by Ivan Markarov

SAN JOSE–The lack of demographic interest by hockey fans in the U.S. forced Sports Illustrated to drop it’s cover of the Montreal Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban. SI is going with a football cover instead of the Subban cover for the U.S. market. It’s not surprising and we’ve seen similar patterns that took place in the past where the Chicago Blackhawks would win the Stanley Cup and they would have a hockey magazine from SI for Chicago only and something else for the rest of the country.

This happens in most U.S. markets and hockey might not be here at the right time right now, it’s December and November and this is the sort of thing that just doesn’t get front page coverage in most non traditional hockey markets which also includes San Jose. For some hockey fans in the U.S. the hockey season doesn’t start until it’s the playoffs in April there’s no surprise there.

From a hockey fans prospective you want the cover to be presented and to be more visable here and you want it to be the talk of the town. It goes both ways he’s a hero now but we’ve all heard plenty of stories of hockey players who want to escape hockey obscurity here in the States especially in the smaller markets.

There’s plenty of attention in the bigger markets in the east coast where hockey is popular and hockey is a geographical sport here in the states there’s a large market out in the east coast out in New York, Boston, Detroit, and Philadelphia.

There’s also Minnesota where there’s a strong fan base but once you enter middle America where you enter Ohio where there’s a hockey team the Columbus Blue Jackets and some other states hockey is not big there. We can see it from games that are broadcast in Arizona and some of these less popular markets.

The arenas are not selling out and there is not as much interest there as there is in football, baseball and basketball. It’s popular in California and it’s an exception even in the Bay Area and in Anaheim the Sharks and Ducks they get some crowds often. These teams however don’t get talked about until it’s time for the playoffs.

Hockey in the states definitely takes a back seat to football, baseball and basketball with the exception of San Jose where hockey is very popular with the only pro team in Northern California here. Other than that it’s a very much geographical sport, SI has to sell magazines so they have to focus on other things.

Ivan Markarov is filling in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez who is taking the week off and Ivan is a beat writer for Sharks hockey for http://www.sportsradioservice.com