Worldsport should cover US hockey

**vurbano** · 06-02-2004 04:05 PM

Worldsport, go save the NHL for us voom hockey fans!

According to The Hockey News, the new NHL agreement with ESPN cuts the broadcast games from 70 to 40 (down from 104 in '02). Those 40 games will only be broadcast on ESPN2 with ESPN only airing NHL hockey in the playoffs.

ABC will be dropping the NHL, citing bad ratings. NBC is picking up the contract, showing only seven regular season games on Saturday afternoons beginning in January, plus six playoff games and games 3-7 of the Stanley Cup. The NHL gave away the farm to both NBC and ESPN, offering a no-rights-fee, 100 percent revenue sharing plan with NBC (similar to the one NBC has with Arena Football), and a deal with ESPN that drops from a $120 million a year agreement to a $60 million per one.

If ever their was a chance to get HD hockey on Voom, here it is. Why not cover the sport that shows off HD the most? Certainly hockey will be almost dead by the end of 2005 and no one will want it, and ready for limited distribution by Voom. WHy not take advantage of the rotting corpse?

**Sean Mota** · 06-02-2004 04:50 PM

I agree...This is a good opportunity to take on NHL. You might to change to commercials on WorldSport.

**Odys** · 06-02-2004 05:34 PM

Rotting corpses should be buried, not put on display. The reason hockey tanks on TV is because it is no doubt the least TV-friendly sport. On the other hand, live hockey is probably the most exciting. I love all of the soccer currently on Worldsport. I wouldn't watch a single hockey game on TV and judging by the ratings, I'm not alone.

**Mr. Biggles** · 06-02-2004 06:48 PM

I love hockey and live in a hockey crazed town...but, the facts are that it has less of a tv audience than professional bowling. Sad I know, but a reality.

**PBHDinSD** · 06-02-2004 06:48 PM

How about the World Cup Hockey this summer?

World Sport -> World cup Hockey

**PBHDinSD** · 06-02-2004 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by Odys

Rotting corpses should be buried, not put on display. The reason hockey tanks on TV is because it is no doubt the least TV-friendly sport. On the other hand, live hockey is probably the most exciting. I love all of the soccer currently on Worldsport. I wouldn't watch a single hockey game on TV and judging by the ratings, I'm not alone.

Get a big screen TV and watch it HD. For non fans of of hockey, it changes the SD TV game and their perspectively completely.

**slacker9876** · 06-02-2004 07:19 PM

Less of an audience than the PBA ... let's be real. Are you for real? Do you have evidence?

The real problem I have noted across multiple carriers the blackout restrictions. On ESPN & HDNET there were a total of 21 Colorado Avalanche games broadcast this year (I am pretty sure about the number) I received 1, since I live in Colorado and I am an Avalanche fan this really ticked me off! So most of the games I wanted to see were not available in my market. If you blackout what I watch ... how can I watch it?

Lastly, with the owner lock-out pending, and most likely occurring, there will not be much if any of a 2004-2005 season. I'll most likely be suicidal during this time frame ... damn Gary Bettman!!!

**vurbano** · 06-02-2004 07:25 PM

I think it would be a great opportunity, especially if it rebounded while voom had it. Imagine having a channel that other providers would want. Or a sport that people wanted to watch and could only get it here. HD hockey looks great in HD, sucks in sd, great live. See a pattern here? great game, great in HD but people with sd sets dont care for it. Perfect fit.

**babyj** · 06-02-2004 07:28 PM

haha hockey. plz. theres a good reason why abc and espn are reducing coverage. hahah. no offense anyone. dont hate the player..hate the game!

**squicken** · 06-02-2004 07:44 PM

I don't know if you guys are old enough to remeber this, but 15 years ago ESPN showed baseball Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and NBC had the game of the week on Saturday afternoon. Wednesday and Friday ESPN showed 2 games. This was way before even ESPN 2. Then baseball started to decline. Network coverage really slowed, and ESPN cut way back on the number of games.

Look at baseball now. Fox showed a game in APRIL. ESPN probably does 15 games a week between ESPN & ESPN 2. The sport came back. Hockey can come back. Bettman has always said that HD would save the game. Whenever the lockout ends, there should be fewer teams and lower salaries, and Hockey can get back to where it was before runaway expansion. Not as big as before, but clearly the 4th biggest sport.