I would like to know when certain sports contracts are up soon? The NBA on ABC, NHL on NBC, SEC on CBS, all of ESPN's contracts with college football conferences, etc. Also, I would like to know if you have personal perfrence of where they go. Ex. Would you like to see the NBA on NBC instead of ABC. Would you like to see the NHL on ESPN instead of NBC and/or Versus? etc.
What sports contracts are up soon and where would you like them to go?
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The NHL just re upped with the current networks ..... VS and NBC.
Thru the 2021 season ... UGH.
NHL to stay with NBC, Versus as media outlets - ESPN
I would LOVE to see the NHL on ESPN, but it won't happen, the ratings before were dismal, ESPN walked away.
Thru the 2021 season ... UGH.
NHL to stay with NBC, Versus as media outlets - ESPN
I would LOVE to see the NHL on ESPN, but it won't happen, the ratings before were dismal, ESPN walked away.
Jimbo, I see you dont like the fact that NHL is on NBC. Im not a big hockey fan but I guess its a "you scratch my back, I scratch yours" type of thing. I mean NBC needs sports (as well as a lot of other help, thats another story) and the NHL needs eyeballs. I will say its nice not to see EVERYTHING end up with ESPN. I mean I know there the leader and they do a good job with sports but it gets to the point of absurdity with them having everything on there network.
I really don't understand the UGH whatsoever. The leauge has just won it's biggest rights contract ever, is with a national sports carrier who is totally devoted to hockey, and is with a network that will now televise all Stanley Cup finals games.
I don't get the fascination with ESPN here...the network didn't care about hockey even when they had the rights to games. The production on Versus telecasts is awesome...they've obviously been paying attention to CBC's Hockey Night in Canada telecasts, because that's who they're emulating.
Versus stays on the air long after games to talk about them, much like TNT does with the NBA. Last night was a perfect example, because the amazing Sharks-Kings game needed to be discussed. If that game were on ESPN, their hockey coverage would have ended ten seconds after the OT winner was scored.
Sandra
Versus is great for hardcore NHL fans, but the ESPN hype machine would do a much better job growing the brand.
When the ESPN hype machine was covering the NHL (up until 2005) the league was in more danger of going under than any league in North American history of the four major sports. Now, without ESPN the sport is finally growing...small steps, but growing nonetheless.
ESPN did NOTHING to grow the NHL.
Sandra
I agree. I should have added the caveat that ESPN could grow the brand and attract casual fans if it were required by the contact to cover the sport a certain % of time during prime viewing hours.
Didnt' work before. Problem is that no one outside of a few northern States cares about hockey.
The problem for hockey is that it's not a national sport like football, baseball, basketball or even soccer.
Do they even have rec leagues below the border States like all the other sports?
Not that I don't like hockey, we actually watch quite a bit of it in my household (wife is a huge Maple Leaf fan), but I'm realistic to it's appeal in non-border States.
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Probably because that network has nothing else, expect a Sunday Night NFL game and Notre Dame Football on NBC and fishing on Verses. At least Hockey sorta gives Verses some credibility of calling itself a sports network.
To the NHL, it doesn't matter 'why'. The fact is, the league is MUCH better off with Versus than they would be with ESPN.
Sandra
That's a very old and tired generalization, which has been proven wrong. As I already said hockey is a huge success in Nashville, Dallas, Tampa, Carolina and San Jose...they are outside the northern states, and they care a great deal about hockey.
That's like saying nobody outside the South cares about NASCAR. That's not true either...except in my case lol.
Sandra
And then theirs Phoenix, Atlanta, and others.
Plus all the cities were there are no teams.
Football is huge in Alabama, Mississippi and other States where there are no Pro teams.
I'm sorry, but hockey does not have the national following that the other sports do. Kids aren't growing up playing and watching rec leagues in most of the States they way they are for the other sports.
And that translates into ratings, which the NHL does not have.
I lived in the Bay Area for 3 years. Went to Shark games a fair bit, like I said, I like hockey. But guess what, outside of the Shark Tank, people didn't wear Shark jerseys. They wore things with A's, 49'ers, Raiders, and Giants.
Same as when I lived in Tampa in my even younger days. No Bolts stuff, it was all Bucs (even though the Bucs reeked back then, not to mention had floresent orange). Even the Bandit's sold more jerseys when they were around then the Lightening.
I'm sure you're aware of the ownership issues Phoenix has had all along. And Atlanta is where all professional sports teams go to die...
Meh, that's totally subjective. Attendance is huge and those teams are thriving. All that matters.
The Predators outdraw the Grizzlies on Tennessee. I guess all those rec basketball leagues are not having the effect you're talking about.
Sandra
Braves, Falcons... yeah.... they're dead alright...
Sorry, but Hockey does not have the national following that Baseball, Basketball, and Football have. Yes, in a few markets, but not nationally.
Otherwise we really wouldn't be having this discussion.
Braves, Falcons... yeah.... they're dead alright...
Sorry, but Hockey does not have the national following that Baseball, Basketball, and Football have. Yes, in a few markets, but not nationally.
Otherwise we really wouldn't be having this discussion.
The dedication of professional sports fans in Atlanta is atrocious...despite all those rec leagues. You forgot to mention the Hawks.
Sandra
For good reason, they've had a disfunctional time ever since being sold away from Turner. I didn't bring them up, because the Braves & Falcons were all I needed to refute "Atlanta is where all professional sports teams go to die..."
But the Falcons have a huge following down there, actually higher now than when I was a kid.
The Braves have always had a following down there, even back in the 80's (shudder) when they were beyond pathetic.
Ironically for this topic, the Flames were pretty popular in their day (I even had a Flames t-shirt). To bad the owner went backrupt and let Calgary steal them.
I've been to a few hockey games in Dallas. It's a niche sport there, and the are definitely enough fans to fill the American Airlines Center, but the "average" Dallas sports fan really doesn't care.
It's funny that you mentioned Tampa. When I had an ExpressVu, I remember watching a program on either SportsNet or TSN. It was in the off-season and Tampa were the defending NHL champs. They interviewed people on the streets asking them if they followed hockey, etc. I realize that they were free to edit these interviews as they chose, but none of the people that they interviewed could name a player on the team. Most of the people didn't realize that Tampa had won the Stanley Cup, and a lot of them didn't even realize that Tampa had a team.
It was 96F here yesterday (I live about 180 miles south of Dallas). It's hard to get into something played on ice in this climate.
The Tampa/Clearwater area is basically an amalgamation of people from all over the country. I'm sure it would not be difficult to find people who don't know/don't care about Tampa hockey.
For very different reasons New York is similar, and during the Yankees/Mets World Series of 2000, I'm sure it would not have been difficult to walk the streets of Manhattan and find people who don't even know what Yankees and Mets are. Sports is not the center of everyone's universe like it is ours.
But for many New Yorkers it was still just one notch below life and death.
Sandra
