How To Fix The NHL All Star Game

Even before the starting line-ups for the 2009 edition of the National Hockey League All-Star Game were released, it was very apparent that there was something wrong with the voting process. In fact, the NHL.com programmer’s right pinkie was barely off the enter key before something smelled foul with the online fan balloting.

Word was out just hours after voting opened that fans of the Montreal Canadiens were stuffing the virtual ballot box in hopes of having the entire Eastern Conference starting line-up filled with Habs as Montreal hosted the All-Star game as part of their 100th Anniversary season celebration.

When word of Montreal’s devious plan hit the street, hockey fans rebelled as fans of other franchises banded together to do a little ballot stuffing of their own.  Along with the legions of fans voting online for their favorite players, tech savvy fans developed “voting bots” that automatically cast votes through the fan balloting system. The “bots” were eventually debunked by the league and the final results are said to be authentic, but the damage had already been done.

This season’s All-Star voting debacle trumps even the most memorable campaign from a couple of years back – Vote for Rory! While the Rory Fitzpatrick campaign made a mockery out of the fan voting system set up by the NHL at that time, it’s worse this time around as multiple players were involved and the league should have learned it’s lesson.  Fool me once…fool me twice!

How to Fix The All Star Game

While it is obvious that having the fans vote for the All-Star game starting line-up is a very smart business decision for the NHL, the system by which the voting takes place undoubtedly needs some fine tuning.  The NHL has been pounding the marketing and communication doors down trying to increase fan interaction in order to cultivate the game.  That said, it is highly unlikely that the league will leave the fans out of the All-Star Game process.

The basic concept behind fans voting for their favorite players is a classic business case for market research.  Notwithstanding any tampering of the votes, the NHL is basically asking the fans who they would most like to see and giving fans what they want.  When the process is boiled down to the basic  concept we can see how appropriate the fan-balloting theory is.  It is only the voting methodology that is flawed.

Given those facts, even the most Anti-All Star Game hockey fan should be able to see the marketing value in hosting the event. I agree that the integrity of the league and the All-Star Game comes into question when there is obvious tampering with the votes by fans (and in the case of Vote for Rory the league as well).  It is important that we strike a balance between the need for fan interaction and the maintenance of integrity for the game.

The game itself is just part of the attraction and, much like the Winter Classic, the league develops associated events that fuel the ambiance and build energy surrounding the on ice activities.  In order to build that excitement, fans must feel as though they are included – part of the event rather than just an observer.

Jason Kay from The Hockey News had this suggestion that seems plausible because it retains the fan interaction, provides more fan incentive, and maintains the integrity of the sport and the game.

If it remained important to have some fan participation, hold a contest in which two lucky winners got to pick the starters in conjunction with each side’s coaching staffs or executive boards. That would draw visitors into websites (that can’t be the driving reason behind fan balloting, can it?) and eliminate the risk of a non-worthy player being selected.

Hockey fans were informally polled on Twitter.com and asked for their thoughts on how the voting process could be improved – here are a few of the responses:

Scott Schofield – Have a combination of fans, writers, coaches vote on a group of players based on stats. Rid the system of fan bot voting.

Kyle Roussel – Have the NHL create “packages” of starters based on stats. Fans vote for their fave package, then vote for rest of the rosters.

Chris Lucas – Fans “need” to vote to fuel interest. Simply limiting to one vote per IP (Internet Service Provider) would go a long way.

Dana Forsburgh – Let fans vote, but not for the starting lineup. Leave that to writers, coaches etc.

Cameron Frye – Votes should be limited by IP address or teams should be voted on by the players.

Matt Trevors – Make the game count, like in MLB. winning team gets home field in the world series. How about winning team gets extra home game?

If you agree, disagree or simply want to add your own two cents on how to make the All Star game better please feel free to drop a comment here or track me down at www.twitter.com/nhldigest.