It’s getting worse.

New York City is the nation’s largest television market. And somehow, in that market, a National Hockey League game managed to only attract 736 households. Richard Sandomir of the New York Times puts that number in perspective.

That is 736 out of nearly 7.4 million, from 7:30 to 10 p.m. … There are wee places in New Jersey whose housing units total about as much, like Mullica Hill (737), the borough of Allentown (718) and the township of South Hackensack (830), according to the 2000 census.

Obviously, local television numbers are vastly smaller than national television numbers. Still, to attract fewer than 1000 viewers is still a stunning and telling statistic.

That embarrassing news came not too long after reports that Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage could be selected to replace current NHL commissioner Gary Bettman at the end of next season (when Bettman’s contract expires). According to All Headline News, “Gossage was at the NHL All-Star game last week in Dallas where he allegedly was offered a position with the league when he talked briefly with NHL officials.”

Gossage politely declined, saying:

“I haven’t spoken to any NHL official about this … It’s all very flattering, but I’m very happy where I am and enjoy what I do.”

NHL officials also denied any involvement with Gossage, meaning that the entire story is a fabrication, or both sides are simply trying to save face. Johnette Howard of Newsday ponders if “NHL owners are finally running out of patience with Bettman.”

All of this negativity comes on the heels of the extremely embarrassing numbers for the NHL All Star Game. The reporting of the 0.7 rating the game got on Versus appeared to be biased to at least one observer.

The AP?s coverage of this news is telling: someone either doesn’t like the NHL, or doesn’t know how to do his job. … [S]hame on the AP writer for not at least mentioning the lack of coverage that Versus has in the U.S. Yes, the NHL deserves a major penalty for negotiating a contract with such a no-name network, and Gary Bettman deserves a game misconduct for being an idiot. But for a journalist to neglect the last of the five “W’s” of writing … [h]e deserves to be sent down to the minors.

All of this put together indicates a league in turmoil, with leaders running around with their heads cut off and no idea what to do. The league recently negotiated an extension with little-watched Versus, even though regular season ratings on the network are — in all seriousness — comparable to those of Cold Pizza. The NHL cannot be legitimately called the fourth major sport, nor can it even be listed with the second tier sports like golf or tennis, both of which can actually draw relatively large audiences under the right circumstances. The NHL is in the same class as the MLS, WNBA and NLL; it is the most popular of the third tier sports. And if David Beckham manages to work some magic in Los Angeles, the NHL may not even have that claim to hold onto.

UPDATE: The game that drew only 736 households was between the New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers.