The TV timeout

[Egil]

The World Championship this year allowed for TV timeouts (I don't think they did previously), but they were quite unlike those in the NHL. Instead of a 2 minute break for 4 commercials, the World Championships had room for 1 comercial during a break (which is barely longer than the time it takes for a fast faceoff).

When the NHL signed the deal with FOX, these long TV timeouts became ingrained in the NHL game. But, could getting rid of them help grow the game?

I don't think it would have a large impact on Canadian TV rights, as we tend to see the same commercials over and over and over again during NHL games. And with a "revenue sharing" deal with NBC, combined with ESPN dropping the NHL (though probably wanting a reduced rate), could reducing the number of commercials be the cure? It would be superb publicity coming out of the lockout, and would make attending a NHL game that much better than an NBA game with the long, frequent pauses eliminated.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

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[FLYLine27*]

If they took TV Timeouts out..(or cut them down from a 3 minutes to 1 minute) then intermissions would be 20 minutes long to make up for all the commercials they ddint show. Id rather them keep it how it is then have longer intermissions.

 

[hockeytown9321]

It was much better when they had 4 shorter breaks than 3 longer ones. With the long breaks, teams can rest. Short breaks make players more tired which leads to more goals.

Anyone know for sure when the shorter breaks happened? I think it was the first full strength stoppage after 16:00, 12:00, 8:00 & 4:00 left.

 

[Scoogs]

The NBA is by far the worst.. Each team has like 28037402382342 time outs... So there is a commercial every 2 seconds.

 

[Gary Buttman]

College basketball is bad; 4 TV timeouts every half. At least there are no long timeouts that the coaches can call in hockey.

 

[Steve L*]

The NBA is by far the worst.. Each team has like 28037402382342 time outs... So there is a commercial every 2 seconds.

and the last minute of a game take on average 103.23 minutes even when the score is 81-104!

The NHL needs to do away with TV timeouts, its funny how the worlds most popular sport has resisted it and runs for 50 minutes without a break and the TV companies still manage to make a nice profit, most people are suckered into believing theyre neccessery when theyre not.

 

[Chootoi]

i don't know if the whole CHL has this but i know the Q does. they have a regular 30second league timeout at the first whistle after the 10:00 mark of each period. something like this could work in the NHL for TV timeouts.

 

[CGG]

It was much better when they had 4 shorter breaks than 3 longer ones. With the long breaks, teams can rest. Short breaks make players more tired which leads to more goals.

Anyone know for sure when the shorter breaks happened? I think it was the first full strength stoppage after 16:00, 12:00, 8:00 & 4:00 left.

I liked the shorter breaks more too. The 4 breaks were 1 minute of adds each, for 8 ads total. They switched to 3 breaks of 3 ads each a few years ago to squeeze an extra ad per period.

 

[WC Handy*]

and the last minute of a game take on average 103.23 minutes even when the score is 81-104!

The NHL needs to do away with TV timeouts, its funny how the worlds most popular sport has resisted it and runs for 50 minutes without a break and the TV companies still manage to make a nice profit, most people are suckered into believing theyre neccessery when theyre not.

If the NHL wants to get a dime out of their tv deals, then they are very necessary.

 

[Dr Love]

The NBA is by far the worst.. Each team has like 28037402382342 time outs... So there is a commercial every 2 seconds.

That has nothing to do with TV though. The rules allow them 30 and 60 second time outs. For 60 second time outs, the networks choose to go to commerical, during 30 second time outs they tend to stay at the game and replay a big play or show a graphic of some kind pertaining to the game. But the overload of TOs isn't because of TV.

 

[MePutPuckInNet]

I watched a football game over the weekend I had recorded during this past season. I could not freaking believe how many commercials they had. The game was slow as hell...I kept getting up during the "play" [which was really just a bunch of guys standing around patting each other on the rear], then I'd go off to the kitchen to grab more chow...then I came back into the living room to another commercial....finally the game came back on and the same guys were still out there, still standing in a circle putting the play together - then...there was another 30 seconds before anybody actually MOVED...then, the dude dropped the ball so right after the fumble...apparently the network decided to go to another commercial...

It kind of got me wondering if maybe it's a contributing factor to the general lack of interest in showing hockey on tv. Maybe fans want more breaks. Maybe they need all the beer collecting and potato chip eating time...maybe if the NHL had MORE commercials, it'd be easier for people to follow along. I think part of the problem is that hockey - even a boring "Minnesota Wild-type" hockey game has to be watched while you're glued to the chair. The game moves so fast that if you're tuned out for even a second, you might miss some really cool play...it's not like other sports [i.e. football] where you can walk away for 5 minutes and not miss a thing. Know what I mean?

