ESPN and the NHL coming back?

[Comeds]

comeds (if you're still here)-


you really dont think espn would get better ratings just because its espn?

your main point to that was that hockey fans will find hockey when its on, regardless of what channel.. so if its on espn they are going to watch it there too am i right? what you say is a downgrade in coverage quality wont drive away hockey fans, because lets face it, we'll watch hockey on mute with a fuzzy picture if it means we get to watch our team play..

casual sports fans will find it on espn much more often then they will find it on VS... i'm sure i'm not alone in the fact that when i turn on the TV, i check ESPN, ESPN 2, Comedy Central, USA, and a few other channels.. i dont flip.. if nothing gets my attention with that run through, i normally concede and turn on the xbox.. even as a hockey fan VS isn't in my set of channels that i check.. BUT, that flipping will result in me leaving whatever is on ESPN, on, whenever i'm sitting at the computer talking to you knuckleheads, or eating, what have you..

No, I really don't think being on ESPN would automatically increase ratings. If ESPN hockey coverage didn't get that many channel flippers / casual fans to stop and watch 5 years ago I see no reason to think they would now. Honestly I feel that ESPN without the NFL is a lot closer to Versus than people would expect.

Oh and while I might watch a fuzzy picture to see my team play, I wont watch a half assed broadcast to watch two other teams play. And back then, ESPN never showed my team (or half the teams in the league).

also VS still isn't broadcast on every package (as far as i know).. everyone has espn, not everyone has VS.. theres a reason in itself..

That is a fair a true reason but one that I am not sure will matter very much. When you factor in the difference of homes reached alone it may be seem like a big number when if you take the percentage of the difference of homes and multiply it by the percentage that would watch hockey then the estimated difference isn't that many viewers. Not enough for this to be a factor to me especially when Versus has expanded each year.

also espn would cover hockey more now than it did back then. they already do cover it more now then they did back then (more highlights etc.) IMO, aside from the cancellation of the half hour show.. the game is FAR more popular now then it was the last couple season before the lockout, and espn hasn't had a chance to cover hockey since the population boom that its gone through the last few years

I have no faith ESPN would cover the game any more, or any better than they did before. From all I hear they do not cover it more than they did back then, most nights its not mentioned at all from what I read. The game may be far more popular now, and ESPN may not have had a chance to show the game recently but I myself do not assume their numbers would be much different.

but really my argument for going back to espn all comes down to an NBA lockout.. there is a chance that it happens, and if hockey moves to espn's coverage AND the nba locks out.. the NHL will fill most of the void left by the NBA, and you see how much coverage the NBA gets.. an NBA lock-out would help the NHL tremendously, but if it was covered by espn at the same time.. the benefits would be immeasurable

I am sure a NBA lockout would help, but how much. How much overlap is there of TV audiences? I am sure the lockout would help no matter where the NHL games were shown. I guess if they were on ESPN there might suddenly more time for ESPN to fill and perhaps to broadcast games (or show poker, or cheerleading) so they may conceivably show more hockey. And when the NBA lockout ended I am sure they would return to ESPN. So really while a potential lockout might potentially help the NHL, I don't think that's a reason to sign a deal with a particular network.

I sincerely mean all the opinions I post here, but overall it doesnt affect me much. 90% of the NHL games I watch are on Center Ice, not the networks. Ideally there would be several packages of games on several different channels in the next TV deal.

 

[Comeds]

Two weeks or so later and it still makes me laugh every time.

 

[dare2be]

This is proof here that more people will watch something when it is more readily available.

Seriously though, aside from the fact that more homes get ESPN, let alone a multitude of ESPN networks, another factor is the self-promotion machine that ESPN is...and that includes promoting from all of the disney owned cable and broadcast networks. Despite the downside of going back the the self-serving network, there is still much more potential upside.

 

[Comeds]

This is proof here that more people will watch something when it is more readily available.

.

But that's a quality gif from a quality broadcaster. If IPW had a network I am sure it would do a great job of broadcasting games.

 

[dare2be]

Did you just call IPW a quality network? He's more like the RFDTV network.

 

[IPostedWhat]

Did you just call IPW a quality network? He's more like the RFDTV network.

I would take offense to this if it was said by a poster who's opinion I value, or someone that's not a Pens fan.

I thank Comeds for his compliment, and I have rewarded him as well.

My network would be awesome.

 

[dare2be]

yabbut, yabbut, yabbut, there are lotsa horses on RFDTV

 

[awaz]

thats legit comeds.. and you make good points.. i wont argue for 1 second that espn has good hockey coverage.. its putrid on a good day.. but as a frequent sportscenter viewer, the hockey highlights have increased over the past few years, especially during the playoffs.. but until they hire real analysts (aka fire melrose, barnaby, and burnside) their coverage is going to suck.. i fully believe that almost every poster on here knows more about cap rules and the ins and outs of various teams than any of their analysts..

i do disagree about espn and a ratings increase though.. general sports enthusiasts have espn on constantly.. i watch mls soccer during the summer (watching the 'all-star' game now), and baseball, which are sports that i really dont care for watching on TV, although the mls is starting to grow on me.. but i think its people like me, that will increase the ratings in the spring.. what else are they going to watch? espn would be foolish to have cheerleading or poker on instead of hockey.. the ratings for hockey would be better off just the die-hards..

and to further my point about the nba/espn thing.. espn covers the nba so much because they have the rights to it.. while hockey games are going on, they are showing NBA games.. so when it comes to air-time when the games are not on, they'll focus on the NBA.. sportscenter is a huge advertising platform for something they'll have on later.. and it would be the same way with hockey.. assuming they're business savy, which they seem to be

 

[postmaster]

I do not want ESPN to get the rights on the NHL because of how they shitted on them in the past even when they broadcasted the games. It was obvious hockey took a back seat to the other sports. With a possible NBA lockout, I would not mind ESPN getting extra coverage in addition to Versus. It would come in a great year after the Olympics got some extra viewers. To permanently move to ESPN now would be a disaster unless they change their postition on the sport however.
They show poker and other events as said and the regular viewers turn those off and don't watch them for the most part. I think it would be good short term to test ESPN to see if they show more attention to hockey and if they do, then use them again, but if not, versus has gotten just as good of ratings than ESPN did just 5 years ago.