ESPN hits new low

[McCartyFanForLife 17]

The NHL is not on ESPN because ESPN treated the NHL like crap. Not the other way around. ESPN treated the NHL like crap, and then offered a ridiculous lowball for rights after opting out of the previous deal which was for far more. Bettman then made the best business decison for the league; sign a deal with a station willing to put hockey first, for a decent sum, rather than sign with ESPN for far less and continue to basically condone that poor treatment of the league.

No, ESPN treated the NHL way better than Versus. At least ESPN had NHL2Night on every night. If you want some highlights from Versus, you have to watch a game and then wait for the intermissions. ESPN gave the NHL a low offer because it deserved a low offer. The lockout just ended and prior to the lockout, ESPN was getting better ratings for the World Poker Tour, than for NHL games. Bettman's treatment of the league is why the current NHL coverage is poor.

[Zion 93]

I stopped watching ESPN a long time ago.

If their endless of coverage of Barry Bonds, New York sports teams, Kobe Bryant and NASCAR wasn't enough, then their non-coverage of hockey, MMA and small-market teams was MORE than enough for me.

We're American. Try exercising your right to NOT watch something. ESPN is a monopoly. Openly refuse to support it.

[JayUp88 1]

I like ESPN, but i don't watch it for hockey new. I love football and baseball so when i want to watch stuff about that i watch ESPN. when i want to watch hockey stuff i watch FSN and VS. Its not that hard people, ESPN wont show hockey highlights until they are ESPN again. VS has a real chance to turn itself into a good sports network.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

I don't expect Hockey ever to be number one in America or ESPN to give it all day coverage. I am not surprised by them treating hockey like crap, but I am surprised and pissed they didn't speak of it at all when there was nothing else going on.

There is no excuse.

I say boycott.

The thing you need to realize is that do you really think ESPN gives a s*** about your individual viewership. The general public doesn't care about hockey and will tune out when they play it on Sportscenter. They're a TV network trying to get ratings, so why in the hell would they put a product on that gets poor rankings?

If you love hockey, come to LGW.com or TSN.ca/NHL or get the NHL Network, but stop whining about ESPN because this isn't a new low. This is how ESPN runs their business, and they're successful at it. Shame on them, huh?

Sidenote: I don't even like ESPN. I never watch the channel anymore.

Edited February 27, 2008 by Never Forget Mac #25

[thedisappearer 291]

I turned on ESPNEWS when i got home from work around 3pm and they talked about 2 main stories in depth. Yao's injury and the hockey trade deadline. I didnt think they ignored hockey at all. Within 30 mins, they had Barry Melrose talking hockey.

I was about to say that ESPNews has hockey on all day. They won't cover it much elsewhere as they don't broadcast it, but they still cover the sport.

If you really wanna ***** about ESPN and hockey... ***** about Damien Cox, that retard...

[2probert4 8]

They didnt ignore hockey, they just thought Yao Ming's season ending injury was more important

It was front page on there webpage though.. so i guess that counts.

ESPN does not have NHL Hockey on their programming list; and they have a large amount of money thrown away in the NBA, thus they have to push their product at you with every waking moment.....

[The Enforcer 13]

If all ESPN covered was College Football and NHL, that would be my favorite station. Otherwise I don't have any use for it.

College Gameday rocks. Kirk Herbstreit is *** though.........

[dobbles 252]

espn does indeed hate hockey. but its understandable considering how during the lockout they got similar ratings with shows like stump the schwab or as someone mentioned above, the world series of poker.

with that said, i don't think espn is really competing with vs. versus is a small fish in all this. its going to be a long time before vs. can ever threaten espn's ratings. while they so show hockey, they follow it up with bass fishing or european cycling. not exactly stuff espn is tryin to get their hands on. really reminds me of espn in the early days when they couldn't get any major sports. i don't think they are shaking in their boots as they watch vs. grow into a sports giant or anything...

though the people that are saying if we don't like espn, watch something else... for many of us americans, espn is all we get. i live in illinois and get stuff from both the chicago and st. louis markets. so i can catch some of those local games. but i don't get nhl network in my cable package. so the only sports channel worth watching is espn.

