Hockey lows on ESPN
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Sigwolf
- AHL'er
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- Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2006 12:10 pm
- Location: north central Ohio
Hockey lows on ESPN
Tonight's coverage of the first game of the NCAA semifinals on EPSN2 goes to overtime, so of course they dump the coverage of OT to ESPNU so they can air "Baseball Tonight" live. Not a game, mind you, but a show with people talking about a game.
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interstorm
- ECHL'er
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Re: Hockey lows on ESPN
While I likewise want to say this is a massive failure on the part of ESPN - I actually lay the blame on Bettman. Hear me out...
Now I'll admit I haven't looked up any ratings or anything but I am guessing ESPN knows what shows bring more viewers and this switch was to align with that - so they're just doing what is in their best interests no matter how frustrating it is to the NCAA viewers.
At the same time, we have massive deals being thrown all over the place in the NFL, NBA and MLB and while I understand hockey is a hard sell at this moment against some of those leagues, it wasn't always and the NHL has had plenty of time to try to grow yet only seems to get further and further away from the public discussion. Connor McDavid has an 8 year, $100 million contract - great...well the Cleveland Browns just signed a piece of human trash to a deal more than twice that at half the length. Oh yeah, they also have their original quarterback - someone nobody wants - on a ROOKIE contract worth about 40% more annually than the best player in the world at hockey right now.
Hockey, with the NHL as it's primary steward and Bettman the figurehead, is fighting irrelevance. We as fans can say, "so what - I don't care if everyone loves the game or not, so long as I get to watch" but the reality is that without enough people to care, without enought people viewing, we'll keep seeing exciting moments in hockey (be it NHL or NCAA) bypassed for worthless programming.
Now I'll admit I haven't looked up any ratings or anything but I am guessing ESPN knows what shows bring more viewers and this switch was to align with that - so they're just doing what is in their best interests no matter how frustrating it is to the NCAA viewers.
At the same time, we have massive deals being thrown all over the place in the NFL, NBA and MLB and while I understand hockey is a hard sell at this moment against some of those leagues, it wasn't always and the NHL has had plenty of time to try to grow yet only seems to get further and further away from the public discussion. Connor McDavid has an 8 year, $100 million contract - great...well the Cleveland Browns just signed a piece of human trash to a deal more than twice that at half the length. Oh yeah, they also have their original quarterback - someone nobody wants - on a ROOKIE contract worth about 40% more annually than the best player in the world at hockey right now.
Hockey, with the NHL as it's primary steward and Bettman the figurehead, is fighting irrelevance. We as fans can say, "so what - I don't care if everyone loves the game or not, so long as I get to watch" but the reality is that without enough people to care, without enought people viewing, we'll keep seeing exciting moments in hockey (be it NHL or NCAA) bypassed for worthless programming.