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While significant attention has been paid to the experiences of queer athletes and sport participants, comparatively little work has explored queer sport fans' leisure experiences in sport stadiums. Focusing on professional men's hockey fandom, this empirical study asks: what are the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and two-spirit (LGBTQ2S+) spectators at National Hockey League games in Canada? Interviews with 24 diversely identified queer spectators reveal significant variation in experiences, from positive to neutral to negative, and a welcome lack of virulent or aggressive homophobia and transphobia. Most queer spectators perceive the arena space as heteronormative, which often results in feelings of non-belonging. Using de Certeau's theorisation of tactics, this paper explores how queer spectators modify their behaviour – including minimising and maximising queer visibility – to smoothly navigate the heteronormative arena space. This paper contributes to understandings of homophobia and queer belonging in leisure spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the demand for hockey game trips among metropolitan and nonmetropolitan residents of Alberta, Canada. Using data on both revealed and stated preference game-trip behavior from a telephone survey conducted throughout Alberta, we estimate the effect of ticket prices, team quality, arena amenities, and capacity on the latent demand for National Hockey League hockey games. We find that lower ticket prices, higher team quality, and additional capacity encourage attendance. In the status quo scenario, consumer surplus per game is $50 for those who had attended hockey games and about 50% less for those who had not attended games. Exploiting the stated preference data, we develop a number of other consumer surplus estimates. We also include travel costs in the estimation of the demand function and estimate the full value of the game trip considering both ticket prices and travel costs. Sold-out arenas in Calgary and Edmonton generate annual consumption benefits of $40 and $35 million when only ticket prices are used to calculate consumer surplus (i.e., excluding travel costs). Considering the full-price consumer surplus for the Calgary Flames of $103 per game trip, the annual consumption benefits may be as high as $82 million. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the issue of team viability and professional franchise relocation, a problem common to all major sports leagues in North America. Specifically, using the National Hockey League in the 1990s as the analytical vehicle, the proposition that the viability of Canadian Small Market Franchises (SMF) is in doubt because of a combination of inadequate revenue (due to the quality of their locations) and escalating salary cost, is examined. Using game by game data for the 1989/90 season, revenue, costs and profits by team were estimated and it was concluded that Canadian SMF are indeed an endangered species. Several alternatives which might rectify the problem are considered (revenue sharing, salary caps, public subsidy), but none are as attractive or as realistic as relocating south to US cities. The behaviour of SMF in the 1990s is consistent with this prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociology of Sport Journal is the property of Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Public Policy is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Public Policy is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the history of hockey diplomacy and U.S.-Canadian foreign relations during the early years of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1968-1984. Particular focus is given on the criticisms over the exclusion of hockey player Bobby Hull from the 1974 Summit Series competitions between Canada, which was represented by the World Hockey Association (WHA), and Soviet Union because Hull was signed to the Winnipeg Jets team of the rival WHA. Also examined is the role of American owners of National Hockey League clubs in Canada's national game.

Researchers have identified some demands of Canadian National Hockey League (NHL) players, yet there is little direction for players hoping to reach the lucrative league. The objectives of this study were to identify the stages, statuses and demands in Canadian NHL players’ careers and propose an empirical career model of Canadian NHL players. In total, 5 rookies, 5 veterans and 13 retirees had their interviews undergo an interpretive thematic analysis. Prospects face the NHL combine, training camp and minor league assignment. While developing into NHL players, rookies deal with NHL call-ups, team competition and formative production while sophomores seemed preoccupied by the opposition. Prime veterans become All-Stars by garnering point production and challenging for the Stanley Cup while seasoned veterans remain relevant through training camps. A discussion about the model’s viability is followed by applications for sport psychology researchers and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the strategies and actions Canadian professional hockey teams implement in order to build and exploit their brand. Data were collected during one-on-one interviews with vice presidents and marketing directors of four teams: the Montreal Canadiens, the Ottawa Senators, the Toronto Maple Leafs (TML) and the Vancouver Canucks. Our results, based on content analysis, show that Canadian teams, while aware of the importance of branding, do not have a formal brand strategy, with the exception of the TML. Consequently, their marketing actions do not contribute in building, leveraging and ensuring coherence of their team's brand. Furthermore, the NHL does not help its teams by centralising teams' branding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1994, Fox television entered into a network broadcasting agreement with the National Hockey League (NHL). To make hockey more viewer friendly for new audiences in underexploited U.S. media markets, the FoxTrax puck debuted during the 1996 NHL All-Star Game. The puck enjoyed a brief and controversial existence and was widely vilified by established hockey fans. More specifically, response to the puck in Canada was framed within a broader discourse that Jackson described as a "crisis of identity," as the FoxTrax puck became a vehicle to articulate Canadian concerns related to the economic and cultural influence of the United States. This article reviews the design and implementation of the puck, the conditions relating hockey to Canadian identity, and the reaction the puck engendered in popular media coverage. In doing so, reaction to the FoxTrax puck provides an example of the contestation of global-local relations in a sporting context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An attendance model is specified for the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), the top level of junior hockey in Canada with some teams located in the United States. The natural log of attendance is used as the dependent variable, with explanatory variables consisting of the timing of the game, team performance characteristics, uncertainty of outcome measures, and weather-related variables. Weekends and Mondays were the most popular days for games. Winning and fighting were shown to be popular team characteristics that drive attendance. Uncertainty of outcome plays little role, if any, in fan interest at this level, while precipitation significantly reduces attendance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the authors' perspectives regarding the study conducted by J. Baker and A. J. Logan on the birth dates and places of players drafted to the National Hockey League between 2000 and 2005 in Canada. They view on the results of the study that the relative age effect (RAE) will exist as older players had been over-represented in the drafts of the league. The authors also explore several key points presented in the study of Baker and Logan including the birth quartiles, issues on sampling, as well as the Spearman rank-order correlations conducted by the researchers on birth quartile.

At young ages, a few extra months of development can make a big difference in size, strength, and athletic ability. A child who turns 5 years old in January will be nearly 20% older by the time a child born in December has their 5th birthday. In many sports, including hockey, children born in the early months of the calendar year get noticed by their coaches because of the superiority they demonstrate due to their age advantage. As a result, boys born early in the year are more likely to reach the professional ranks of the National Hockey League (NHL). The phenomenon just described has been labeled the relative age effect (RAE). Previous work studying the RAE in the NHL has focused on individual NHL seasons, often encompassing many of the same players across multiple seasons. We investigate the RAE using complete data on every player who has ever played in the NHL. We focus the majority of our analysis on Canadian born players and examine the RAE across hockey position and hall-of-fame status. For the first time, we provide strong evidence of when the RAE began to manifest itself in Canada. Our change point analysis indicates that the RAE began for players born since 1951. Finally, we make a case for what initiated this change in the way young hockey players develop, particularly in Canada, which produced over 90% of NHL players at that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]