Do They Want Viewers?
Should the Penguins complete a sweep of the Eastern Conference finals against Carolina on May 26 and the Red Wings need five games to finish off the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference the following the night, there would be a nine-day wait until the Cup Finals begin.
I don’t think anything can surprise me about the Gary Bettman Hockey League any more. And people wonder why I call it the worst run sports league in history. If they didn’t have the best game in the world, Phoenix would be one of the healthiest franchises in the NHL.
Anything NBC wants, right Gary?
Cam Cole lambastes the league over this insanity. He says it better than I ever could:
Chicago – Every time you think the National Hockey League can’t possibly sink any lower in its subservience to the great god Television, Gary Bettman’s outfit gives us fresh evidence that there is still plenty of grovelling room in the sub-basement…
After lollygagging through the first three rounds of playoffs with nonsensical extra off-days thrown in willy-nilly, the NHL is prepared to play Games 1 and 2 of the Cup final on back-to-back nights, because NBC is weak in prime time on Fridays and Saturdays, and will deign to telecast both games if the NHL doesn’t mind twisting itself into a pretzel to co-operate.
Doesn’t the league understand that this all looks so bush? Whatever extra pittance they will get from NBC – cash and exposure – it pales in comparison to the damage done to the NHL brand. They basically give away the product and they do this to the Stanley Cup Finals. Why do they cheapen the game so?
Its an insult to the Stanley Cup, the players and the fans. For what?
Whatever extra pittance they will get from NBC – cash and exposure – it pales in comparison to the damage done to the NHL brand. . . . . For what?
I don’t know about the cash, but the exposure is quite valuable. National (American) TV is allegedly Gary’s Holy Grail. (a) He’s accomodating a league partner in the advancement of that goal. (b) The players have played back-2-back plenty of times before. (c) The increased fatigue might result in some more odd-man scoring which (most) people are always carping needs to be increased anyway. Where’s the fire, Tom?
The NHL is about entertainment & commerce. You apparently think it ought to be about sport. I think that’s a separate debate, but in the context that the NHL is in reality about entertainment & commerce, I don’t see what’s so illogical about this decision.
Its an insult to the Stanley Cup, the players and the fans.
Anthropomorphic fallacy.
If pro athletes don’t know they’re well-paid circus chimps, this is as good a time as any for a wake-up call.
The fans just want games. As long as one team isn’t being handed a ridiculously gross advantage, they’ll never notice this ‘insult’ to the game. This is a fan community that’s already forgotten the lockout, fer chissakes.
This fan would love games that are on some regular schedule.
I don’t know about the cash, but the exposure is quite valuable. National (American) TV is allegedly Gary’s Holy Grail.
The cash is probably the most important factor. If there is any money in the revenue sharing deal with NBC it probably all comes from the playoffs. How is the exposure valuable? Almost all American sports fans have seen a hockey game. They won’t get new fans. I would definitely argue that this is a poor commercial decision. A few bucks and exposure that won’t do anything more for the game in the US than any of the other playoff games US television has broadcast in June. That’s about zero.
In exchange, the league looks ridiculous. And they will probably lose more viewers to the summer weather than they gain with a convoluted NBC schedule.
The players have played back-2-back plenty of times before.
And the second game usually sucks. If one team is rested it is often a mismatch. If both are playing a back to back, the game is more often a sloppy snoozer than a game worthy of a Stanley Cup Final. Let’s hope we don’t see a long overtime in either game.
I’ll live with the back to back games if it means that there isn’t a nine day layoff between series. (I still maintain that the nine day layoff before the Finals is what killed Ottawa in 2007.)
Detroit – Pittsburgh is actually an interesting Cup Final matchup, so I am looking forward to it. The fact that their poster boy Crosby might be a threat to hit Reggie Leach’s playoff goal scoring record must be delighting the NHL. Just when Ovechkin seemingly settled the debate about who is the better player, along comes a potentially Conn Smythe Trophy winning performance from Crosby to re-ignite the discussion.