If there was a way for Altitude to make money on it... Stan would find a way. Just like he found a way to piggy back off a broadcast this year to show a preseason game. They probably made a few dollars there, but the amount they paid to rebroadcast that was likely pennies on the dollar compared to sending the whole crew up to Quebec.
Yea but my point is Stan might make more money on the fuller building + whatever recycled content they show, than they would on broadcasting the games + plus the less full building.
It's also a cumulative thing like regular season blackouts. When it becomes known they won't show games, people might go to more games live, and when it becomes known teams
will broadcast games, they will feel lazy about going to see a pre-season game.
I really don't see the cost-benefit ratio being that far off from regular season where it's not even profitable to do. Plus as I mentioned it's not just the benefit of outside ad revenue. You're also showing a 2.5 hour advertisement for your own product.