Print Media

Starting in the 1870s, Montreal and Toronto's daily newspapers employed sports writers. Until 1920, journalists were only interested in the games themselves and focussed in particular on hockey players' rhythm, tactics and style. The result was a lot of description but little depth. The space allotted for sports in daily newspapers was often very limited and included columns of statistics. So it became increasingly popular for journalists to meet with players in the locker room after a game and record their comments. The number of in-depth articles about players and coaches increased, contributing to the development of the personality cult.

Before radio, the print media were the only avenue to promote the major teams like the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. In the 1920s, Conn Smythe, who founded Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931, quickly understood how advertising worked and the advantages of the print media. He noted in his autobiography:

I knew I could get any story I wanted in the paper for $50 or less; but if they didn't get paid they would either not write hockey at all, or write lies. I didn't believe I should buy honest coverage […] I told the newspaper people, you want to see the games, you buy your own tickets. And we're not going to put any ads in your papers, either. They were somewhat surprised. I think they thought we needed them to fill our rink. I thought they needed us more than we needed them to sell their paper.

Anyway, for a few weeks everybody paid to get in, even a guy covering a practice. Finally Mr. Atkinson of the Star called me to see him and asked, ,"What is going on?". I told him he knew as well as I did.

[...] He said, "Would you guarantee to spend that money [$20,000] on advertising in our paper if I guarantee that our men will be paid enough, and will conscientiously cover your games?"

I said I would. That's how peace was made with all the newspapers, a deal that each would get a certain sum in advertising from the Gardens each year. And the writers who earlier had their hands out and wouldn't write a line if they weren't paid off had to go back to honest work.

(Source: Smythe, Conn and Scott Young. Conn Smythe, If You Can't Beat'Em in the Alley, McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1981, pp. 115-116.)

It is noteworthy that in the post-war years, especially in the 1940s and 1950s, and up until the 1970s, some managers continued to take certain journalists under their wing, which made them less critical of their teams.

Fisher Transcript

Conn Smythe.
© Imperial Oil Turofsky/Hockey Hall of Fame