Diversity's positive impact on sports focus of policy briefing

WASHINGTON --The Stanley Cup was the star attraction, but the message was equally powerful at a policy briefing on shifting demographics and hockey's future at the Cannon House Office Building on Wednesday.

Co-authored by Kim Davis, NHL executive vice president of social impact, growth and legislative affairs, and William H. Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington and a nationally renowned demographer, the policy brief focused on the diversity explosion the United States is experiencing and how it will impact all aspects of society, including sports.
\[DOWNLOAD: Capitol Hill Policy Briefing: Shifting Demographics and Hockey's Future | This Is Hockey]
By 2020, the U.S. Census is expected to show that 20 percent of the country's population will identify with a racial group other than white. For hockey, the changing demographics represent an opportunity to accelerate interest, youth participation and diversity in the sport.
"As a sport of hockey, we have to begin to think much differently about what our future fanbase looks like and how we're going to grow our sport over the coming years," Davis said. "As the policy brief points out, while the speed and the beauty of the sport has really defined our sport for the first 100 years, we believe diversity is going to be an additional defining point of our sport for the next 100 years."

The event was hosted by Eleanor Holmes Norton, congresswoman for the District of Columbia since 1991. Norton, a member of the Congressional Hockey Caucus, which helps promote the growth of the sport throughout the country, had the Stanley Cup in her office before it was brought to the Cannon House and noted the long line of those waiting to see it.
She expressed hope that the Washington Capitals' Cup victory last season will generate more interest among the city's minority youths in playing hockey.
"The Washington Capitals electrified the District when they hoisted their first-ever Stanley Cup and demonstrated the potential for the growth of hockey here and across the country," Norton said. "This is the time for those of us in the Congressional Hockey Caucus to work with the NHL to support local programs, such as D.C.'s Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, to promote diversity and ensure the sport reaches young people of all backgrounds."

Neal Henderson, who in 1987 founded the Fort Dupont Hockey Club, now the oldest minority ice hockey program in North America, understands well the importance of getting minorities involved in the sport, so he appreciated hearing Davis' and Frey's presentation.
"What we need is more adults to be involved," Henderson said. "A child is a sponge. The adult is an aisle leading this child into the avenue of entertainment, and if a lot of adults don't lead these children, they go astray."
That's one of the reasons Davis and Frey stressed the importance of millennials (ages 18 to 34). Forty four percent of American millennials, which represent one quarter of the total U.S. population of 75 million, are minorities, making them the most diverse generation in the country's history.
Getting them involved as fans and parents of potential youth players will help grow the sport and end the misconception that hockey isn't a sport for everyone.
In their brief, Davis and Frey pointed to Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, a Mexican-American who grew up in Arizona and was the No. 1 in the 2016 NHL Draft, and Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban, a Toronto native of Jamaican descent who won the Norris Trophy in 2013 as the League's best defenseman, as examples of NHL players from diverse backgrounds making an impact.
"Those sports -- and the NHL may be on the front lines of this -- that are able to capture that change and reach out to that change in America will do more to make people understand the value of hockey, helping young people become more active not only if they're going to be fans of professional hockey, but playing hockey in their own playground," Frey said.