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Can ESPN & TNT Create Latino NHL Audience With One Game?

“There is likely a significant portion of the audience that has the same relationship to hockey that most Americans do with hurling. We know it exists, we know it is a sport, and that is where our knowledge stops.”

Demetri Ravanos

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Did you enjoy the NHL’s return to ESPN on Tuesday? I will admit that it was great to hear the music again and the presentation was pretty strong. Overall though, I got more enjoyment out of the goofy things the network did leading up to the start of the new season than the games themselves.

That is pretty understandable I think. I grew up in Mobile, AL where we had an ECHL team that moved after two seasons because they could not keep the ice on the rink frozen. Being a hockey fan was never really in the cards for me. On top of that, I am way more of a sports media fan than anything else anyway.

One thing that I have seen a lot in the lead-up to the new season is that the NHL and its two new TV partners are going to make an effort to grow the league’s popularity with the Latino audience. That means getting Americans of Latin descent to watch more hockey and getting games on in Mexico.

The NHL’s Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly spoke to ESPN’s Eric Gomez about this recently. He said that the league has its eyes on actually playing in Mexico. An expansion team in Mexico City is unlikely, but the league could build an international event game similar to its outdoor games started by the league and NBC.

“We had started hearing from our clubs that they’d love to play a game in Mexico,” said Daly. “The more we can appeal to more demographics, countries and culturally diverse areas, the better it is for us.”

I wondered how effective a move like this would actually be. Does a single game in Mexico each year raise the NHL’s profile in the Latin community in the United States? Does it even raise the profile of the NHL in Mexico more than one day, maybe one week at most, each year?

I turned to friends that have a history with hockey and are of Latin descent. They also both happen to work in the sports media. I thought they would have discerning eyes to and be able to offer perspective about what is going on here that a white dude from Alabama just wouldn’t have.

Mike Taylor’s show can be heard in afternoon drive on Ticket 760 in San Antonio and on AM 1300 The Zone in Austin. Prior to joining the San Antonio station, Taylor, who is of Mexican descent, hosted the postgame show for the Dallas Stars on WBAP in Dallas.

He gives the league credit and believes the effort to woo a Latino audience will be genuine. He has seen teams in both the NHL and AHL recognize the value of winning over those fans.

“It’s not lip service. Clubs in the South especially want to grow the game however they can,” he told me in an email. “The question is how? Dallas has done a pretty good job and before they left San Antonio, the Rampage tried to tap into the Mexican heritage of the city. And it worked. Many Latinos went to those games.”

Joe Ovies has been on the air in Raleigh, North Carolina for more than 20 years. He covered the Carolina Hurricanes’ 2006 Stanley Cup Championship for 850 The Buzz and now hosts The OG in afternoon drive on the team’s flagship station, 99.9 The Fan. In fact, Ovies and his partner, Joe Giglio, made headlines earlier this year for blasting the team after it signed Tony DeAngelo, saying it proved that ownership was out of touch with the market.

Ovies, whose parents are from Cuba, has questions about how the league, along with ESPN and TNT, plan to court “the Latino audience.” It’s not something that can be done successfully by employing a single strategy. He says he has seen ESPN make that mistake every time it tries to celebrate “Latino Culture”.

“For instance, they had a vignette on Tom Flores and his impact on Mexican NFL fans. It was incredibly well done, highlighting fans who viewed Flores as an inspiration and a rare representative of Mexican heritage in the NFL. However, as someone of Cuban descent, those cultural signifiers do not resonate with my upbringing in South Florida in any way, shape, or form.

“While I appreciate Mexican culture and go out of my way to point out its influence in this country, it can’t hit me the same way ESPN’s coverage of the MLB in Cuba did. And I would expect those fans of Mexican would have a vice versa understanding of it.”

Each of the United Sates’ “big four” sports leagues have left the country in the past. That doesn’t just mean games were played in Canada, where three of the four leagues have teams. The NFL has played games in England and Mexico. Major League Baseball has gone to Cuba, Japan, and England. The NBA has visited four foreign countries for regular season games and ten others during past preseasons.

The NHL itself is no stranger to travel. The league’s Global Series games began back in 1997, but since 2000, the events have been confined to European countries where there is already some kind of hockey culture. Going to Mexico and even wooing Hispanic American fans is a different challenge entirely.

