ESPN could cut ties with NHL

[Lou is God]

i disagree there is no ESPN in Canada and it does fine here... the NHL has there own network as well... i dont think the NHL needs ESPN as much as you think. What was ESPN paying them anyway for rights? Was it significant... the main source of TV revenue is local rights ... this is where the teams are going to have to share their local revenues from TV imo... as these national contracts dry up...

You have an alternative to show games nationwide in the USA? Also when ESPN does have to show the games they do have to show more coverage of it in their nightly sportcasts to help promote a sport they are broadcasting, if they don't cover ANY games then that will also disappear and the game in the US becomes even a smaller blimp.

I remember in the '80's and early '90's John Zeigler and the NHL signed a TV contract with then Sports Channel and nobody except for a few million households saw any of Mario and Wayne at their best, including alot of the Stanely Cup finals, if you had just basic cable in the US you had to follow them by just newspaper coverage. I don't ever want to see that again, ever.

 

[ChiHawks468]

i disagree there is no ESPN in Canada and it does fine here... the NHL has there own network as well... i dont think the NHL needs ESPN as much as you think. What was ESPN paying them anyway for rights? Was it significant... the main source of TV revenue is local rights ... this is where the teams are going to have to share their local revenues from TV imo... as these national contracts dry up...

TSN is Canada's ESPN.

 

[Game_Misconduct]

If ESPN drops the NHL Fox Sports Net (not the network) would jump at a chance to pick it up, IMO.

 

[Vapour Trail]

get centre ice... and better yet the NHL would make more off of CENTRE ICE sold throughout the world... i still dont know why they dont do more of this... the local tv will always be there and market centre ice like sunday ticket and you will se many subscribers...

Most of the US doesn't have digital cable or a dish required (yet) to get Center Ice. And if you don't live in a local market, you don't get local coverage. The only way to reach a national audience is to use something like ESPN. For example, my parents are native Pittsburghers (and hockey fans) living in southern Indiana. So without a local team, the only way they see hockey without a dish or digital cable is through ESPN. Much as I am growing to dislike ESPN, they're really the only way to have any shot of reaching a national audience.

 

[dakota]

TSN is Canada's ESPN.

i doubt TSN is dropping hockey any time soon...

 

[dakota]

Most of the US doesn't have digital cable or a dish required (yet) to get Center Ice. And if you don't live in a local market, you don't get local coverage. The only way to reach a national audience is to use something like ESPN. For example, my parents are native Pittsburghers (and hockey fans) living in southern Indiana. So without a local team, the only way they see hockey without a dish or digital cable is through ESPN. Much as I am growing to dislike ESPN, they're really the only way to have any shot of reaching a national audience.

ok im in canada where cable tv is a given for almost every house and if it isnt satellite is another option... i forgot that we dont rely as much on over the air tv as they do in the states....

but we still have CBC over the air... (ie FREE)

 

[Old Hickory]

If ESPN drops the NHL Fox Sports Net (not the network) would jump at a chance to pick it up, IMO.

Fox doesn't show much across it's network. What they do show The Sports list, etc are taped and shown at different times. It could work. I know Fox is looking for programming, there are rumblings here in LA that the Best Damn Sports Show period is close to gettting cancelled.

Spike Tv is also possibility.

 

[Old Hickory]

ok im in canada where cable tv is a given for almost every house and if it isnt satellite is another option... i forgot that we dont rely as much on over the air tv as they do in the states....

but we still have CBC over the air... (ie FREE)

Cable or Satellite is a given for almost every house in the US as well

 

[Vapour Trail]

Cable or Satellite is a given for almost every house in the US as well

Regular (analog) cable is, digital cable is not. And I don't think there's a way to get Center Ice unless you have digital cable (or a satellite dish).

 

[Levitate]

If ESPN drops the NHL Fox Sports Net (not the network) would jump at a chance to pick it up, IMO.

a lot of teams already use Fox Sports to broadcast their local games...maybe you're talking about something else though, i dunno. it'd be kind of wonky for fox sports net to handle national broadcasts and still be able to provide the normal local coverage to teams unless they made another channel for national games. also, i think ESPN is a lot more prevalent in cable programming than fox sports net is...more exposure

 

[Buds4ever]

NHL Network does plan a US launch in future

Games could be placed on the leagues own NHL Network in the future. There are plans that once all this gets settled to eventually bring the net to the US Market. It will take time, but this could prove a valuable asset to allow hockey fans to get the games without having to order centre ice.

 

[ChiHawks468]

i doubt TSN is dropping hockey any time soon...

I didn't say they were. TSN isn't ESPN (although I read somewhere that ESPN owns a non-controlling piece of it), but rather Canada's version of it. They even call their nightly news show the same thing as ESPN only spelled differently. I am not sure what deal they have with the NHL, but I am pretty sure it is seperate from ESPN.

 

[ChiHawks468]

Games could be placed on the leagues own NHL Network in the future. There are plans that once all this gets settled to eventually bring the net to the US Market. It will take time, but this could prove a valuable asset to allow hockey fans to get the games without having to order centre ice.

I hope this is true. I would love to be able to get access to that network here in the states.

