Improving The FHL Part Two: Marketing isn't boring

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Here is part one for those who missed it: Improving The FHL Part One 

                                          Nice work NJO

I honestly believe the organisations need to step up their marketing. The league as a whole needs to reach out to the fans. I feel not enough is being done. This league could grow immensely if guided in the right direction. We need more people in the seats!

My personal take is that expansion should not occur again for at least a couple seasons. Rivalries need to be marketed heavily. We need to start seeing full buildings. Danbury should be very happy with what they are doing there. The rest of this league should be watching closely. 

Danbury is a gritty hard nosed team. They put on a show win or lose. I remember games last season when Danbury came to Akwesasne. People weren't talking about Whalers vs Warriors. People were talking about who would step up to take on Cory Fulton? The guy had 25 fights last season. Danbury fans love it.

The Whalers organization recognized what their fans wanted and built a reputation as arguably the most hated team for their bench clearing brawls and fight first play later attitude.

Fighting is a hot topic. There are those who are fine with it and those who are against. Regardless of which end your on the numbers do not lie and on ice fights(not in the crowd!) Are big draws. More people come for the fights than stay away because of it.

Marketing a rivalry like the Privateers and Warriors have would be big! And relatively easy. The hits are hard the fights are entertaining and there's usually a bunch of goals. The (relatively)close proximity of the teams makes a local rivalry almost automatic and that's exactly what we have here.

Marketing the teams aggressively using rivalries is the oldest trick in the book and one of the best. I can't speak of the Danbury/New Jersey/Brooklyn rivalry as I am not entirely familiar with it but those three teams should have an automatic edge when playing one another.

My solution: Market the hell out of existing teams. Learn what fills the building through trial and error. Abolish the automatic suspension for fights in the final 2 minutes(that late game excitement may just draw more people back). Use video and imagery to visually entice people into getting excited for the next game and fire them up for the current game. Excentuate things like hits and fights in marketing (it's a part of the game apparently?)