TSN reported this evening that ESPN won the U.S. broadcast rights for the World Cup of Hockey, beating out NBC and Fox.
When I first saw that tweet, all I could think about was Sally Field at the Oscars saying: "you like me, you really like me." For years, many of us bemoaned that fact that hockey was relegated to third world nation status on ESPN. That view pushed the sport to the back-burner of the network, all but pushing Gary Bettman to go the Versus network.
This bit of news won't fully change that perception and view, but it should mean that hockey gets a more prominent place - at least for the next year-plus - on ESPN, who last broadcast games prior to the 2004-05 lockout. Highlights and features should hopefully once again be part of the bigger picture. The NHL Network has filled a gap, as has NBC Sports, but that is not in every hotel room in the US, so ESPN winning these rights should be a boost to those of us who live in the US and love hockey.
Ridicule as to who would broadcast the games has already started to be found on twitter. One great suggestion by Martin Burns was Linda Cohn for the pre- and post-game. She loves and knows the sport, making here a good fit. If you want to hearken back to years gone by, Gary Thorne could cover the games as a play-by-play man, as suggested by Bryan Winters. Knowing ESPN they won't just throw anyone on the broadcast, but we can expect - for better and possibly for worst - a parade of former players. ESPN did a solid job of identifying talent for their World Cup of Soccer, hopefully hockey gets the same treatment, rather than rolling out former players and hoping they can announce the game.