If you went to 95% of the countries on Earth, they wouldn't know what hockey is. North America and select countries in Europe are the only places where it's a top 5 sport.
If you went to any hobunk state in the US that isn't a hockey market or doesn't have a big city, they don't watch hockey.
The concept of a hockey market is definitely a thing. There's no such thing as a basketball market or a soccer market. It's everywhere. In North America, there's no such thing as a football market.
Hmm, I wonder if we're talking across one another. If we're talking about the whole world, then yes, hockey is obviously niche, but then again, it's probably only really soccer that isn't.
If we're talking about the NHL's main market of the USA and Canada, then I don't think it is -- unless every sport besides American football is.
But I think that's where I have a problem. If all sports except American football are niche in NA, or all sports aisde from soccer (and if you wanted to, throw in basketball as well) in the world are niche, then pretty much all sports are niche. So what is the point of using the term niche? It seems, to me anyway, that the term becomes so broad it becomes meaningless. And hockey (and basketball and baseball) is much larger and more mainstream than say lacrosse or snooker in NA, so it doesn't make sense to me to use the term niche so broadly.
And for the record, in my original post I was talking about hockey as not being niche in NA, not in the world. Not sure who would argue hockey is not a niche sport viewed worldwide, but it won't be me