ESPNU's Hockey Coverage

[rodney]

Re: ESPNU's Hockey Coverage

Generally, ESPNU broadcasts college hockey games in a window on Sunday afternoons at 4 pm. I'd say as you see new schedules coming out, if team's are playing games at that time, those games are probably on ESPNU.

From looking, I believe Dartmouth has two games scheduled for that time slot, one against Harvard and one against Yale. It's obviously not a guarantee, but I wouldn't be surprised if that is scheduled to accommodate ESPNU.

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: ESPNU's Hockey Coverage

So, I guess the point of my nonsensical rant is that ESPN does not care about the little sports like soccer and hockey. For some reason, they have taken an interest in lacrosse, and you can bet that if the roles had been reversed that day (hockey game in 7 ots, lax game starting), they would have found room to pencil in the lax game on another network. But not for hockey or soccer. Nope, nobody cares about two of the most popular sports in the world!

I always find it funny that the rise in lacrosse coverage on ESPN coincided pretty much directly with the Duke case. I know that the Duke kids were (very likely, and we can't really prove otherwise anyway) innocent. But still... its that kind of thing that gets ESPN interested.

I don't think its anything personal that ESPN has with soccer or hockey. Its just that ESPN seems to have this need for self-promotion. If they have lots of broadcast contracts with a particular sport, or a particular league, they'll pimp the bejeesus out of it. If there's a competitor that has major broadcasting rights to anything, they'll push it back as much as market demand allows for.

It doesn't matter if ESPN also holds some of the rights, ESPN's appearant policy on self-promotion dictates that they will scale back any promotion/reporting on anything that could benefit a competitor. If MLS' deal with ESPN was exclusive, you'd see more than an occasional MLS highlight during a top ten reel. If the NHL didn't have Vs. or NBC, you'd see a ton more hockey highlights on SportsCenter than you currently do.

[joecct]

Re: ESPNU's Hockey Coverage

The only ECAC game I remember was Dartmouth-Harvard in January. My "research" shows ESPNU with four more games on top of that.
http://www.ecachockey.com/men/broadc...ision_Schedule

And no, the B2 networks had the ECAC opening rounds while the NHL Network had the championship, and except for the latter maybe going the wrong direction, I don't see that changing.

And while I may be biased as a "competing" entity, but I didn't think the regular season ESPNU broadcasts were the greatest- the problem being they haven't seen the players on a regular basis.

Because the ECAC championship is on a Saturday, the NHL Network (USA Version) did not show it live. Instead it showed Hockey Night in Canada.

The ECAC needs to REALLY step up the marketing. But then again, it IS the ECAC.

[fangers]

Re: ESPNU's Hockey Coverage

I always find it funny that the rise in soccer coverage on ESPN coincided pretty much directly with the Duke case. I know that the Duke kids were (very likely, and we can't really prove otherwise anyway) innocent. But still... its that kind of thing that gets ESPN interested.

wasn't that the lacrosse team?

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: ESPNU's Hockey Coverage

wasn't that the lacrosse team?

Whoops.... that's correct. I mistyped.

[komey1]

Re: ESPNU's Hockey Coverage

The lacrosse games also have corporate sponsers. So that may have something to do with why that is getting more play. So it's not just the lacrosse game of the week it's the Nike lacrosse game of the week (don't think it's Nike but I don't know who it is). If the NCAA could get a corporate sponser for hockey, it would be an easier sell to ESPN to get the games on.

[montreal]

Re: ESPNU's Hockey Coverage

The only ECAC game I remember was Dartmouth-Harvard in January. My "research" shows ESPNU with four more games on top of that.
http://www.ecachockey.com/men/broadc...ision_Schedule

And no, the B2 networks had the ECAC opening rounds while the NHL Network had the championship, and except for the latter maybe going the wrong direction, I don't see that changing.

And while I may be biased as a "competing" entity, but I didn't think the regular season ESPNU broadcasts were the greatest- the problem being they haven't seen the players on a regular basis.

Thanks, that's what i was looking for.