ESPN, TNT and the NHL seem to understand that success will require some education. There is likely a significant portion of the audience that has the same relationship to hockey that most Americans do with hurling. We know it exists, we know it is a sport, and that is where our knowledge stops.

If that’s a hill the three entities have to climb, Mike Taylor is adamant that anyone with a financial stake in hockey’s success needs to understand that taking a game to Mexico won’t be good enough. In fact, while it may make an impact in Mexico, Taylor doesn’t think that it will mean much of anything to Mexican-Americans.

“Mexican-Americans are who the NHL needs to focus on. It may sound silly but these teams simply need to do more Mexican-type stuff. Serve authentic Mexican food and promote the hell out of it. Do what a bunch of minor leave baseball teams have done and create an alternate team name that’s Latino-centric. Hire Latin musical stars to play concerts. Get local soccer stars to come to games. Have a low rider show in the parking lot. Some of this may sound stereotypical but if you want Mexican kids to come out, you have to do Mexican things.”

When it comes to ESPN specifically, Ovies is a little more skeptical. He doesn’t see a network that wants to bring hockey to a new audience. He sees a business that needs to make its money back and win over the audience that is already there.

“ESPN paid a lot of money for the rights and investing in NHL coverage to earn back a level of trust with hockey fans who have held a grudge against the network’s lack of coverage for over a decade. When you pay that much money, you have to get your bang for the buck. So I think they went to their binder of ideas that have worked for other leagues, like the NFL, and said ‘hey let’s try this! It’ll look cool and there’s outreach!'”

Ovies’s exposure to hockey dates back to his childhood in South Florida when the Panthers first came to the NHL. His father was a big sports fan and wanted his sons to see big names like Wayne Gretzky play before it was too late. He admits that not enough Cuban dads thought that way. That is why the Panthers left Miami for the suburbs.

Still, he says there is a lesson in that for the NHL. The key to winning over Latinos, or any new audience really, isn’t creating spectacles. It is creating personal connections and memories.

Joe’s son, Jacob, is a huge Hurricanes fan and even participates in the team’s First Goal program. Joe told me that it was possible because of a learn-to-skate program subsidized by the team. The Canes made it easy for anyone who wanted to learn to play to be able to do so.

That hasn’t just created loyalty to the team from his son. Joe told me that it strengthened three generations of his family’s bond with hockey.

“Here you have a 10-year-old kid with a Cuban dad born in the states to Cuban immigrants going through a highly subsided NHL team learn-to-skate program. That leads to house league participation in the Triangle, where he’s playing games on the weekend.

“My dad goes to his first game and is all emotional about it. Essentially tells me ‘my dad was the soccer player, your mom’s dad was the baseball player…you were a good baseball player too…but Jacob is the first Ovies to play hockey…your grandfathers would love this.'”

Taking those learn-to-skate programs and roller hockey leagues to Latino communities in the United States would be exactly like Major League Baseball’s efforts to rebuild fandom for its sport in Black communities. Equipment in both of those sports can be expensive. That is why you get teams and current and former players involved to lower the barrier to entry.

Look, the NHL absolutely should be looking at how to attract these audiences it has ignored for so long. Auston Matthews, one of the league’s biggest stars, is a Mexican-American playing for one of the league’s Original Six franchises.

I can’t stand hockey fans that tell me I don’t like the sport because I haven’t given it a chance. I have. I think it is dumb. What I like about hockey is that my kids like hockey, so we go to games together.

There are plenty of people and communities that “haven’t given it a chance” though because the NHL never gave them a chance. If the league and its partners focus on how to introduce hockey to those communities and make meaningful connections with them, it would be making a smarter investment than creating a major event that pays lip service to that community for a few days every year, thinking that will make them so grateful to be acknowledged that they run out and buy hats and hoodies.

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How to Help Your Clients with Low Website Conversions

Don’t assume there isn’t enough traffic; focus on optimizing user engagement once visitors arrive on the site.

Jeff Caves

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Graphic for how to increase website conversions
Credit: WPDesigner.Biz

Are your clients dealing with low website conversions? Whenever a marketing campaign is run, and the goal is to convert website visitors into leads, the temptation is to blame low traffic, amongst other issues, for low form fills or appointments being generated.  Just spend more money, you may think! Sometimes, you must look at at least four other potential issues to tackle poor conversion rates. Here are some actionable steps using the IT services industry to increase website conversions.

