End of an era, last broadcast of NHL on NBC

[deca guard]

nobody has any business with nhl broadcast besides TSN ! with a studio ran by top gun james duthie , nobody else is in his league . and national broadcast called by miller and cuthbert . the nhl seriously lessened their product when they left the big contract they had with tsn

 

[LGBlues]

NBC kept it on hockey - if ESPN doesn't, I just won't watch.

 

[Fenway]

NHL on Disney would be next :-p

Umm who owns ESPN?

 

[xbestboybandever]

You know, thank you NBC for sticking it out with the NHL when no else wanted to. Could things have been better? Sure. However looking back at the last 15 years, the sport probably doesn’t survive without you. So, thanks for the ride.

Except you Pierre. f*** you.

 

[Fenway]

Working as a freelancer for NBC was a joy the past 16 seasons.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

That closing video was very well done by NBC.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I'll mildly miss some aspects of the presentation. And @xbestboybandever makes a good point about NBC carrying the flag for a generation. At least it wasn't OLN levels of awful.

 

[Osakahaus]

I liked a lot of them. Any idea if there’s info on where they’re going? I think Keith Jones is great. Carter is pretty good too and I like the hosts Tappen and McHugh.

Keith jones is a moron, i don't ever wanna hear anything from that talking trash can again. sick of how he always lowballs my team

 

[Osakahaus]

Pierre seems to be headed to MSG ( all 4 teams ) and NESN

ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i can live with pierre. he's campy and i prefer him over the others from NBC

 

[Osakahaus]

Between Eddie Olzyck, Jeremy “hererophobia” Roenick, creepy ass Pierre, and putting Final games on a second rate cable network and playoff games on frickin CNBC, I can’t say I’ll miss them.

NHL on TNT will be such a massive upgrade.

Thank god they fired milbury or else i would've said shut up to my TV more times

 

[Platano King]

Thank god they fired milbury or else i would've said shut up to my TV more times

Milbury was so trash I almost forgot he existed out of spite. Who thought it was a good idea to hire a bird-brained goon best known for being the worst GM in sports history?

 

[The Blunder Years]

Meh versus was better anyways

 

[Osakahaus]

Milbury was so trash I almost forgot he existed out of spite. Who thought it was a good idea to hire a bird-brained goon best known for being the worst GM in sports history?

Probably the same people who thought about hiring milbury lol

 

[LGBlues]

Milbury had the best line on NBC ever - "He faced Lundqvist and Price and he is still here"

 

[Fenway]

 

[Ginormousthumbs]

Even though I disliked some of the announcers, it’s still going to feel weird that the NHL won’t be covered by NBC. I’m not a fan of ESPN and I don’t necessarily think their coverage is going to grow the game anymore than NBC has. I’ll give the TNT crew a chance but will most likely smash that mute button if I’m forced to watch a game on ESPN.

 

[Fenway]

SportsChannel were RSNs, no?

@Kane One Sadly no

The deal was so bad that Jeremy Jacobs severed ties with Dollar Bill and paved the way for Bettman.

NHL on SportsChannel America - Wikipedia

Taking over for ESPN,[6][7] SportsChannel's contract paid US$51 million[8][9][10] ($17 million per year[11]) over three years,[12] more than double[13][14] what ESPN had paid ($24 million) for the previous three years[15] SportsChannel America managed to get a fourth NHL season[16] for just $5 million.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23]

The SportsChannel America deal was in a sense, a power play created by Charles Dolan and Bill Wirtz. Dolan was still several years away from getting control of Madison Square Garden, and Wirtz owned 25% of SportsChannel Chicago. NHL president John Ziegler[24][25] convinced the board of governors that SportsChannel America was a better alternative than a proposed NHL Channel backed by Paramount and Viacom that had interests in the MSG Network and NESN.

 

[KCC]

NBC was terrible. Pierre sucked. Kenny Albert sucked. But I know Kenny is moving onto TNT. Gross. Can't stand his calls.

 

[Fenway]

NBC was terrible. Pierre sucked. Kenny Albert sucked. But I know Kenny is moving onto TNT. Gross. Can't stand his calls.

Sean McDonough is going to be great on ESPN

Sean to this day PAYS to watch college hockey in the Boston area as a fan.

Word is filtering down that Gary Thorne will call games on ESPN+ and then the playoffs on ESPN

 

[DMB06]

Gary Thorne is very good, and I don't remember him having a clear bias during games like so many NBC guys have. ESPN is closer to a gossip/political activist site than a sports site these days, though, so I'm not expecting much quality out of them.

 

[KOPITARRULEZ11]

Okay whos cutting onions in here

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

Thank god. Absolutely unwatchable coverage for over a decade with absolutely god awful broadcast teams. I'm extremely excited for the change.

 

[BoltsOfAnarchy]

I’ll miss Kathryn Tappen.

so does Jeremy Roenick

 

[JKG33]

I mean, I have no idea what Andersen looks like, and I've been following hockey longer than his career. It's not like he's exactly a big-name star player.

No, but I'm sure you'd be able to point out Matthews

 

[Sega Dreamcast]

The broadcasts could definitely be worse under ESPN, but my biggest complaint about NBC over the years is how much they squandered the NHL.

Just look at the massive amount of effort put into advertising and broadcasting Sunday Night Football, meanwhile the NHL got relegated to the rebranded Outdoor Life Network and would maybe get one SCF game on NBC.

It's beyond comprehension why a broadcasting company would acquire the rights to the NHL and not market the league, teams, and players as much as possible.

And I haven't even talked about how awful the broadcasts were. Just the fact that verifiable hockey-idiot Mike Milbury had a job as an analyst for the better part of a decade speaks volumes to how out of touch NBC was.