Comments on: NHL & NBC Announce Multiyear Extension

By: christina

christina — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:38:13 +0000

lol let’s just say NBC should keep the NHL under their belts becuz the Stanley Cup finals draws in a lot of ppl….especially 4 Versus too.

By: ed

ed — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:39:41 +0000

Versus got the rights to broadcast 2 games of the finals as part of the 6 year, $70 mill per year package signed with Versus coming out of the lockout

ESPN declined the one year, $60 mill option it held at that time in ’05. and the head of ESPN at that time in ’05 was unwilling to even cover the Sidney Crosby draft sweepstakes until he got flooded with calls and emails. ESPN has continued to treat hockey like crap, even though it was the NHL that was the first major sport to be shown reg on ESPN, and basically gave the network credibility in the early days when it began as a tiny operation.

what would you take in ’05 as NHL exec? a $420 mill offer from Versus, or a zero offer from ESPN with no rights fees, no guarantees, just revenue sharing crumbs ??

the answer is obvious, and THAT is why they are on Versus

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:13:03 +0000

It’s like the promo dept. was striving to come up with material when the ratings were actually good. NBC won a few nights with the NHL!!!

As to the NHL’s desparation U.S. TV contracts, that’s another story. Exactly what is the NHL making in dollars to bring the nightly victories to NBC. It shows that the NHL is still in desparation mode with regard to its U.S. not-TV strategy.

While it has admittedly had some success with Versus…and Lord knows, there needs to be some competition for the pathetic ESPN sports virtual monopoly…the NBC deal is a travesty of professsional sports dealing.

The NHL Board of Governors ought to have Gary Betteman’s head!

By: E

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:52:04 +0000

I think the NHL’s biggest mistake is having the fianls played in June.
The ratings would be much better if the finals happened in May.

By: dumont

dumont — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:39:20 +0000

The complication in giving NBC all the Stanley Cup games may be in the deal that the NHL signed with Versus, which was re-upped earlier this year through to the end of the 2010-11 season.

That beings said, if NBC really wanted to air all the games, I’m sure they could work out some sort of deal to simulcast the Stanley Cup games aired on Versus and come up with a formula to share the additional ad revenues.

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:27:15 +0000

dave, having all the Stanley Cup Finals on the same network does make sense. Sadly, a press release will never get into reasons why things that don’t make sense are the way they are

By: dave

dave — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:32:22 +0000

I’m surprised they didn’t extend the Stanley Cup finals to air all its games on NBC. I don’t like the split and doubt the NHL does either(2 of its most high profile games on Versus, a second rate cable network?), and I believe NBC must be happy with the results anyways considering the state of their primetime lineup. Their might be a conflict with the versus contract which would explain small extension.

I expect ESPN to pick up the cable contract at a discount(The NHL would do that to get the game in more homes) after the versus contract runs out.