Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

[bigmrg74]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

I still think a bit of this goes back to the whole **** poor scheduling the NCAA has done with the NCAA Championship. College Hockey drops the puck the same weekend that the Men's and Women's BB Sweet Sixteens are going on and eating up a lot of airspace. The Women's BB alone has 12 games going on, and they're part of the NCAA championship package that the NCAA sells to ESPN. You bump the whole schedule back a week, where Hockey kicks off against both Final Fours, that means they're only competing for airspace against 6 games total. Then you would also give ESPN the off week there to talk about Opening Week in Baseball, and the Masters, and then next weekend here, what the hell is the big event going to be for ESPN? having the Frozen Four next weekend would be a lot better for ESPN when its not quite as crouded for headlines to put on the ticker. Opening Week Fever has died down a bit for Baseball, and the Masters is over. Only real thing you would have to worry about is NFL draft talk, but heck, they can only talk and analyze it so much before they're out thinking themselves.

[nudgy_olsen]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

To be honest, an episode of sports center is way more entertaining than the crap games we had this year.

[bronconick]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

Don't worry everyone!

When the NCAA votes to shorten the college hockey season, you can watch the Frozen Four in mid-March!

[MUhawks628]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

1. College hockey = niche sport, more than other niche sports.
2. College hockey fans will watch their sport wherever, whenever

Result: we can do what we want, as long as it's on air at some point on some channel, and still win, since the fans are just happy it's on tv.

Amen. Unless Miami is playing a BigTen team, chances are I'm going to pay $7 to watch a single camera fail at following the puck around while listening to the piped in audio of a 18 year old student radio announcer mispronouncing the names of every Miami player for away games. Who cares if Melrose is an idiot, at least we get multiple camera angles with the occasional zoom. ESPN has zero incentive to sink in any more money then is required to broadcast college hockey, it is what it is.

[The Rube]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

Amen. Unless Miami is playing a BigTen team, chances are I'm going to pay $7 to watch a single camera fail at following the puck around while listening to the piped in audio of a 18 year old student radio announcer mispronouncing the names of every Miami player for away games. Who cares if Melrose is an idiot, at least we get multiple camera angles with the occasional zoom. ESPN has zero incentive to sink in any more money then is required to broadcast college hockey, it is what it is.

Yep. Heck, even Olympic/NHL hockey fans fall in the same group. Look at this past Olympics. MSNBC's ratings were through the roof, relatively.

Also, I can imagine that secondary (cough cough) sites like justintv and ustream, for example, are noticed by someone involved with real tv channels, and figure, "Hey, these nuts are going to sites that have sub-par clarity/graphics/etc, just because it's on, they don't really care THAT much" so they just do the minimum.

What it comes down to:

1. Deal with what we have, since we don't have the numbers to change anything

2. Hope the sport grows enough to get those numbers, which is very unlikely anytime soon, if ever

3. Hope to Parise that the NCAA continues to tie in the F4 with other championship contracts, so ESPN/etc are forced to cover the sport we love.

[HockeyMan2000]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

Sorry for the rant here but it's not just college hockey that gets the shaft -- EVERY game ESPN televises, whether it's college football or basketball, is treated the same way. They go to the venue at the exact moment the game starts, they cut away to Sportscenter at the exact second the game goes to halftime or ends altogether. I mean, they had 4 minutes the other night before 10pm to have more post-game, but decided to start "Baseball Tonight" early instead!

ESPN, more than any other network, is all about its own self-promotion. Forget about "setting the scene" like most sports broadcasts once did, showing you the venue, fans, other players, etc. -- they don't care where or when the game is. They want to spend time pushing their own "brand" relentlessly any chance they can, which means unless the game is on, they have no interest in it. Cue the Bottom Line (which airs on everything except The Masters because that contract states that neither that nor their other, omni-present running graphics will air during it) and the endless promotion that happens whenever a stoppage occurs. "Next on the NBA2Tonight!" "The Twins Open their New Stadium Monday at 4pm!" "Stay Tuned for Sportscenter!"

Obviously I watch a lot of ESPN, who doesn't, because of everything they control. But they take a lot of criticism for the amount of self-promotion they air every day. The quality of their game broadcasts took a hit a long time ago because of it IMO, and it's not just college hockey that feels like a "break" for Sportscenter.

[glazewsr]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

I know this has been discussed before (sorry).

But - you know - in the long run I think I'm OK with the rest of "them" not caring. Look at the Men's Bouncy-ball tournament or the Super Bowl.

SB-I wasn't even half full. SBs didn't start selling out until almost 10 years after the first, and ticket prices only started skyrocketing when it became more a media event than a championship game. Ditto the bouncy-ball tournaments - 20 years ago ticket sales didn't start until you knew which teams were going; there weren't many "fans of bouncy-ball" (or, more likely, ticket brokers looking to score).

I can still get tickets to the regionals and Frozen Four pretty cheaply and easily. If everyone starts loving on this like the do the Final Four, the scalpers and brokers will work their way into the mix and my prices will go way up. Plus I'll end up sitting next to people like Ms. "Rim shot" who don't know the game.

