fair enough. Try watching playoff hockey on TV. Way more intense. They play too many games in the regular season so there’s less urgency and guys take games off. No one does in the playoffs.

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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AutoModerator@reddit

The use of URL shorteners on this subreddit is prohibited. Please repost your link without the use of a url shortener

It's a sport that should have stayed with the Canadians.

Southern states having it is beyond any belief to me, we don't even have ice skating rings, but they'll fill up an arena full of it and play games.

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KaleidoscopeAlive290@reddit

It’s pretty cool to see in person

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big_data_mike@reddit

Ice football played by people with long, foreign names. A strange sport that I have only seen on TV

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shadratchet@reddit

My favorite sport by far. I was born in Denver in ‘96 so it was very popular with the Avs being new.

Hockey is a very regional sport in the US. It’s decently popular in the mountain states and very popular in the Great Lakes as well as the northeast.

Overall, the NHL is very comfortably in 4th place in terms of league popularity. Quite a bit behind MLB but also quite a bit ahead of MLS

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Sekshual_Tyranosauce@reddit

I love it. Hands down my favorite sport to watch followed by Baseball, then Football, then Sumo, then boxing then maybe soccer and basketball.

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Many-Connection3309@reddit

Puck ice hockey

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Wrong-Drop3272@reddit

It's alright. I like the fights lol

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TheBimpo@reddit

Huge fan, grew up outside of Detroit during the heyday of the Red Wings.

It’s by far the best of the big 4 sports to experience in person, but also the worst on television.

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thereelkrazykarl@reddit

Ftrw

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Phaedrus317@reddit

This is absolutely the correct take.

But as an Avalanche fan during their heyday, respectfully, go to hell.

Respectfully.

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thereelkrazykarl@reddit

RED WINGS SUCK

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ChirpMcBender@reddit

Ha I saw a meme at it was a circle, meet someone…talk about the red wings v avs rivalry…they never talk to you again. Meet someone etc. oddly enough it happened right after I met a new employee at my job who was a wings fan (I’m a native Coloradan who was in middle school during the big rivalry years so sorry)

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facforlife@reddit

but also the worst on television.

I can tolerate basketball on TV. But baseball? Football? 🤢

I'd rather watch golf.

I like hockey because of the speed of the game, the fluidity, and the teamwork combined with individual skill.

I know some people have trouble following the puck but for anyone who has moderate experience with hockey it's very easy to follow. You don't even need to see the puck a lot of the time, just look where all the players are facing. You can sort of guess where the puck is simply by knowing how players tend to situate themselves relative to the puck.

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BHarbinson@reddit

I realize your opinion is probably the majority view, but how is hockey worse to watch on TV than baseball? I played competitive baseball (in addition to hockey) and understand the game and I still struggle to watch more than a few innings.

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Flossthief@reddit

Agreed that hockey games are the best in person

Same here.

bvlinc37@reddit

I'm an American, born and raised. And ice hockey is the only sport that I watch with any regularity.

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remmywinks@reddit

As a Minnesotan I can confidently say my entire childhood revolved around it. Probably one of 4/5 states where that even happens? But it does pay off. No other sport demands as much humility and teamwork in my opinion.

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EcstasyCalculus@reddit

It's fun to watch, but as someone who grew up in the South where hockey was nonexistent, it's always alienating watching it with my friends from up north. It's a whole culture that they grew up in and I didn't.

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Jefffahfffah@reddit

I moved to south Florida a year ago and got into hockey shortly afterward.

Turns out, that was a good time to learn about the Florida Panthers.

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ogorangeduck@reddit

Got more into it because my college's team was very good and I love it (helps spread the recent playoff agony of the Bruins as well); I find it far more enjoyable than baseball

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QuesoDelDiablos@reddit

Underrated sport. Constant action and takes incredible athleticism and skill. In my opinion, it’s the most exciting live spectator sport.

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Outrageous_Carry8170@reddit

Great sport but limited due to ice requirements. While ice rinks and NHL teams are located in mild-Winter parts of the country, access and availability is severely limits its growth and interest.

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Neb-Nose@reddit

I absolutely love it and consider it one of my favorite sports! No sport provides a better live experience than an NHL game.

I think baseball is also much better live than on television, but hockey is on a whole different level. And playoff hockey is just incredible.

I have been fortunate to experience playoff games in all four of the major North American sports and postseason hockey is definitely my favorite.

