NO NO NO. You guys dont get it. MLS isnt even half the popularity as the NHL no matter how hard that might be to believe. MLS ratings are in the 0.1 to 0.2 range. Maybe they did that to drive up MLS awareness? who knows?
But the truth is ESPN likes hockey. I eat sleep and breathe ESPN because even though NHL is my favorite sport, I love college sports, baseball and so forth. I find that Sportscenters most popular hosts are hockey fanatics. Linda Cone and Bucci regularly stand out. Not to mention of all the sports segmant hosts, Barry Melrose might be the most memorable if you are watching SC at night by accident or whatever.
So ESPN doesnt hate hockey and it wouldnt burry it. There are too many people that work for the network, Cone, Buccie, Levy, that would make sure stuff gets done in a decent respect. I dont think it would be a problem. Better than Versus. I bet they do NHL 2nite as well, something Versus doesnt even do, that post game garbage doesnt even come close to what NHL 2nite was.
And dont forget, if they did get the NHL, 50% of the loudmouths on radio and PTI and otherwise would think twice about saying negative things about the NHL, they only do so now because they can. I think youd see alot more talk and positive spins on the sport. To be honest Around the Horn, PTI and Jim Rome all did a great job talking about the Cup this week, usually the first two shows bash the sport but youll find that Around the Horns Tim Caldishaw always reps the sport, Wilbon, the black guy, on PTI reps the sports and Jim Rome is a hockey guy to begin with...