So - yeah, I'd like some "props" for being a fan of a great sport, but on the whole, I'll accept anonymity as long as it lets me feed my need more cheaply. (It *is* all about me, you know.)

[IrishHockeyFan]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

Sorry for the rant here but it's not just college hockey that gets the shaft -- EVERY game ESPN televises, whether it's college football or basketball, is treated the same way. They go to the venue at the exact moment the game starts, they cut away to Sportscenter at the exact second the game goes to halftime or ends altogether. I mean, they had 4 minutes the other night before 10pm to have more post-game, but decided to start "Baseball Tonight" early instead!

ESPN, more than any other network, is all about its own self-promotion. Forget about "setting the scene" like most sports broadcasts once did, showing you the venue, fans, other players, etc. -- they don't care where or when the game is. They want to spend time pushing their own "brand" relentlessly any chance they can, which means unless the game is on, they have no interest in it. Cue the Bottom Line (which airs on everything except The Masters because that contract states that neither that nor their other, omni-present running graphics will air during it) and the endless promotion that happens whenever a stoppage occurs. "Next on the NBA2Tonight!" "The Twins Open their New Stadium Monday at 4pm!" "Stay Tuned for Sportscenter!"

Obviously I watch a lot of ESPN, who doesn't, because of everything they control. But they take a lot of criticism for the amount of self-promotion they air every day. The quality of their game broadcasts took a hit a long time ago because of it IMO, and it's not just college hockey that feels like a "break" for Sportscenter.

This is not entirely accurate. Yes ESPN is all about self-promotion. That in and of itself is OK. Nothing wrong with finding reasons to drive folks back to your product. But when you watch a baseball game on ESPN (or a college football game, NFL game, college or pro basketball, anything else) they cater to your sport. Between halves of football games, they talk football, they show highlites, they talk ENDLESSLY about the draft. They may do a quick blurb about the upcoming SportCenter following a game with a snippet or two of what else they are covering, but the primary focus is on the sport you are watching. With the Frozen Four or the regionals ESPNU covered, it is not. Between periods was simply a 15 minute mini- SportsCenter talking about anything besides college hockey.

It's never going to change, unfortunately. The only way it could is if the NCAA mandates certain commitments to the broadcasts. As long as the checks clear, that isn't going to happen.

[bigmrg74]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

This is not entirely accurate. Yes ESPN is all about self-promotion. That in and of itself is OK. Nothing wrong with finding reasons to drive folks back to your product. But when you watch a baseball game on ESPN (or a college football game, NFL game, college or pro basketball, anything else) they cater to your sport. Between halves of football games, they talk football, they show highlites, they talk ENDLESSLY about the draft. They may do a quick blurb about the upcoming SportCenter following a game with a snippet or two of what else they are covering, but the primary focus is on the sport you are watching. With the Frozen Four or the regionals ESPNU covered, it is not. Between periods was simply a 15 minute mini- SportsCenter talking about anything besides college hockey.

It's never going to change, unfortunately. The only way it could is if the NCAA mandates certain commitments to the broadcasts. As long as the checks clear, that isn't going to happen.

That or a lone crazed fan slips into the ESPN production trailer, bars the door with a hockey stick, and holds a sharpen hockey skate to somebody's throat for them back in Bristol to keep talking about the Frozen Four.

[dggoddard]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

Yep. Heck, even Olympic/NHL hockey fans fall in the same group. Look at this past Olympics. MSNBC's ratings were through the roof, relatively.

The Olympics coverage outdrew any NHL broadcast in history including the Stanley Cup, we can conclude that more than just NHL fans were watching the Olympics telecasts. I suspect that a majority of the viewers in the US and Canada haven't been to an NHL game in the past 20 years or so.

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

As for complaining about the intermission reports this year, I thought it was nice that they were a little more unique. Last year every intermission of every game on ESPNU showed 1 of 2 segments with Bob Norton. That gets really old when you watch all the games

[Jon]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

Two playful thoughts:

1. Unless you're working for ESPN, why in Hades would you care about the ratings?
2. Was anyone outside of BC fans still watching by the end of that slaughter?

[Priceless]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

Two playful thoughts:

1. Unless you're working for ESPN, why in Hades would you care about the ratings?
2. Was anyone outside of BC fans still watching by the end of that slaughter?

1. Because the ratings explain ESPN's actions.
2. Yes.

Speaking of ratings, the top 25 cable shows were released and surprisingly the NCAA College Hockey Championship wasn't listed. The final game of women's basketball between UConn and Stanford was 14th, with 3.53 million viewers.

[Jon]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

The final game of women's basketball between UConn and Stanford was 14th, with 3.53 million viewers.

Strangely enough, that game was more competitive than any Frozen Four game...

Shocking.


I think ESPN does things just to **** me off. If they care that much about ratings, why the reality show about Barry Bonds?

[Priceless]

Re: Sports Center--interrupted by a hockey game.

I think ESPN does things just to **** me off. If they care that much about ratings, why the reality show about Barry Bonds?

Yep. It's all about you.

There's a meeting in Bristol to decide how to **** you off next. My sources tell me it's between a special feature on what an awesome coach Tim Army is and a Kitler reality show...