 

[Game_Misconduct]

a lot of teams already use Fox Sports to broadcast their local games...maybe you're talking about something else though, i dunno. it'd be kind of wonky for fox sports net to handle national broadcasts and still be able to provide the normal local coverage to teams unless they made another channel for national games. also, i think ESPN is a lot more prevalent in cable programming than fox sports net is...more exposure

Fox Sports needs more national live event programming if it's going to be a viable sports network. The regionalizing isn't working real well. With regards to exposure, you'd be hard pressed to find a local cable network that doesn't carry one of the Fox Sports regional channels or one of its offshoots (NESN, Sunshine, etc.).

It wouldn't be real tough to set up something like "Hockey Night in America" on, say, Sunday nights when Fox Sports has zero going on in terms of decent programming. Throw in one or two national nights during the week and I'm sure they could work around the local broadcasts.

Right now Fox Sports does "national" broadcasts of Pac 10 and Big 12 football and Pac 10 basketball so setting up a national broadcast crew for hockey wouldn't be real tough. It could be done.

 

[Dr Love]

Games could be placed on the leagues own NHL Network in the future. There are plans that once all this gets settled to eventually bring the net to the US Market. It will take time, but this could prove a valuable asset to allow hockey fans to get the games without having to order centre ice.

I can't wait for that to happen. But it will take years for the NHL Network to make it into enough homes. NBA TV has been around for 5 years and is in only 8 million homes, NFL Network is in it's second year and is in about 25 million homes.

 

[RangerBoy]

The NHL deal with ESPN is worth $60 million this season which is half of $120 million per year the previous NHL/ESPN was.The next two years are at ESPN's option for $70 million each year

5 years/$600 million/$120 million/30 teams/$4 million per team/$20 million per team over 5 years.That was the expired ESPN/ABC deal

$50-60 million less per year.Does the NHLPA realize that?

 

[Levitate]

does the league realize it?

look it hurts BOTH sides if ESPN drops its contract. yes there's less to pay the players with but there's less revenue in general for the owners. and i think that franchise values in general would also take a pretty big hit by losing the ESPN contract

this isn't really an advantage for one side or the other, it screws both sides

 

[RangerBoy]

does the league realize it?

look it hurts BOTH sides if ESPN drops its contract. yes there's less to pay the players with but there's less revenue in general for the owners. and i think that franchise values in general would also take a pretty big hit by losing the ESPN contract

this isn't really an advantage for one side or the other, it screws both sides

Loss of TV revenue.The league has less money to spend on salaries.Listening to the players,the NHL has a money printing machine located in the basement of their offices on 6th avenue.1/2 of the TV renevue is gone.The NBC deal is no rights fee deal.If the revenue is done,salaries should go done.L-I-N-K-A-G-E...LINKAGE

 

[LordHelmet]

If the revenue is done,salaries should go done.L-I-N-K-A-G-E...LINKAGE

That's stupid.

The fall in TV revenues is due to overexpansion, lack of marketing, and failure to correct the obstruction problem. None of those things are the players' responsibility. If anything, the players have been talking about correcting those things for years.

Why should players take a salary hit when it's the league's leadership that has made the poor decisions and caused revenue (TV and otherwise) to slide?

 

[LordHelmet]

this isn't really an advantage for one side or the other, it screws both sides

If ESPN dumps the NHL, yes, it's bad for both sides.

On the other hand...

Bettman is keeps referring to the monetary difference between the two sides as a league-wide $200MM apart. If the season remains cancelled over a difference of $200MM, he puts $70MM in 05-06 revenues (from next year's ESPN contract) at risk.

I don't call it an advantage for anyone, but it's an incentive for the league to get a deal done even if it means moving up to the $44-$46 range.

 

[PartizaN]

The NHL is lucky that hockey is so popular in Canada. There biggest TV contracts are with TSN and CBC. Imagine the NHL without those contracts?

 

[syc]

Good for ESPN, I wouldn't want to show this crap if I had a TV station. The NHL is going down and its great! Just fold the entire league and start a new one with 22 teams.

Nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah saaaaayyyy goodbye bettman, carolina, and florida, and goodnow.

 

[sandman441]

Regular (analog) cable is, digital cable is not. And I don't think there's a way to get Center Ice unless you have digital cable (or a satellite dish).

I know up here we had to return our analog boxes for digital ones. I am not sure anywhere else but I think that is what is going to happen every where else pretty soon.

 

[Mess]

Because you have TSN (and CBC), there's no demand for ESPN. The NHL needs a national TV contract. It would be pretty embarrassing if they didn't.

TSN and ESPN are afiliated ..

The Cancer may spread further .. This may only be the beginning on the end ..

Catch the last Paragraph:

On other fronts, NBC still is on board to air a limited slate of national games next season, provided there is one. The network was set to televise seven regular-season games and six playoff games on Saturdays this year. Then it was supposed to cover Games 3 through 7 of the Stanley Cup finals.
The arrangement was the beginning of a two-year contract that showed how far the NHL had fallen. Instead of getting a rights fee like the other major professional leagues, hockey entered into a revenue-sharing deal with NBC.

At this point, even if the NHL does play again, it doesn't look like there will be much revenue to share.

 

[Dr Love]

TSN and ESPN are afiliated

They're affiliated, but they're not the same. My point was there is no ESPN in Canada, the original post about that implied there was.

At this point, even if the NHL does play again, it doesn't look like there will be much revenue to share.

They knew this going into this lockout. The NBC deal doesn't give the NHL any revenue until NBC makes a profit on it.