IT Solutions specializes in providing products, services, or solutions related to technology, particularly in areas such as software development, hardware sales, IT consulting, cybersecurity, cloud computing, networking, and digital transformations. They faced challenges with their website conversions. Despite driving substantial traffic through Google Ads and other SEO tactics, they struggled to convert website visitors into form fills for appointment requests. A 2% to 5% conversion rate could be considered reasonable. Of course, conversion rates can vary based on various factors, such as the competitiveness of the local market, the quality of the website (and radio stations help most to fix that) and its user experience, the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and the reputation and offerings of the IT solutions business. Focusing on improving the quality of leads and providing exceptional customer service can be just as crucial as achieving high conversion rates. Don’t blame EVERYTHING on the marketing tactics! 

The Diagnosis

Upon thorough analysis, several critical issues were identified with IT Solutions’ website:

1. High Bounce Rate: Nobody was checking out the business. If 70% or more of website visitors only visit the landing page, that is an issue.  It could be slow loading times, irrelevant content, poor user experience, or unclear calls-to-action that prevent them from wanting to know more about IT Solutions. You can check the bounce rate on the Google Analytics page for the website in the left-hand sidebar, click on “Behavior” to expand the menu, then click on “Site Content,” and finally, click on “Landing Pages.” You’ll see a list of landing pages and their respective bounce rates.

2. Complex Navigation: It was hard to move around the website to find relevant information about IT services, and it was unclear who they were initiating contact with and for what purpose.

3. Unclear Calls-to-Action (CTAs): The website lacked clear and compelling CTAs guiding visitors toward requesting an appointment. Simply stating “click here for an appointment” is like asking for a meeting whenever or without establishing value. Here are 28 CTAs for free.

4. Lengthy Forms: The appointment forms were long, without qualifying information, and requested excessive information upfront, deterring potential leads from completing them.

Action Plan

1. Optimize Landing Pages:

   – Redo high-traffic landing pages with clear messaging and compelling CTAs.

   – Showcase IT Solutions’ services as benefits, making it easier for users to request appointments, thereby increasing user engagement and conversions.

2. Simplify Navigation:

   – Reorganize the menu and add more action-oriented links.

   – Provide additional options for users to access relevant information, such as “Get a free IT Solutions 15-point checkup NOW” and “Take this 5-question survey to diagnose your IT issues,” motivating them to book appointments.

3. Enhance CTAs:

   – Utilize concise and persuasive messaging throughout the website.

   – Encourage visitors to take action, whether requesting a free download about “5 things you can do to solve your IT issues on your own” or “get a free pizza for booking an appointment.”

4. Improve the Form Fill:

   – Add a further line about the number of employees who qualify for incoming leads.

   – Highlight the value of leads based on company size, prioritizing forms with higher potential impact.

Review landing pages, navigation, CTAs, and form experience to address website conversion issues. Don’t assume there isn’t enough traffic; focus on optimizing user engagement once visitors arrive on the site.

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‘NHL on TNT’ Gives Hockey Fans the ‘NBA on TNT’ Treatment

Watching Albert and Olczyk call a hockey game is like watching Picasso paint and da Vinci sculpt. They are masters of their respective crafts.

John Molori

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NHL on TNT studio

Let’s play a little word association, sports media style. If I say TNT, what is your response? Chances are it will be a three-letter abbreviation of your own, namely, NBA. Over the years, TNT has built a reputation as arguably the premiere network to telecast the National Basketball Association.

The NBA on TNT pregame and halftime shows have become the gold standard with stars like Ernie Johnson, Jr., Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal. Still, it’s not just this quartet of roundball royalty that has fortified TNT’s hoops coverage.

The rep was also built on tremendous play-by-play announcers like Bob Neal and Kevin Harlan, color analysts like Doug Collins and Reggie Miller, and courtside reporters like the late Craig Sager and current sideline star Allie LaForce.

Indeed, TNT and the NBA have become synonymous, but I have some news for you. This network is not just about professional basketball. This past week I went off the grid with TNT looking at their in-game and studio coverage of the NHL.