i will say i think versus coverage is pathetic. maybe its different for you guys, but they show about 1 game a week for me. and even though i live in a western conference market, every week i get the capitals against the bruins or some other pathetic eastern conference matchup. if i have to watch the thrashers play the panthers 1 more time, i might cut off my leg. i recall last year, they really stepped up their number of games at playoff time, but this is awful. how can i get excited about the stretch run when theres only 1 game on a week, and its 2 bottom feeder teams from the east???

i need to fork over the bucks and add HD back so i can watch the games they broadcast on the hdnetwork. i certainly don't want to watch it on the internet considering i paid a lot of money for my tv, and pay a lot of money every month for cable.

/end of rant.

[Zion 93]

If all ESPN covered was College Football and NHL, that would be my favorite station. Otherwise I don't have any use for it.

College Gameday rocks. Kirk Herbstreit is *** though.........

See? And I couldn't care LESS about college football...

[hockey&beer 16]

The NHL stiffed ESPN by giving Versus exclusive broadcasting rights. ESPN has rights on every other sport (baseball, basketball, etc). ESPN is not going to showcase something that they have no part of. I don't blame them at all. I blame Bettman for going with a network that nobody has and broadcasts bull riding or cycling after a hockey game. Until ESPN gets some broadcasting rights, they will continue to barely cover the NHL. ESPN isn't going to pay Versus tons of cash to show all the highlights of the evening.

Ummmmm, ESPN tried to "stiff" the NHL by offering a completely ridiculous contract. The way the contract was presented it would have COST the NHL to have games broadcast and not only that ESPN had two "out clauses" included. They could either opt out of the contract if they felt they weren't benefiting from it and also they reserved the right to bump any NHL game for alternate programming. So all-in-all Versus was the best answer at the time and more than likely NHL will never go back to ESPN because they will not cover any hockey news. The "worldwide leader in sports" is a self proclaimed title, "media nazi's with an agenda" is more fitting.

[Trapt1307 81]

Nothing like watching NFL Live in late February.

Don't get me wrong, I love football, but come on...

Seriously. I don't care what Eli Manning is eating for breakfast.

Edited February 27, 2008 by Trapt1307

[StormJH1 231]

The NHL is not on ESPN because ESPN treated the NHL like crap. Not the other way around. ESPN treated the NHL like crap, and then offered a ridiculous lowball for rights after opting out of the previous deal which was for far more. Bettman then made the best business decison for the league; sign a deal with a station willing to put hockey first, for a decent sum, rather than sign with ESPN for far less and continue to basically condone that poor treatment of the league.

No. The best business decision for the league was one that generated the most exposure for a league that borders on becoming a regional sport anyway. I'm not the least bit concerned if more people want to watch poker, paintball, or strongman competitions more than the NHL...ESPN has a lot of crap on their network as it is. But ESPN was willing to put hockey back on its network, as evidence by the fact they made any offer at all!

Bettman should've swallowed his pride and agreed to ESPN's terms, whether it was 1 million dollars or 1 cent. Assuming that ESPN's post-lockout coverage would've been comparable to the pre-lockout coverage, the league would be in much better shape right now. Ratings aren't the only thing that matters...with ESPN you get score updates, SportsCenter coverage, and promos that remind casual fans that there's a thing known as the NHL and that there are games coming up. Unless you're a big bass fishing guy and VS. loyalist, casual fans get none of that right now. Even in markets where the local team does well (Detroit, Minnesota, etc.), the fans know practically nothing about the league as a whole. Compare that to the NFL, MLB, and NBA, where people are familiar with the stars of other teams, and will often take the time to watch out-of-market, nationally televised games. Vs. is rumored to draw about 150,000 - 200,000 viewers nationally for its Tuesday telecasts!

[Majsheppard 203]

I think everyone here is having a hard time seperating somethings.

ESPN is a sports journalist/entertainment channel.

They play games, but Sportscenter is about reporting sports news.

