Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

[TovarishchLisa]

http://hockeyeastonline.com/men/arti...mmissioner.php

[jjmc85]

“This is not a retirement” makes it seem like the league wanted to move on.

[TovarishchLisa]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

“This is not a retirement” makes it seem like the league wanted to move on.

Yeah, and I think a few people who have thought that pointed to the lack of a TV deal last few years

[tape]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Yeah, and I think a few people who have thought that pointed to the lack of a TV deal last few years

Which seems interesting to me considering how quickly he secured a TV deal after he started the job:

Bertagna made his mark immediately at Hockey East, engineering a multi-year television deal (SportsChannel New England) in his first month on the job. Shortly thereafter, leag ue tournament attendance rocketed upward, leading to the event's first-ever sellout in 2000.

[J.D.]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Would certainly love a TV deal but I am not sure whoever the next commissioner is will be able to pull that off either. Different times.

[The Zlax45]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Would certainly love a TV deal but I am not sure whoever the next commissioner is will be able to pull that off either. Different times.

Much different TV industry now than 20 years ago. I don't see why NESN or NBCSportsBoston would want to pay the production costs for broadcasting games with the minuscule ratings they would get.

[mookie1995]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Adieu

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

*stick taps*

[chrisP]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

No doubt that the TV landscape has changed and is continually changing, and getting a good TV deal is a challenge - but it doesn't mean you have to be happy with the way things are or stop trying. Perhaps some new blood will be able to look at things in a new way. Regardless of the TV angle, I think everyone would agree that Hockey East needs to be better at marketing itself and making it more attractive to fans, TV exec's, etc.

Some in-season things the last few years - mainly a lack of action on varied incidents with players, coaches, etc. (the league burying its head in the sand on the racist incident at the BC/PC game last year was shameful) didn't help the league or the commish look very good either.

[The Zlax45]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

No doubt that the TV landscape has changed and is continually changing, and getting a good TV deal is a challenge - but it doesn't mean you have to be happy with the way things are or stop trying. Perhaps some new blood will be able to look at things in a new way. Regardless of the TV angle, I think everyone would agree that Hockey East needs to be better at marketing itself and making it more attractive to fans, TV exec's, etc.

Some in-season things the last few years - mainly a lack of action on varied incidents with players, coaches, etc. (the league burying its head in the sand on the racist incident at the BC/PC game last year was shameful) didn't help the league or the commish look very good either.

Agree on both your points...

[gfmorris]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Which seems interesting to me considering how quickly he secured a TV deal after he started the job:

A TV deal is rarely completed in a month.

GFM

[tape]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Sure, but it was probably also a lot less of a thing *gestures broadly* back in 1997 with a regional cable sports channel than it is in 2019.

[TovarishchLisa]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

Sure, but it was probably also a lot less of a thing *gestures broadly* back in 1997 with a regional cable sports channel than it is in 2019.

Yeah I think priority #1 for the new commish should be to get some sort of league-wide streaming deal, preferably ESPN+ (PLEASE NO FLO). Centralization is way better than having to run all over the **** place wondering if I have to pay or not.

[Yuppie Scum]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

“This is not a retirement” makes it seem like the league wanted to move on.

But isn't the league basically him and like 2 or three staffers/interns?

Far as I can tell, the entire enterprise is little more than a solitary man with a messy apartment which may or may not contain a chicken.

[boblav1]

Re: Hockey East: 2019/20 season is Joe Bertagna's last as commish

From the front page:
COMMENTARY: With Bertagna stepping down, Hockey East losing great commissioner, better person

The most forthcoming thing revealed by Bertagna, who was the league’s first full-time commissioner when he began the position 22 years ago, is that the decision to leave is not his. Rather, it was that of the 11 athletic directors in the league.

“My contract was up at the end of the [2019-20 season] and I was looking to extend it a little bit,” said Bertagna. “At the time I started that conversation, these directors had decided that they were not going to renew the contract.”