On March 24, the NHL on TNT provided coverage of the Pittsburgh Penguins at Colorado Avalanche matchup. Kenny Albert did play-by-play with Eddie Olczyk on color. Albert is not as noted as his legendary broadcasting father Marv Albert, but he has certainly staked his claim as one of the best in the business – able to cross over to multiple sports with equal aplomb.

Hockey is a strong suit for Albert. His rat-tat-tat, drama-building style draws viewers in and keeps us on the edge of our seats. Similarly, Olczyk is one of the top four or five NHL game analysts in the business. His style is understated, providing calm and clear analysis of key plays. They work really well together.

Albert eschews any kind of hackneyed and trite catch phrases for his goal calls. An emphatic, “He shoots and scores!” is plenty enough.

Hockey is a different beast when it comes to play-by-play. Unlike basketball, baseball, football, or even soccer and tennis, there is a minimum of breaks in the action. With hockey, a play-by-play announcer has to know the names of the players like he or she knows her kids’ names.

To me, it is the hardest sport for play-by-play and equally difficult for a color analyst. In basketball, after a team scores, the play-by-play announcer will keep silent and give the color analyst time to talk until the play crosses center court. In baseball and football, there is ample room for commentary.

Hockey does not offer such space, but Olczyk gets the most out of the minimal amount of time. Watching Albert and Olczyk call a hockey game is like watching Picasso paint and da Vinci sculpt. They are masters of their respective crafts.

Coming back from a break in the game, Albert and Olczyk provided on air commentary and then tossed to ice level reporter Brian Boucher who has grown into a tremendous asset to the TNT broadcasts. Boucher provided real talk about Colorado’s objectives of staying on top of their division and vying for the top seed in the Western Conference.

The Penguins, squarely in a rebuilding year having dumped talent at the NHL trade deadline, surprisingly jumped out to a 2–0 lead in this game, and the TNT between periods studio crew was all over it. The excellent Liam McHugh hosted alongside Colby Armstrong, Anson Carter, and Keith Yandle.

Armstrong was especially entertaining. With Pittsburgh outshooting the Avs 16-4, Armstrong noted that it’s the best he’s seen Pittsburgh play in a long time. His reasoning was that teams get geared up for playing Colorado even if it’s out of fear. Great stuff.

Both teams tallied two goals in the second period giving Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead heading into the final frame. When Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon set up Jonathan Drouin for a goal to make it 4-3, Albert and Olczyk showed their strengths.

Albert called the pass from MacKinnon and one-timer goal from Drouin, and immediately noted that MacKinnon now had a point in all 34 of Colorado’s home games this season. On the goal replay, Olczyk showed how the play developed pointing out how McKinnon allowed Pittsburgh’s Evgenii Malkin to come in close before making the past to Drouin.

The TNT production team then showed a graphic displaying that McKinnon is now second all-time in longest home points streaks trailing only Wayne Gretzky. This was a sublime sequence of symmetry between talent and technicians like a songwriter, musician, and singer creating beautiful music.

What was supposed to be a blowout win for Colorado had now become a hockey barn burner, and the TNT crew was up to the task. Every goal and key play was followed up with replays from multiple angles showing the genesis of the action.

TNT has certainly taken to the velocity of the hockey broadcast with movement that challenges directors, graphics professionals, and videographers.

When there were breaks in this non-stop action, Olczyk was at his best. No hockey analyst draws on his experience as a player and explains that experience better to viewers. The TNT broadcast also lets Boucher freewheel and join in the flow of discussion without having to be introduced.

TNT does not merely rely on the traditional wide shot of the entire rink. We see close-up shots of each goaltender after a great save and the sweat of players on the bench or in the penalty box.

When McKinnon tied the game at 4-4 with 4:38 left in the third period, we got a series of tremendous crowd shots showing the Colorado fans going absolutely berserk. The sage Albert and Olczyk wisely remained quiet for several seconds, letting the cheers do the talking.

When Drouin scored the game winner at 4:06 of overtime, Albert exercised controlled enthusiasm, raising his voice on the call of the goal, but not becoming the show and overshadowing the play itself. He is definitely in the mold of Dan Kelly, Gary Thorne, and Sean McDonough, announcers who enhance but do not supersede the game.