This is why they sometimes talk about things such as MLS soccer, lacrosse, rugby etc. That stuff isn't popular very much in America but they cover it in passing.

They didn't even cover this in passing on their channel, this seems to be odd with the lack of major stories on the day. Leads me to believe this is out of spite.

Vs. on the otherhand is not a news station, they have orginal programing and coverage of Hockey and rodeos and s*** like that. They only report hockey in close approximation of their sporting events. Much like NBC reporting on football news only when the football games are on.

They are not in compettion when it comes to news. Everyone in the news business just tries to get exclusives and breaking news. They lost Hockey because they didn't want it, but that doesn't mean they should not cover hockey. It still packs arenas across America with fans. It still is a major sport, and when an event like the trade deadline comes along and has at least half a dozen stories I expect them to at least have a few minutes of coverage.

ESPN NEWS of course covered it, they are 24 hours of news, they need to bring in all stories to fill time. It is a digital channel most don't have.

ESPN spent all of 20 seconds talking about the deadline/hockey on Tuesday.

TSN spent 17 hours talking about it.

I do deman ESPN spends 17 hours, not even 17 minutes really. Yet they choose to talk about nothing instead of the deadline. 20 seconds is not enough.

I am not even going there for NFL coverage, or anything else.

I wish someone would get together a movement, hockey fans against ESPN.

No one would even know I stopped watching, but perhaps if we shouted we all stopped watching it would have some sort of impact.

Doubt it though.

[mmorland 16]

I don't know why you are surprised by that. I wasn't. Hockey will never be big in America.

That tells us how little you know about the game or marketing. More people in America are playing hockey now than ever. It's popular, but companies, like ESPN has an agenda and won't give the NHL the time of day because they don't have an NHL contract.

ESPN is only the world wide leader in sports that have a hand in.

[Mjolman 0]

didn't tom brady dump another pregger? thats bigger news than the trade deadline..

Sometimes i think seriously of moving to canada.

[Majsheppard 203]

didn't tom brady dump another pregger? thats bigger news than the trade deadline..

Sometimes i think seriously of moving to canada.

Trust me it is way harder then you would think......

WAY harder.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

I think everyone here is having a hard time seperating somethings.

ESPN is a sports journalist/entertainment channel.

They play games, but Sportscenter is about reporting sports news.

This is why they sometimes talk about things such as MLS soccer, lacrosse, rugby etc. That stuff isn't popular very much in America but they cover it in passing.

They didn't even cover this in passing on their channel, this seems to be odd with the lack of major stories on the day. Leads me to believe this is out of spite.

Vs. on the otherhand is not a news station, they have orginal programing and coverage of Hockey and rodeos and s*** like that. They only report hockey in close approximation of their sporting events. Much like NBC reporting on football news only when the football games are on.

They are not in compettion when it comes to news. Everyone in the news business just tries to get exclusives and breaking news. They lost Hockey because they didn't want it, but that doesn't mean they should not cover hockey. It still packs arenas across America with fans. It still is a major sport, and when an event like the trade deadline comes along and has at least half a dozen stories I expect them to at least have a few minutes of coverage.

ESPN NEWS of course covered it, they are 24 hours of news, they need to bring in all stories to fill time. It is a digital channel most don't have.

ESPN spent all of 20 seconds talking about the deadline/hockey on Tuesday.

TSN spent 17 hours talking about it.

I do deman ESPN spends 17 hours, not even 17 minutes really. Yet they choose to talk about nothing instead of the deadline. 20 seconds is not enough.

I am not even going there for NFL coverage, or anything else.

I wish someone would get together a movement, hockey fans against ESPN.

No one would even know I stopped watching, but perhaps if we shouted we all stopped watching it would have some sort of impact.

Doubt it though.

Again, ESPN stopped putting plenty of focus on hockey a long time ago. Why do you sound shocked? Why even worry about it? It's in the past, let's move on.

Who cares about what ESPN 'should' be doing according to hockey fans? They aren't the most popular sports network to a majority of the country by mistake.