I think that non-casual hockey fans forget that there being a small amount of players who are of color and/or from below the 40th parallel is little more than a fun fact to fans who aren't attached to indicators of the game's growth.
But... this is a total misunderstanding of what Matthews' potential appeal to new/casual fans is? that ironically is colored by non-casual/rpf fandom? No one thinks Matthews will help "grow the game" because the average casual is really invested in POC representation in sports or in the development of non-traditional markets. But hockey's main audience is currently primarily white people in certain geographical areas. Logically, a way to grow the game and increase viewership is obviously to appeal to demographics that have traditionally not been interested in hockey. People will watch an athlete and watch a sport they might not otherwise have cared about because a player is from where they're from, or shares an ethnicity or nationality with them. I've experienced this firsthand in my family, and seen it happen on a large scale in other sports, too. I do think people in this thread have been overstating Matthews' marketing importance, and understating Eichel's (no, it is not true that Boston "might as well be Canada"), but... just because you think that Matthews being "the Mexican from Arizona TM" is something to be derided and insufficiently worthy of interest because he's white and middle class doesn't change the fact that it will mean something to some Mexicans that he is Mexican, and something to Latinxs that he is Latino, and something to the Southwest that he is from there.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Re: Hockey Media - nationally televised NHL games next year (in the US)
From: (Anonymous)But... this is a total misunderstanding of what Matthews' potential appeal to new/casual fans is? that ironically is colored by non-casual/rpf fandom? No one thinks Matthews will help "grow the game" because the average casual is really invested in POC representation in sports or in the development of non-traditional markets. But hockey's main audience is currently primarily white people in certain geographical areas. Logically, a way to grow the game and increase viewership is obviously to appeal to demographics that have traditionally not been interested in hockey. People will watch an athlete and watch a sport they might not otherwise have cared about because a player is from where they're from, or shares an ethnicity or nationality with them. I've experienced this firsthand in my family, and seen it happen on a large scale in other sports, too. I do think people in this thread have been overstating Matthews' marketing importance, and understating Eichel's (no, it is not true that Boston "might as well be Canada"), but... just because you think that Matthews being "the Mexican from Arizona TM" is something to be derided and insufficiently worthy of interest because he's white and middle class doesn't change the fact that it will mean something to some Mexicans that he is Mexican, and something to Latinxs that he is Latino, and something to the Southwest that he is from there.