Hockey is no longer a major sport in the US

[DanS]

Hockey ought to look at it like baseball teams do. Broadcasting a game is like one, long free infomercial for your team. You want to place your infomercials advantageously...

It took a while for baseball to figure this out, but now it seems obvious.

[DanS]

.

[notyoueither]

So, exactly how much does MLB pay the networks to broadcast games?

[Imran Siddiqui]

ESPN was going to pay for it, AFAIK, but OLN was offering stupid money. NHL realized that OLN was in far, far, far less coverage than ESPN, but was blinded by immediate dollars. If anything, the NHL was being a slut by going for the better money, regardless of other factors (like TV coverage). Hell, when it was on NHL, it got better coverage than OLN, which hardly even shows more than one regular season game a week!

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by DanS
Hockey ought to look at it like baseball teams do. Broadcasting a game is like one, long free infomercial for your team. You want to place your infomercials advantageously...

Oh, and the NHL is doing that.

They have effectively given broadcasts to NBC to get the game on major networks. That's a good short term experiment. If network TV wants the NHL, they will come back with an offer.

But continuing to chase after unprofitable relationships because you hope that they will decide they love you just cries out *abuse me*.

[DanS]

Originally posted by notyoueither
So, exactly how much does MLB pay the networks to broadcast games?

IIRC, only one or two handfuls of teams get good money for broadcast rights. The Washington Nationals get about $20 million for ~ 150 games.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
ESPN was going to pay for it, AFAIK, but OLN was offering stupid money. NHL realized that OLN was in far, far, far less coverage than ESPN, but was blinded by immediate dollars. If anything, the NHL was being a slut by going for the better money, regardless of other factors (like TV coverage). Hell, when it was on NHL, it got better coverage than OLN, which hardly even shows more than one regular season game a week!

I'm under the impression the NHL was very disappointed with coverage with ESPN, and are very happy with OLN.

The NHL could be a slut for ESPN, or a prized part of OLN.

I'd rather people be complaining the NHL is not on their TVs in the States than the NHL be treated like some sub-vollyball bimbo by an American media mutt.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by DanS


IIRC, only one or two handfuls of teams get good money for broadcast rights. The Washington Nationals get about $20 million for ~ 150 games.

That sounds a lot like MLB is bending over and saying 'drive me', or not.

[DanS]

No need to cry for MLB. They are doing reasonably well at the box office, in large part because almost every game is on TV.

[notyoueither]

I'm certainly not crying for MLB when a team is getting $20 mil for a season.

[notyoueither]

Oh, and NHL attandances are up where it counts.

Whether the Carolinas and Columbuses survive will be up to their fans.

If they falter, there are at least 4 Canadian cities that would kill to get the franchises.

Sink or swim, baby!

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by notyoueither
I'm under the impression the NHL was very disappointed with coverage with ESPN, and are very happy with OLN.

The NHL could be a slut for ESPN, or a prized part of OLN.

I'd rather people be complaining the NHL is not on their TVs in the States than the NHL be treated like some sub-vollyball bimbo by an American media mutt.

NHL happy with OLN coverage? They must be the only ones then! Hockey fans despise OLN and their 'coverage'. The NHL may wish to the be prized part of a channel whose other coverage is hunting shows, bull riding and Survivor reruns, which reaches far less people than ESPN, but its a horrid business move for the league.

I guess the NHL could be all macho and say we'll choose to lose fanbase so we aren't considered by some people to be a "slut" for the biggest sports network in the US

[notyoueither]

And maybe fan demands will impact ESPN when the contract comes up?

Ever thought of that?

[notyoueither]

CBC just lost curling after ~40 years of having the coverage.

They treated the Briar as an asset that they owned, and they screwed the pooch. They put important matches on a secondary channel that required additional subscriptions and pissed fans and the officials off no end.

Now CBC gets to deal with rivals having the rights.

You can bet the CBC will get the rights back next time, and you can bet the CBC won't screw the Briar over again.

[DanS]

That's not a lot of money for a 150 game slate in a large market like Washington. But it doesn't matter. It's still a very profitable relationship from an overall standpoint.

Let's take another sport... Soccer. Imran might ridicule the MLS for not charging much, if anything, for broadcast rights. But the most important thing for them is that almost all of the matches are broadcast.