It’s Time for the NHL to Return To ESPN

May 3rd, 2010 by Steven Ovadia Leave a reply »
Mediaweek is reporting ESPN and ABC are supposedly interested in getting NHL broadcast rights back from Versus and NBC .

The NHL needs to make this happen.

Versus has tried to be good to the NHL

They've given it prominent placement on their network.

They've promoted the NHL online and offline.

And the NHL has seen a slight uptick in ratings.

But it's just not enough.

Not enough households get Versus.

The lack of mainstream exposure contributes to the NHL's reputation as a lower-tier sports league.

ESPN instantly lends credibility to the NHL.  A contract with the network sends a message that the league matters in American sports, and allows for the possibility that the NHL could become more of a mainstream sport.

The NHL doesn't need to be a mainstream success to survive. But it sure would make things easier if it were more of a mainstream success. Mainstream success brings fans into arenas and fans in arenas put money in the pockets of franchises. And money helps to pay players.

If the NHL can get back together with ESPN/ABC, they'll not only have ...

Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by

Advertisement

Comments are closed.