In What Would Google Do, Jeff Jarvis talks about the new pricing model many internet companies have adopted – instead of charging the most that the market will bear, they charge the least that they can bear. While they may not make as much money as they can in the short run, by charging as little as they can they ensure that no one can undercut them on price, ultimately increasing their market share. As their volume goes up, economies of scale in many cases dictate that they can charge even less (unless they were already charging nothing). This is the strategy that ebay used to become king of the auction world (believe it or not, there used to be hundreds of internet auction sites), and how sites like craigslist and Google have taken off.

Right now I really wish Gary Bettman (NHL commissioner) was reading Jarvis’ book. The NHL playoffs started last night, and like many casual fans I tried to watch it on TV. Believe it or not, I couldn’t find the Flyers-Devils playoff game anywhere. I have more TV channels than I can count, including ESPN, ESPN2, versus, CSN, MASN, and all the major networks. However Bettman made the fateful decision several years ago to follow the short term money and move the NHL to obscure cable channels instead of widely available broadcast channels. I’m willing to watch games on the web, but not for $79. This isn’t the first time I’ve been in this situation too, and I’m sure I’m not alone. While the NHL is on TSN and TSN2 in Canada, it’s relegated to only a small number of games on a second tier cable channel here. The NHL is trying to gain popularity in the US, and it’s been steadily falling since the mid-90s. Pursuing short term money at the expense of creating a larger market was a bad move for the NHL, and now they’ve lost the opportunity to reach countless sports fans. Charge less money (perhaps make the online viewing cheap/free-with-ads), and the NHL will reach more people. Reach more people, make more fans. Make more fans, survive long term.