Hockey is returning to ESPN this September with the World Cup of Hockey, giving the sport and the event more exposure in the US, but the schedule released this week may mitigate what ratings and eyeballs will see the tournament.
The majority of the dozen pre-tournament games being played in Pittsburgh, Washington, Columbus, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Gothenberg(SWE), Prague(CZE), Helsinki(FIN) and St Petersburg(RUS) from September 8-14 will be carried online on ESPN3, with only four games on broadcast TV(ESPN, ESPN2 & ESPNU).
Of the possible 17 games that constitute the preliminary round, semi-final and best-of-three final, more than half are being carried on ESPN2 than the main network, with only the Canada -United States game on September 20 and Game 1 of the Final on September 27th will be carried in primetime on ESPN.
We will discuss this and more on today’s Buzzcast at 12 Noon:
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— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) April 26, 2016