Putting a cherry on top of this hockey Sunday, TNT showed a graphic that the Avalanche now led the NHL in comeback wins this season with 25 and that they were riding a 9-game winning streak. In analyzing the goal, Olczyk opined that the altitude of playing in Colorado was prevalent as the Penguins seemed to tire as the game progressed – really interesting insight.

In the postgame show, Anson Carter made a great point that the chemistry between Drouin and MacKinnon stems from the fact that they have been playing together going back to junior hockey. McKinnon joined in from the arena for a postgame interview. The analysts asked solid questions and even did a funny MVP chant together as the interview ended.

The NHL on TNT takes no back seat to its elder NBA sister. The broadcast provides viewers with flash, dash, and serious hockey talk from every angle – in studio, from the broadcast booth, and on the ice.

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Kim Mulkey Now Has Everyone Anticipating Washington Post Story

I can’t imagine what headline, under normal circumstances, the Washington Post would have to put on a Kim Mulkey story to make me want to read it.

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photo of LSU women's college basketball coach Kim Mulkey
Credit: Dailymail.co.uk

The Washington Post, you might’ve heard, has a story coming out about controversial LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey. The reason you might’ve heard is because Kim Mulkey told you. The Tigers coach read a fiery prepared statement just before her team started the Women’s NCAA Tournament. In the statement, Mulkey threatened to sue The Post for defamation before the first word was even published.

Now, I’ve never run a public relations firm but that did not seem like a good idea. The Washington Post story on Mulkey is one of the bigger stories in sports right now and nobody even knows what’s in it. The reason the story, apparently unflattering to Mulkey, is even on anyone’s radar screen is Mulkey herself.

It all started with an innocuous social media post by Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde right in the middle of the most anticipated two days in sports, the NCAA Tournament Round of 64. On his X account, Forde posted: “Hearing some buzz about a big Washington Post story in the works on LSU women’s hoops coach Kim Mulkey, potentially next week. Wagons being circled, etc.”

You know what generally will go unnoticed at 4:00 on the first Friday of the NCAA Tournament? A post on X about a women’s basketball coach. But don’t tell Mulkey, she saw Forde’s post and decided to fight fire with nuclear weaponry. The result: the average person like me now is really interested in what has Mulkey so incensed. By “average person like me” I mean that I can’t imagine what headline, under normal circumstances, the Washington Post would have to put on a Kim Mulkey story to make me want to read it. Maybe:

“LSU Women’s Coach Discovers Ark of the Covenant”

Or:

“Mulkey Reveals True JFK Assassin(s)”

Perhaps:

“Famed Women’s Basketball Coach Reveals the Mystery Behind Slow Drivers in the Left Lane”

Literally any of those catch my attention more than whatever will likely be the Washington Post headline about Mulkey. But now Mulkey is “Mad as Hell and is not going to take this anymore” so I now have an interest I would never before have had in this story. It has been fascinating to watch the online speculation about the subject of the article and all we really know, as of now, is that it will be written by Kent Babb. This is a dream come true for Babb; he writes an article that is, presumably, not flattering about Kim Mulkey and, before it is even published, she gives the article the greatest commercial anyone could give it. Babb couldn’t have entered into a business agreement with Mulkey and had this turn out better for him.

For those who don’t follow Babb, he is a former NFL reporter who now is an award-winning writer for the Washington Post. In his 14 years with The Post, he has written sports features and authored a couple of books. One of those sports features stories was a deep dive into what he viewed as a large inequity in the level of pay for LSU head football coach Brian Kelly and his LSU players. It is this piece Mulkey described as a “hit piece” and, based on that piece, referred to Babb as a “sleazy reporter.” Babb, and many others, resented the fact his story was labeled as a hit piece. In fact, Babb essentially confirmed he was the author Mulkey was referencing when he shared the original article on X with the comment: “Hit piece?”

Whether a printed piece or a recorded interview, I can’t imagine a better promotion for it than the subject of the interview threatening a libel/slander lawsuit, especially before it is even released. That simply screams “This piece is salacious!!” Also, libel and slander suits get settled all the time, right? Of course they don’t, they seem to never even get filed. That little thing called discovery is a scary thing for most public figures.

The NCAA Tournament has been very entertaining, and I think the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight will be terrific. For only the fifth time ever, the top two seeds have advanced to the third round which sets up for a remarkable weekend. For me, I guess it will now include a Washington Post article, not a sentence I’d normally say.

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