ESPN for me is a huge negative as a passionate hockey and futball fan. I've seen what they've done to Serie A and I expect hockey to suffer from the same tactics; prime matches like Bruins/Habs on ESPN+ with Blue Jackets/Predators on ESPN2 (forcing you to buy their subscription). Plus, ESPN themselves - via Disney - cut a lot of hockey content in terms of writers and if they get the rights they're just going to expand it again out of nowhere? Then they have Stephen A. Smith - absolutely entitled to his opinion - who's been quite outspoken on how he despises hockey (on the "worldwide leader of sports" as their slogan). I actually will consider it hilarious that Disney might force him to talk about the NHL since they only talk about sports they have the rights to. Finally, ESPN is going into the political culture and we're going to hear more stories of how hockey is a "white" sport regardless of skin colour having to be a major fact in climates; black people live in hot climates, white people in cold climates and hockey is a cold climate sport. The only positive is that hockey could get a lot more exposure for casual fans on ESPN than NBC.
Fox is a big step in the positive, especially if they're offering like 500+ million then that shows they absolutely care. NBC did produce a good product, but they should be fortunate that they got the NHL at an advantage considering the ratings. I think Fox will produce the same amount of content that NBC did, so nothing is going to change here for me except the channels. However, Fox employs Skip Bayless, who is one of the biggest pieces of shit in North American sports (picture Steve Simmons level). He's a hottake troll and has written multiple pieces about how he considers hockey a Neanderthal sport. I expect him to talk as little about hockey as humanly possible and if he has to...it will only be in a negative attitude like ESPN did with the racial injustice segments about the "whiteness" of it. Whatever the case is, he's just one bloke and will be much easier to silence on Fox compared to Disney's culture which reeks of a lot of "hockey is a secondary niche sport" brigade IMHO.
Honestly, I think ESPN won’t be as bad you and most people think. This isn’t the same ESPN management that dumped the NHL back in 2005. Pitaro I believe is a hockey fan and I believe NHL will at least give the NHL a fair go. Steve Levy said on Richard Deitsch’s podcast that there are a lot ESPN employees that are hockey fans and that miss having the games. Shows like PTI, ATH, HQ have always been fair to NHL so that won’t change. I’m sure they hire another NHL analyst for shows like Get Up and whatever ESPN + show. SAS isn’t a hockey fan, but he isn’t a hockey hate. Max Kellerman is the hockey hater you are referring to on First Take, he admitted on a show that even ESPN colleagues ripped him for. Overall, I think ESPN presence will give the NHL higher ratings than NBCSN for regular season games.
I’ve said said many times my thoughts that FOX will do a solid job marketing and promoting NHL if they got it. They should embrace the 90s coverage imo, it was memorable and impactful despite whatever any critic says. So overall, I think it could work, besides if they paying a combined 1 billion dollars a year for NHL, both networks will put a decent shot. As long it’s better than what NBC has done recently. It’s clear to me NHL and NBC’s relationship isn’t as strong as people think.