NBC coverage

[shotty 7]

when the NHL locked out, i didn't watch anymore football, basketball or baseball than i did before, which was little to none to begin with. all this does is create a solid, consistent partnership. nothing wrong with that.

[Chadd 916]

Yeah yeah, the NHL gets more money, but are the fans going to get to see any more games? If your cable provider doesn't have versus you get to watch 5 weekend day games (hopefully you like PIT, NYR, PHI or WAS or you're boned) and the winter classic on NBC. Tough to get your product out there when nobody gets to watch it. It's great for people that have Versus and can appreciate the NHL standing up to ESPN and not letting the large network lowball them but come on, it would be nice to see some hockey on ESPN. Hell, they showed UVA-UNC mens lacrosse a few weekends ago...

Blame comcast for that. They are the ones screwing the viewers.

Two topics merged, some of the posts may not flow on the last couple pages.

[Trooper 8]

No, but it will create some NHL fans in the interim and probably in the long run as well. It's a pretty sound bet that a NFL/NBA lockout will at least help the NHL a little.

Maybe, but not enough to make the terms of the deal swing to one side or the other. If the NHL were to pick up a lot more fans they would benefit financially in the long run through channels outside the TV deal so everyone would come out ahead.

[bigdmac 12]

This sounds like a potentially gigantic error, the term is simply too long. If hockey takes off next year because of a basketball and/or football lockout, it'll be a big time underpayment for 8+ years...

It will be a big underpayment in 8+ years regardless of the lockouts.

[hockeyherb 1]

On the bright side I think I read that every playoff game will be broadcast nationally. That will be a nice change from getting at most 2 games a night in the US and you can watch the teams you want, not just the popular eastern teams.

[mug25 2]

Honestly, I try to get MSG feeds of Rangers games as much as possible but I really dont mind NBC's coverage. Who I really like is Kevin Weekes. He's very fresh, very well spoken, unbiased and always has great insight. Wish NBC would pick him up to work more games.

If the NHL were to go to ESPN, the same thing would happen as before. Hockey would be behind the other sports — including golf.