vopatsrash
Registered User
- Dec 9, 2004
- 578
- 0
I don't see this anywhere, so I thought I'd start a thread on it.
The NHL TV contract is discussed in this article from USA Today...
"NHL TV: You hate to see the suffering face more stress. But the NHL, maybe by Wednesday, faces another hurdle: Keeping its national TV money.
TV deals, like any business deals, aren't always driven by deadlines. But ESPN already has extended the date to June 1 for renewing its option to continue its NHL coverage for one season for $60 million.
That total would be a big drop from the $120 million that ESPN paid each of the previous four NHL seasons, a deal that helped average player salaries grow from $1.35 million to $1.83 million.
But now the NHL would be lucky to get anywhere near $60 million. Like any league that cancels play, it faces the prospect that not all its fans will return. And, in terms of TV, it seems expendable: ESPN's makeshift replacement programming has drawn comparable ratings to NHL games.
The wild card is whether any other network would want hockey, whose TV ratings are truly diminutive. NBC got the Stanley Cup Finals without paying a rights fee.
NHL spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur says "there's nothing to say" about TV issues; ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys says only "June 1 is the deadline."
A logical guess: The NHL stays on ESPN for well under $60 million and NHL owners, by next week, have another reason to cry poverty."
The NHL TV contract is discussed in this article from USA Today...
"NHL TV: You hate to see the suffering face more stress. But the NHL, maybe by Wednesday, faces another hurdle: Keeping its national TV money.
TV deals, like any business deals, aren't always driven by deadlines. But ESPN already has extended the date to June 1 for renewing its option to continue its NHL coverage for one season for $60 million.
That total would be a big drop from the $120 million that ESPN paid each of the previous four NHL seasons, a deal that helped average player salaries grow from $1.35 million to $1.83 million.
But now the NHL would be lucky to get anywhere near $60 million. Like any league that cancels play, it faces the prospect that not all its fans will return. And, in terms of TV, it seems expendable: ESPN's makeshift replacement programming has drawn comparable ratings to NHL games.
The wild card is whether any other network would want hockey, whose TV ratings are truly diminutive. NBC got the Stanley Cup Finals without paying a rights fee.
NHL spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur says "there's nothing to say" about TV issues; ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys says only "June 1 is the deadline."
A logical guess: The NHL stays on ESPN for well under $60 million and NHL owners, by next week, have another reason to cry poverty."