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Why do hockey fans in the US feel like the NHL isn’t “legitimate” or “arrived” unless ESPN is involved?
That is my question… the so-called “worldwide leader” doesn’t give a rats ass about hockey and everyone knows it. So why is this still a thing?
Want proof that ESPN doesn't care about hockey, beyond every SportsCenter that doesn’t have hockey highlights? Simply watch any of the pretournament games that were covered on the broadcast channels. I’ll give them a small pass in that the network hasn’t covered hockey in awhile with the exception of the NCAA tournament and Frozen Four every year… but even with that allowance, the coverage thus far has been horrible. The difference between the coverage on ESPN3, picking up the Canadian feed and the ESPN produced games was marked.
Hell… I’ve seen regional sports network coverage using the fifth available camera team in a market do better then what I have seen so far. Camera work has been shoddy and commentary has been barely passable. I am glad to see the enthusiasm of studio host Linda Cohn (an anchor who knows her hockey) and John Buccigross and Barry Melrose are decent hockey voices, but damn… the “worldwide leader” could and should do better.
Look… longtime readers of this blog know that I am not a big ESPN fan… and I know that the ESPN fanboys will flame the hell out of me for this rant, kinda like Apple fanboys do when you say something remotely critical about an iPhone. I used to love ESPN when it was a sports network, but now… well it’s just too caught up in being… ESPN the Brand. And now, they schedule a premier NHL event that they bid for - The World Cup of Hockey… the best against the best… They gotta get behind this.
Annnnnnnnd the first game involving Team USA is on ESPN2.
Not the mothership… not the channel that is supposedly in every home, hotel and bar in the USA… not the by-golly worldwide leader ESPN… nope… it’s on ESPN2.
OK fine, I get that it conflicts with a college football Saturday afternoon and after all… there must be an awesome college football matchup scheduled for broadcast by ESPN, one between Top 25 teams with incredibly high stakes and dire consequences for at least one of the team’s national championship hopes…
Wait, what? Pittsburgh vs Oklahoma State? Quit kidding around… No seriously… what game is ESPN covering?
Really? That’s the one? That is the game that bumps Team USA’s debut to the Deuce? Ok, stuff happens and scheduling can be tough, but the nightcap, featuring Team Canada, the best team in the tournament, now that one has to be on the main channel.
WHAT??? That game is relegated to ESPN the Ocho for a couple of SEC games??? OK, I may get that as well, SEC Football rules… but putting the game on ESPNEWS??? This is the exposure that hockey gets for a premier event like this?
I hate to say I told you so…
There will be seventeen potential World Cup games and out of those seventeen, only seven of them are scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN. Only seven out of seventeen games, 41% of the games hitting the full viewership potential that everyone uses about why hockey needs to be on ESPN. Well, OK I guess… As long as the semi-finals and final series are be on the mothership, right? After all… ESPN is everywhere… and that is what the deal calls for… right? RIGHT???
Nope… only two out of those five potential games will be on ESPN.
But, but… the potential Cup awarding game(s) will be on the great god ESPN… right? RIGHT???
Try again grasshopper. Game one of the final series is on ESPN… the Cup awarding game or games are on ESPN2. Yup, you read that right… the game where the World Cup of Hockey 2016 will be awarded will not be on ESPN. Hell… one of the best things about ESPN hockey coverage, Gary Thorne, is not involved. If this is the kind of treatment The World Cup of Hockey gets from ESPN, where would you expect a regular season game between Los Angeles and San Jose to be placed? It completely confounds me as to why there is this continued drumbeat for the NHL to go crawling back for the crumbs being offered out of Bristol. The NHL doesn't need them.
The current NHL US rights holder, NBC Sports Network has grown to cover 71% of the country, within spitting distance of ESPN’s 77% coverage number (That is per Nielsen’s June 2016 estimate.) ESPNEWS? Only 62%. And you can count on where and when you will see games on NBCSN. NBC has gotten every playoff game on TV… every single one. You will NEVER get that from ESPN. I now see NBCSN in most hotels and bars. In the travel I do for my day job I have yet to stay in a hotel without NBCSN in years. That old dog whining about not being able to find the channel ... well, he just don’t hunt anymore.
Face it, the game of hockey and the NHL is growing quite well thank you very much, NBC Sports Network deserves some of the credit as they have done an outstanding job in helping grow it. Ratings have been solid, showing year over year over year growth. NBCSN has shown better production, better scheduling and better analysis. They have delivered solid shoulder programming and more importantly, they have shown commitment to the game and the league.
If ESPN doesn’t get its act together quick, this should be a short-lived experiment. I feel bad for the few real hockey nuts at the network, they are trying their best but it doesn’t change the fact that the so-called worldwide leader is proving once again that they don’t give a flip about the NHL… but now, it is proving something as well…
It is proving that the National Hockey League doesn’t need ESPN.
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Random Notes
- Countdown to hockey… 1 day to World Cup… 15 days to Preds first home preseason game… 28 days to Predators season opener.
- Rookie camp opened yesterday with the first on ice session with nineteen skaters and three goalies. Initial reports on Kevin Fiala were very positive, he has “put the work in” to quote Milwaukee head coach Dean Evason. The coach indicated that quite a few prospects showed improvement since July’s development camp.
- The baby Preds head to Coral Springs, FL today after an on ice session for a Rookie Tournament that features Florida, Tampa Bay and Washington. The tournament runs through the 20th.
- Looking forward to the traditional start of the hockey season with the annual First Tennessee Brent Peterson Golf Classic and Petey’s Preds Party coming up next week. The golf tournament will be at Vanderbilt Legends Club on Monday Sept. 19 with Petey’s Preds Party on Tuesday Sept. 20th at Bridgestone Arena. Tickets are still available and proceeds benefit the Peterson for Parkinsons Foundation and the Nashville Predators Foundation.
- One of the bigger fears that the NHL had about the World Cup was potential injuries… Tyler Seguin, Rickard Rakell, Vladimir Sobotka, Marian Hossa and Marcus Krueger all have been injured or at least shaken up in the pretournament. Seguin and Rakell were replaced on their respective rosters, the others are still in the mix.
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