NHL 2021: I Pledge Allegiance to Gritty

[MichVandal]

Fox kept FS1, FS2, and BTN for themselves in the sale. Disney was forced to sell off the Fox Sports Regionals due to antitrust concerns, so I don't believe Disney ended up with any additional sports in the merger.

Sinclair bought the FS Regionals and has owned them for at least the last year. They've started playing hardball with quite a few providers to the point that I don't believe any streaming cable (i.e. Youtube, Hulu) has them now. They're planning to rebrand them soon as "Bally Sports" named after the Atlantic City Casino. It sounds like the plan is to eventually role out an app that will have real-time gambling integration and possibly make it a stand alone streaming service.

Thanks for the update- I'll avoid them when I can. But FSN does not have a "Sports Center", too, so moving hockey to them would not result in much of a change.

[JF_Gophers]

At some point buying the NHL TV package is a better deal than buying whatever service has games on it. Even if you only care about 1 team.

[Kepler]

Well, Sinclair isn’t the smartest company with their properties, being associated with nazis is just one reason.

What else did they do?

Also, are they any distant relation to Sinclair Oil? I listen to a ton of olde tyme radio and they are always advertising on 30s shows. Their ads are great because they are always opposing their clean, dependable service to "independent gas stations," conjuring Route 66 abandoned, gangster-infested, Ma and Pa Kettle rat traps where the crazy uncle will pee in the tank or abduct your daughter.

[Russell Jaslow]

HuluTV (nee Disney) and YouTubeTV have unceremoniously dumped the Sinclair owned Fox Sports regionals from their services. And there is rumors that Sinclair wants to ditch the providers and offer the regional networks "straight to consumers via streaming," which likely won't fly with the NHL, NBA, and MLB.

Does this include the YES Network? I have completely lost track where YES ended up in all this fallout.

[Spartanforlife4]

Does this include the YES Network? I have completely lost track where YES ended up in all this fallout.

I think YES may negotiate separately since Sinclair doesn't have a majority share, but it looks like they've had the same fate as the other FS regionals, with most streaming services dropping them.

[Jimjamesak]

What else did they do?

Also, are they any distant relation to Sinclair Oil? I listen to a ton of olde tyme radio and they are always advertising on 30s shows. Their ads are great because they are always opposing their clean, dependable service to "independent gas stations," conjuring Route 66 abandoned, gangster-infested, Ma and Pa Kettle rat traps where the crazy uncle will pee in the tank or abduct your daughter.

Sinclair Broadcasting has zero relation to Sinclair Oil.

As for screwing up their properties, the best example would be Ring Of Honor Wrestling. In 2018 ROH had grown in popularity thanks to a general dislike of the WWE product among wrestling fans, a partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling, and the popularity of wrestlers like The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), Kenny Omega, and Cody Rhodes (and his wife Brandy), all members of a group called The Elite (and a subgroup of the Bullet Club but I'm not going into that). They wanted more investment into ROH from Sinclair so ROH could continue to grow but Sinclair refused, they saw ROH as only a cheap program they could distribute to their local stations.

On a bet from Dave Meltzer (who runs the famous Wrestling Observer Newsletter), that came about after he said no non-WWE promotion could have a 10k+ attendance show, the guys in The Elite (plus others) ran a show themselves in September 2018 called All In. It was a huge success, sold over 10k tickets and had a huge PPV buy. So what happened? The Elite left ROH, partnered with the Khan family (owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham) and formed All Elite Wrestling. In under two years AEW went from nothing to a weekly TV show on TNT that draws nearly 1 million viewers (and would be rivaling WWE Raw in numbers if WWE wasn't counter programming NXT against them).

Sinclair had a golden opportunity to make big money and basically let it go for free. AEW has been growing huge, in spite of a pandemic, and looks to be cornerstone in Turner and AT&T's future plans while ROH is basically dying on the vine with wrestlers finishing out their contracts so they can sign with someone else.

[Kepler]

thanks to a general dislike of the WWE product among wrestling fans

Wow, when did this happen? Is the McMahons' license to print money finally being revoked?

[Jimjamesak]

Wow, when did this happen? Is the McMahons' license to print money finally being revoked?

Ratings have been tanking for years. They can’t crack 2 million these days when ten years ago they could get 3-4 million (and 5-6 million in the late 90’s).

John Cena was the biggest catalyst of the malaise. He got portrayed in the Hulk Hogan fashion as an unbeatable superhero no matter what happened and, while kids loved it, the adults hated it. Also, they never tried to build up newer stars and instead relied upon older wrestlers like The Rock or Brock Lesnar who’d only show up for a few weeks a year. Stale, boring storylines with constant changes based upon Vince’s whims and the ever ego satisfying presence of the McMahon family didn’t help either.

Sadly, due to their massive TV contracts and the WWE Network, the WWE has the big advantage. Though it is nice to see AEW slowly chipping away at it.

[Kepler]

I'm surprised they killed the goose that lay the golden eggs. As grotesque as that family is, they were undeniably great at what they did.

[Jimjamesak]

I'm surprised they killed the goose that lay the golden eggs. As grotesque as that family is, they were undeniably great at what they did.

Vince did a great job building up things in the 80’s but he had every advantage going for him. It’s unsurprising that the guy who controlled the territory that contained NYC, Boston, and Philadelphia had the money to buyout other stars and negotiate National TV deals.

After the 80’s heyday any other success he’s had has been in spite of him. By the mid 90’s he nearly lost it all, all his stars had bolted to WCW, and he had to rely on newer guys like Rock and Austin. The whole Mr. McMahon thing only came about because of the reaction to the Montreal Screwjob (he honestly thought he’d be the good guy). Cena and Batista? Lesnar had bolted, Rock went to make movies, Hogan retired, and the rest were guys who didn’t move the needle.

[Bronco]

Jimmy Howard retired today.

[Slap Shot]

I see souvenirs in his future.

[Slap Shot]

Shared in one of my FB feeds today - back when the local team had an actual rival.



And Secord still sucks!!

(Yes I realize that's not Al fighting Dino)

[SonofSouthie]

If you missed "Doc Emrick - The Voice Of Hockey" this afternoon on NBC it was quite a story. I'm hoping NBCSN runs it again because it's worth another look.

[Kepler]

Shared in one of my FB feeds today - back when the local team had an actual rival.



And Secord still sucks!!

(Yes I realize that's not Al fighting Dino)

Looks weirdly like Bob Nystrom.