So anyway, personally - if more commercials would help bring in more fan viewership on tv then I'm all for it.

[yeah, I know it's not really what you were asking, just thought i'd throw it out there]

 

[hockeytown9321]

I watched a football game over the weekend I had recorded during this past season. I could not freaking believe how many commercials they had. The game was slow as hell...I kept getting up during the "play" [which was really just a bunch of guys standing around patting each other on the rear], then I'd go off to the kitchen to grab more chow...then I came back into the living room to another commercial....finally the game came back on and the same guys were still out there, still standing in a circle putting the play together - then...there was another 30 seconds before anybody actually MOVED...then, the dude dropped the ball so right after the fumble...apparently the network decided to go to another commercial...

It kind of got me wondering if maybe it's a contributing factor to the general lack of interest in showing hockey on tv. Maybe fans want more breaks. Maybe they need all the beer collecting and potato chip eating time...maybe if the NHL had MORE commercials, it'd be easier for people to follow along. I think part of the problem is that hockey - even a boring "Minnesota Wild-type" hockey game has to be watched while you're glued to the chair. The game moves so fast that if you're tuned out for even a second, you might miss some really cool play...it's not like other sports [i.e. football] where you can walk away for 5 minutes and not miss a thing. Know what I mean?

So anyway, personally - if more commercials would help bring in more fan viewership on tv then I'm all for it.

[yeah, I know it's not really what you were asking, just thought i'd throw it out there]

I think you're right. Football is tailor made for TV.

 

[Drake1588]

It depends on whether the league's post-lockout strategy to bolster the fan base is based on a wider TV audience and the advertizing that comes with it, or bolstering attendance. If it's the latter, then the flow of the game does suffer from the TV breaks. If the former, then you might actually see an increase in the number of timeouts for broadcasters and advertizing spots.

Personally, I can't possibly see the league getting rid of the timeout. I'd expect to see such instances increase, frankly.

 

[London Knights]

Heck, and the way things are going right now you would think businesses wouldn't want to waste their money on commercial spots in between hockey games. And the networks would probably want to get the game done as fast as possible. So just have two 20 minute intermissions and no TV timeouts. Each period lasts around 25 minutes then and the game is off TV in under 2 hours.

 

[FLYLine27*]

Heck, and the way things are going right now you would think businesses wouldn't want to waste their money on commercial spots in between hockey games. And the networks would probably want to get the game done as fast as possible. So just have two 20 minute intermissions and no TV timeouts. Each period lasts around 25 minutes then and the game is off TV in under 2 hours.

They cant have just 2, 20 minutes intermissions and no tv time outs, they would loose 1/3 of there sponsors if they did that considering they are showing 1/3 less commercials, possibly less.

 

[MePutPuckInNet]

well....I'd like to see them really go for an increase in tv viewing audience - there are an awful lot of people who don't live in vicinity to an NHL club...while they're at it somebody needs to do something about the blackout crap...it's so freaking irritating

 

[futurcorerock]

How about putting national sponsors on the boards? Heck, Pizza Pizza and Molson gets a TON of advertising when I see a game here in the states broadcasting in canada... and where's the first place I want to go when I go to Canada? Pizza Pizza, then to a liquor store for my Molson fix.

 

[Cawz]

That has nothing to do with TV though. The rules allow them 30 and 60 second time outs. For 60 second time outs, the networks choose to go to commerical, during 30 second time outs they tend to stay at the game and replay a big play or show a graphic of some kind pertaining to the game. But the overload of TOs isn't because of TV.

The NBA has 60 second and 20 second timeouts, not 30 seconds. Each team gets 3 - full timeouts and 1 - 20 second timeout per half.

Apparently there are tv timeouts as well if the team timeouts arent being utilized, but I'm not sure how those work exactly.

 

[Egil]

NBA 60 second timeouts are more like 2 minutes.....

See, if you reduce the number of commercial slots, you make the game more watchable from the viewers perspective. Playoff OT and the SLC Olympics both take place with NO COMMERCIALS, and both are absolutely AWESOME. In the US, the NHL is likely to be on "revenue sharing deals", so they can afford to take a risk to pump up ratings then go for the commercials. Grow the TV ratings first, then slowly put adds back in. But a Commercial free (or nearly free) NHL product up against Add ridden NBA and NFL telecasts would look much better to your average viewer. Unless of course you like the adds...

In Canada, CBC normally shows the same adds multiple times during a game. Would reducing the number of commercials afect much? Not really, as they would get more money per spot (Canadian Advertisers are going to shell out for the playoffs), but have fewer slots. I would surmise the reduction in revenue from reducing the number of add slots is alot less than the reduction in add slots.

