Gary Bettman is Delusional (Thank You, Captain Obvious!)
According to reports, NBC has picked up the 2008-2009 option on the NHL, successfully keeping it 
away from ESPN.
In a joint release, the commish crowed "This is great news for the NHL and its fans," commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. "NBC has been a great partner and its innovations to the broadcasts have helped bring fans inside the game like never before."
Actually, Gary, it's not great news. If you asked most hockey fans, they would tell you that ESPN is the ticket to the sport becoming relevant again. ESPN always lets you know what games are on, they have solid announcers and contributors and great production value. NBC/Versus is great, but who outside of a couple of deer hunters even knows Versus even exists?
While Dick Ebersol, the President of NBC sports talked about an eleven percent increase in viewership and strong advertising sales, you've got to think that inside 30 Rock, they bit their tongues. Losing the NHL would be a big loss for Versus, which is owned by NBC. So, this is a case where the mother ship takes one for the team to help grow one of their offshoot networks.
The idea is to bring the sport to the masses, not the fan base you have now. Besides, the ratings on NBC have been awful. I wouldn't be surprised if the NHL has lost out to indoor soccer a few times.
Hopefully, at the end of this deal, hockey can go back to ESPN where hopefully it will grow to a rate it did in the early seventies when it almost killed the NBA. A boy can dream, can't he?
away from ESPN.In a joint release, the commish crowed "This is great news for the NHL and its fans," commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. "NBC has been a great partner and its innovations to the broadcasts have helped bring fans inside the game like never before."
Actually, Gary, it's not great news. If you asked most hockey fans, they would tell you that ESPN is the ticket to the sport becoming relevant again. ESPN always lets you know what games are on, they have solid announcers and contributors and great production value. NBC/Versus is great, but who outside of a couple of deer hunters even knows Versus even exists?
While Dick Ebersol, the President of NBC sports talked about an eleven percent increase in viewership and strong advertising sales, you've got to think that inside 30 Rock, they bit their tongues. Losing the NHL would be a big loss for Versus, which is owned by NBC. So, this is a case where the mother ship takes one for the team to help grow one of their offshoot networks.
The idea is to bring the sport to the masses, not the fan base you have now. Besides, the ratings on NBC have been awful. I wouldn't be surprised if the NHL has lost out to indoor soccer a few times.
Hopefully, at the end of this deal, hockey can go back to ESPN where hopefully it will grow to a rate it did in the early seventies when it almost killed the NBA. A boy can dream, can't he?
Comments