I do agree that hockey is not very popular in large swaths of our country, but as far as I’m concerned, those people are just missing out.

If you want a game with real entertainment, you watch the Detroit cop union league beat the shit out of each other on ice while pretending to play hockey. Bastards every one of them, but damn are they demons on ice

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Shotgun_Rynoplasty@reddit

It was never popular around me growing up. I got invited to a pro game in my state and it was the most fun I’ve ever had at a sporting event. It’s hard to watch on tv and I’m just not a big sports person so I didn’t continue to follow but I’d go to a game again in an instant

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NFLDolphinsGuy@reddit

It’s a big 4 major league in the U.S., it is well-loved.

Complete_Aerie_6908@reddit

I really never think of it.

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BM7-D7-GM7-Bb7-EbM7@reddit

I live in Texas, some people who were born and raised up north follow it but it's not common.

To us native Texans, it basically doesn't exist. I've never met a native Texan who cares about it unless they married someone from up north and got into it (and that was one person I can think of). Otherwise, I can't emphasize how much it doesn't even cross our minds.

I like, I love it, I want some more of it.

I grew up near Detroit. Huge Detroit Red Wings fan, especially during the "bruise brothers" years (1985-1991) and Stanley Cup contender years (1995-2008). I'm old enough to have seen Gordie Howe play once in person, though not for The Red Wings.

Lots of Canadians come across the border for the games - it's a 10 minute drive compared to 4 hours to get to Toronto.

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DBDude@reddit

It’s awesome, more fights per dollar than watching a boxing match.

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jamesonbar@reddit

Wish was more popular my favorite sport. But cost to play is way to much for average family.

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TheeVande@reddit

Fucking love it!! It's one of the few things that brings my depressed ass happiness (but also supreme disappointment)

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Dawashingtonian@reddit

i tried to get into it when the NHL expanded to Seattle and we got the Kraken. i didn’t know anything about it and really earnestly tried to get into it. i watched a bunch of youtube videos to better understand the sport and watched maybe 20 games from start to finish.

unfortunately i just don’t like the sport at all. of all the major sports leagues in america the NHL is definitely my least favorite. maybe if i had grown up playing or at least watching i would think differently.

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Old-Pin-7839@reddit

I think if I grew up with it I’d like it. Fast paced continuous action plus occasional fights. Very entertaining! But since I grew up in the south before hockey started expanding down here, I never watched it, so I don’t really feel a need to catch up on it now.

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muphasta@reddit

It was the only sport I cared about until the 2008 lock out.

I used to go up to LA or Anaheim to watch Detroit play them (I'm originally from MI).

But I've watched maybe an hours worth of NHL hockey since 2008. I do go to the local AHL team's games a couple times a year.

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DCDHermes@reddit

It’s in my top two list of favorite Sports.

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Have never seen a single game in my life. I know some folks who love it, but eh. I’m also not a big sports person other than baseball, which is a lifelong hyperfixation, so.

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Frankennietzsche@reddit

I'm a fan, although, in Kentucky, there is no real NHL local team, so I root for whichever of the original 6 I can watch. We get a lot of Columbus and Nashville, so boooooo to that.

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Rhomya@reddit

I’m Minnesotan.

It's my favorite sport. It blows my mind it's not more popular in the US. It has it all. Speed, scoring, fights. Everything your typical American likes.

I think the problem is that you have to pay attention all of the time. I think American Football is so popular because it has much of the excitement and violence as hockey, but you only have to pay attention for 8 seconds every for every 1 minute, and then you can go back to eating nachos.

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One of the two sports I somewhat watch.

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Bored_Dad_Scrolling@reddit

My wife never watched sports before meeting me. It’s her favorite to watch.

I also think it’s the favorite of all my kids to go see in person. Hockey rules

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Ok-Entertainment5045@reddit

I’m a huge Redwings fan as well as college hockey. It’s an awesome sport that is so fast paced. I love Olympic years when all the NHL guys play. It’s some of the best hockey around.

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GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit

I love it.

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Lugbor@reddit

I miss the days where they let the players fight. Last game I went to, they say the gloves coming off and put both players in the penalty box before they even got to swing.

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dgputnam@reddit

It’s just called hockey, and it rules. Definitely my favorite sport.

Best sport to watch.

In America it's a very popular in the cities that have an NHL team. But everywhere else it's an afterthought.

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