 

[Cawz]

and the last minute of a game take on average 103.23 minutes even when the score is 81-104!

Dont exaggerate. I've told you a millio...

The only time the end of the game will take a long time is if the score is close. Nobody wants to prolong the game if they are ahead or down by 20 points.

Thats the thing about bball. If the end of the game is taking a long time, then its basically assured its going to be a somewhat dramatic finish. So you may have to wait a minute between plays, but each play means something.

Kind of like in hockey, with a faceoff deep with 30 seconds to go, down by 1 and the tender pulled. If someone calls a timeout, its prolonging the anticipation. You know something exciting is going to happen to conclude the game, so wait for it and most of the time youre rewarded with a dramatic finish.

Mabye they should give each team 2 timeouts in hockey, 1 during the game and an additional one that can be used in the final minute. You wont lose any viewers by prolonging the end of a close game. It'll build excitement due to the anticipation, and fans having a few more sips of beer will cause them to yell louder when the game ends. All positive consequences.

 

[Cawz]

But a Commercial free (or nearly free) NHL product up against Add ridden NBA and NFL telecasts would look much better to your average viewer. Unless of course you like the adds..

Did you (or anyone here) watch the Spurs Suns game last night? Great game, and one thing I noticed was that on ABC, the commercials were actually entertaining. Not like on Canadian tv (Gretzky asking to play street hockey, Gretzky drinking coke on the couch...)

Look at all the hype around Superbowl commercials. If most commercials werent boring and repeated over and over, we wouldnt be having this discussion.

There should be a limit on the amount of times they can show the same bloody commercial during 1 game.

 

[WC Handy*]

If the end of the game is taking a long time, then its basically assured its going to be a somewhat dramatic finish.

Don't exaggerate.

You know that's not true. A game can be a 12 point game with 30 seconds to go and it'll take 5 minutes.

 

[Drake1588]

I think the extent to which stoppages in play turn people off hockey is being somewhat exaggerated. People watch or don't watch a sport/pro sport league due to interest that is already there. When that interest is strong, they tolerate commercials as part of the package. Rarely if ever have I heard someone say they were a huge fan of baseball/football but left because of the commercial breaks.

In most cases, those who complain about the stoppages in baseball/football broadcasts tend not to be fans that have abandoned the game, but those who have always been detractors. Most who decry baseball's slow-as-molasses-in-January pace, as an example, were never strong fans of MLB.

Would this sort of thing lure new fans? I don't know that I believe that. What is depressing to me is that the Stanley Cup playoffs every year feature exciting, frenetic pacing and riveting action as it is... and people still don't watch. The fact is that sports fans in the US watch sports that feature far more stoppages for commercial breaks than does hockey, in the form of football, baseball, and NASCAR. The NBA is probably comparable to the NHL. These are four popular sports and hockey (which is not) already has most of these sports beat when it comes to minimizing stoppages. This is not one of the NHL's weaknesses when hockey stacks up next to the other four sports giants. Hockey is already faster than these sports; pacing may not be a key issue for US sports fans, however.

The NHL's weakness is that no one plays hockey or knows the game in the market in which the NHL would like to expand its viewership. By contrast, Americans play football, baseball and basketball from a young age, and Americans have always felt a visceral love for their cars, the faster the better.

I'm a hockey fan because I grew up playing and watching hockey in Montreal. Otherwise, the chances that I'd gravitate towards the sport here in the DC area would be next to nil. It genuinely takes a sustained winning powerhouse of a team to develop a market in this country for hockey, and not every NHL city gets to have one of those. If I were an NHL marketing wizard staring ahead at the league's post-lockout prospects in the States, I'd probably be petrified.

 

[txomisc]

Don't exaggerate.

You know that's not true. A game can be a 12 point game with 30 seconds to go and it'll take 5 minutes.

Bingo. The last minute is generally filled with such crap as constant fouling, missed free throws, and extensive timeouts. If youre really lucky youll get to see a game where Shaq is playing so the fouling can actually start with about 5 minutes to go.

 

[PecaFan]

They cant have just 2, 20 minutes intermissions and no tv time outs, they would loose 1/3 of there sponsors if they did that considering they are showing 1/3 less commercials, possibly less.

You do know that tv timeouts are a recent invention, right? I don't remember the exact date, but some time in the 90's. The broadcasts and advertisers were just fine before them.

Tv timeouts, like many things, were a cash grab. Let's make more money, and harm our game in the process. The sad thing is it not only hurts the viewing, it also affects the game negatively on the ice. Teams get more chances to rest, which makes playing the trap easier, etc.