37 replies to this topic

[Wings_Dynasty]

What ESPN Will Televise

[EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

The sad thing is it won't do as bad ( EXPECTATIONALY OF COURSE) as the nhl.

[Lou_Siffer]

Cool, i'll be watching.

Anyone catch the St Patricks Day Chowdown over the weekend on Spike? Good stuff.

[TheLegend19]

Does anybody else agree that while the NHL needs the ESPN to really start to reach all markets, the ESPN needs the NHL in order to have a more diverse array of television? (such as in the days of NHL2night, Baseball Tonight, NBA2night, etc). Without the NHL, ESPN is forced to sign deals such as this one in order to fill all of their time slots. I've also noticed that while the NFL season has been over for more than a month, ESPN still airs NFL Live daily. How can there be that much to talk about everyday during the course of the offseason?!
Furthermore, ESPN is forced to air extensive coverage of NASCAR events, even having the daily NASCAR show. Again, how can there be that much to talk about in a sport that races once a week?!

Thoughts? Opinions?

[Zeta Power 40]

I can't stand Sportscenter anymore. Hockey isn't even mentioned for more than 3-5 min a show. They drag on about Nascar and Football, Baseball stuff even if it's not even the season yet. They mention hockey at the last part of the show and maybe show one goal. I just watch the TSN clips of the games on TSN.CA because they have Hockey reports and thats what it's all about. I would love for ESPN to reach a contract with the NHL. I miss Bill Clement and Gary Throne calling the games on WED night hockey and THURS. I miss Bucci and Melrose at the Intermission. I can only dream now......

[pornstar]

The nhl needs espn, take a contract for less money get off of the other channel VS.No one gets to watch there team unless you r in that area.FIRE BETTMAN.

[sibiriak]

ESPN probably paid like five bucks for the rights to RPSL. NHL refused to accept low rights fees in order to just be on ESPN. Nor should they have agred.

[Lou_Siffer]

Does anybody else agree that while the NHL needs the ESPN to really start to reach all markets, the ESPN needs the NHL in order to have a more diverse array of television? (such as in the days of NHL2night, Baseball Tonight, NBA2night, etc). Without the NHL, ESPN is forced to sign deals such as this one in order to fill all of their time slots. I've also noticed that while the NFL season has been over for more than a month, ESPN still airs NFL Live daily. How can there be that much to talk about everyday during the course of the offseason?!
Furthermore, ESPN is forced to air extensive coverage of NASCAR events, even having the daily NASCAR show. Again, how can there be that much to talk about in a sport that races once a week?!

Thoughts? Opinions?

NFL shows can function year-round. Many people, including myself, never really get out of football mode when the season ends. I immediately move on to thinking about the NFL draft...football talk never gets old and thats why they continue to air it.

Lets be real here, like it or not more people are interested in seeing how many pounds of spaghetti Kobayashi can eat than they are about hockey. Just the way it is....cant really blame ESPN. NASCAR is also killing hockey in terms of popularity.

[NeverForgetMac25]

I don't know what to say.

Typical ESPN

[pornstar]

ESPN probably paid like five bucks for the rights to RPSL. NHL refused to accept low rights fees in order to just be on ESPN. Nor should they have agred.

You eat a loss for a year or 2 so what no worse than a strike,Down here in the dirty south no hockey coverage let me tell you that sucks.Hay all like nascar.

Edited by pornstar, 19 March 2007 - 10:24 AM.

[auxlepli]

Yeah, I really want the NHL on this nutwork now.

Has anybody seen the movie Idiocracy. It's a great social satire, not a very good movie but still makes some good points.
Reality TV, this move by ESPN, yep pretty soon we'll just be posting grunts.

[HuntsVegas Baby]

I thought it was a funny joke in the movie Dodgeball but we getting closer and closer to ESPN 8 "the ocho".......

[shannyfan1414]

I really hope to god that this is a joke.

Why god why!!!!!!!!

[sibiriak]

You eat a loss for a year or 2 so what no worse than a strike,Down here in the dirty south no hockey coverage let me tell you that sucks.Hay all like nascar.

Hockey coverage in the South is probably no worse than anywhere else in the US. You generaly get hockey on VS and your local sports channel, when the "local" team for that region plays. If you live in Ohio or Michigan, rather than Tennessee, you may have better chance of hockey not being preempted with basketball or something. In any case, that's why there is NHL Center Ice.

[Jwo]

What is ESPN?

I only watch the ESPN Star Sports. They talk about real football.

Edited by Jwo, 19 March 2007 - 11:24 AM.

[Mudvayneowns91]

NFL shows can function year-round. Many people, including myself, never really get out of football mode when the season ends. I immediately move on to thinking about the NFL draft...football talk never gets old and thats why they continue to air it.

Lets be real here, like it or not more people are interested in seeing how many pounds of spaghetti Kobayashi can eat than they are about hockey. Just the way it is....cant really blame ESPN. NASCAR is also killing hockey in terms of popularity.

Absolutely. The first few days of free agency in football is something I look forward to. Just thought you may have forgot that part

I thought it was a funny joke in the movie Dodgeball but we getting closer and closer to ESPN 8 "the ocho".......

Wouldn't you want that commentator that's always messed up. I think he's so funny.

[Legionnaire11]

I still don't buy into NASCAR's popularity, and I live smack dab in the middle of "NASCAR Country".

Think about it. one freaking race a week at a different venue every week. and even a few off weeks mixed in. Does anyone think that even Daytona would sell out 41 races a season? Maybe, but what about Poconos? Kansas? Dover? And if there were 10 races on at the same time for people to choose from, or if there were 4-5 races on every night, then the ratings for each race wouldn't be nearly as high. and UFC vs Boxing, there are a lot more boxing matches for people to attend and watch on TV than UFC events, so of course UFC is going to have higher ratings and attendance than boxing.

To put it in other terms. If the NHL had the same schedule. Where each city only had 2 games every year, every single game would sell 30,000 with no problems. And if there was only 1 game to watch each week, on a sunday afternoon, the ratings would be much higher than the average game ratings now.

And then we hear about one time events like a pre-season game in Kansas City selling out in 15 minutes... well, duh... it's their ONE chance to see hockey. What would they do over 41 home dates? any better in the long run than Nashville, Florida, Phoenix, Anaheim, New Jersey? doubt it.

along another line of thought, why is the NHL trashed for attendance and not MLB? they rarely sell out unless it's Boston or New York. The NBA doesn't take near as much crap as the NHL does despite having similar or worse attendance numbers.

It's all just a bias against the NHL.

Edited by Legionnaire11, 19 March 2007 - 03:50 PM.

[Elshupacabra]

Now I'm almost glad ESPN doesn't have Hockey on, I don't think I could deal with seeing the non stop bombardment of Bull Riding commercials on VS and the RPSL commercials on ESPN...that would just about kill me

[kylee]

ESPN is horrible now.
theyve been getting bad for years now,
but at least when the NHL was on it was something to look forward to.

and whoever posted earlier is right, sportscenter is crap too.

they basically cover two things:
football and basketball.

i get so geeked if i see barry melrose on their talking hockey,
but its a rare occurance.

[Legionnaire11]

i get so geeked if i see barry melrose on their talking hockey,
but its a rare occurance.

I like when they talk hockey too. Heck, I like when Melrose talks hockey... but when I see the guy, I want to throw up. Come on Barry, clean yourself up!