For several of us who’ve followed the NHL’s broadcasting rights saga, there was always a feel that when ESPN’s relationship with the NHL ended, the loss was tremendous and would hurt the NHL on several levels.
Exposure, relevance and of course, air-time on America’s must have sports channel are things that Versus or NBC could never match.
Greg Wyshynski’s excellent article on the subject quotes ESPN’s SportsCenter host Steve Levy:
“The people at VERSUS offered essentially more than twice what we did, and the NHL, and I believe this is shortsighted, took the money. And the League has made this mistake before over the years with that SportsChannel America. They got to make a few extra bucks, but nobody could see the games. It’s not as bad, but it’s somewhat similar. I’m constantly being told by players and the players’ association and the NHL that the guys are frustrated. Can’t get the games. Don’t know what channel it’s on. Can’t get it in the hotel when they’re on the road. They can’t watch their own sport. And in essence that’s driven a lot of people probably to ESPN because they can at least get the highlights and analysis. I think we’ve actually stepped up our hockey coverage since we haven’t had the sport.”
Versus felt for the average NHL observer more like the rebound girl, but heck, the deal was twice the money ESPN offered and let’s not even get started with the NBC contract (oh but wait, a 166% augmentation over the last one), a 10 year deal that made NBC’s Dick Ebersol look like a genius. $2 billion for 10 years, $200 million a year while the NBA scores a cool billion a year on ABC.
Of course, we all know and agree on the fact that the NBA and NHL are two completely different leagues and NBC wanted the NHL to effectively counteract collegiate sports on ABC.
Truth be told, the NHL was going to be on the short stick of any new deal. Hockey’s popularity at the time when negotiations were up had dropped severely, teams had an unexciting brand of hockey, goalies were the NHL’s big stars and lack of offense was something that the American viewer found unappealing.
When you look at viewership numbers and of course, interest (a poll had come out at the time that bowling had better viewership numbers than hockey), the NHL had dropped to 11th in the US, the coolest game in the world had undoubtedly lost its cool.
But the law of peaks and valleys inevitably rears its head in any endeavor. With the arrival of young and marketable superstars with names like Ovechkin, Crosby and Stamkos to name just a few, coupled to a new and entertaining brand of hockey, the NHL got the boost it needed to re-up it’s brand.
And the league’s corporate support has responded accordingly.
The NHL, despite some teams lacking the fan support they require to turn in a profit at the ticket booth, posted generous revenues and surmounted the financial difficulties analysts had said would hurt it.
But the lack of presence on consistent readily available programming in the US, especially for some Canadian teams, might still be an issue for the league per Tim Peeling, a US-based expert in broadcast advocacy.
“When you look at the NHL’s online apparel sales,” he said. “It’s always interesting to see how a fair amount of gear from Canadian teams ends up in the US.”
“Teams like the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers have a pretty incredible fan base and appeal to a large number of Canadian exiles and US born fans in America. The history and overall tradition of these teams is a passion that is passed on, but the numbers have been dwindling.”
Results from last year show that NHL.com did not have a single Canadian team on the top-10 jerseys or items sold.
“In Canada it’s easier for a lot of fans to obtain merchandise locally compared to the States where few stores carry NHL merchandise in stock,” said Peeling, “so these numbers although disappointing, don’t tell the whole story.”
“Inevitably Canadian teams will lose fans in the states, and that will affect turnouts at the ticket counter, some teams make it a special request to the NHL scheduling committee to have the Habs, Maple Leafs or Oilers play more games in their area because it sells out arenas, especially in Florida, they need those Canadian fans to make ends meet, it’s essential to their fan base.”
“When (Jeffrey) Vinik bought the Lightning, one of the main conditions was to ensure the NHL would schedule the Montreal Canadiens games at times when he could guarantee a maximum turnout locally, and the NHL did so accordingly.”
“The NHL’s redemption passes by the traditional appeal of several Canadian teams and nourishing those exiled or traditional fan bases whether they’re in New England or the South East.”
His solution:
‘’Simple, make Original Six games available for free online to the US market and enforce a regional restriction system similar to the one found on cable to encourage a local ticket drive,” he said. “If you can’t get ESPN interested in your product, make it so easily available that you don’t end up needing them.”
In the mean time, let’s pray for those Habs fans in Phoenix!
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