Do you have DirecTV? If you do, you’ll understand how questionable the relationship between Comcast and the NHL has become. If you don’t have DirecTV, then consider yourself lucky. With each passing day, we continually miss game after game because some rich guys from one company want MORE money from some rich guys at another company. Yes, it’s really that simple. As much as I HATE when people write this—and I mean hate—I’m going to go to the “only people that lose are the fans” card. Do you think anyone cares as much as we do when we miss an epic Flyers/Capitals game that goes to overtime? If they did, this fucked up situation would have been solved months ago.
Before we get into the problems of the present, we need to stop and figure out how we got here. In 2004, the NHL entered into an agreement with NBC to be their network broadcast partner. The ratings for the previous network (ABC) had been low enough that the league had very little leverage when it came time to negotiate their next TV deal. Remember, this was BEFORE the lockout that cost the NHL the entire 2004-05 season. With this position of relative weakness, the league agreed to a fairly awful television contract with NBC. The network agreed to broadcast 6 games every regular season, a few during the playoffs and up to FIVE during the Stanley Cup Finals. In exchange, the network would receive a portion of the advertising fees during the games. That’s it. That’s all NBC had to pay! They didn’t have to pay a penny to the NHL for the rights to broadcast games. But then again, when you look at the deal—it doesn’t look like they really wanted to broadcast the games. And when you look at their commitment and coverage to the NHL, it STILL doesn’t look like they want to broadcast the games.
Can you imagine ANY of the major sports leagues entering into an agreement where they didn’t receive any rights fees? By comparison, the NFL is currently receiving $20.4 BILLION from its 4 networks. You read that right BILLION with a B. In comparison, NBC didn’t pay a nickel and televises by splitting the revenue from advertising.
On the cable side of things, the NHL signed a 3 year deal with Versus/OLN for approx $200 million after the lockout. In a decision that has been discussed and debated by hockey fans ever since, Commissioner Gary Bettman chose to take the guaranteed money from Versus, as opposed to the revenue-sharing offer that ESPN had laid on the table. Ordinarily, I’d tell ESPN to go to hell if I worked for the NHL and they approached me with a revenue sharing proposition.
But there are a couple of reasons why this situation is different. First and foremost, that’s what the market value was. When Bettman and the NHL accepted the deal with NBC, they set hockey’s television value at an all-time low. Secondly, and more importantly, the exposure that ESPN would give the NHL with their broadcast of 50+ games, cross-promotion on their various media platforms and increased visibility on shows like SportsCenter is worth more than all the Sidney Crosby commercials in the world.
Right now, ESPN doesn’t even acknowledge the NHL because they have nothing to gain from it. But if you don’t believe that ESPN’s marketing machine isn’t powerful, just think about college basketball’s popularity before the Worldwide Leader took control. Think about how you probably know the entire starting line-up for the New York Yankees (whether you want to or not). Think about how you know that if you don’t have anything pre-flop and you’re betting out of position, you should fold your hand in Texas Hold ‘Em. That’s right—they push POKER and the world listens.
Instead, Bettman ignored all of the peripheral benefits and went with the obscure network that only cyclists, hunters and fishermen knew existed (and Bull Riders). The tiresome jokes about “not being able to even FIND OLN,” started almost immediately. As annoying, lazy and repetitive as the jokes were—they were true. By putting the NHL on a 2nd rate network, they were tacitly classifying themselves as a 2nd rate sports league. That’s not exactly the marketing message that they should have been sending after a labor dispute cost the league an entire season. That’s not Marketing 101—that’s Common Sense 101.
To compound the horrific decision, in 2007, the league decided to extend the contract until the end of 2010-11 season (in the neighborhood of $72.5 mill per year). For better or worse, the NHL is in bed with Versus until the end of NEXT season. Of course, the Versus network is owned by Comcast. When they purchased the rights with Versus, they also purchased partial ownership with the NHL Network. On top of that, Comcast is currently in negotiations to purchase a 51% interest in NBC. Yes, the same NBC that’s currently holds terrestrial rights with the NHL.
As long as you dont have DirecTV
Just to be clear: the NHL entered an agreement with a terrestrial network that lowered its real and perceived value. Then, they agreed to an awful agreement with a 2nd rate network that no one had heard of. Their only other television outlet is the NHL Network. If the deal between NBC and Comcast is approved, then all three television outlets are going to be owned by Comcast. Is that necessarily a good thing?
Maybe, just maybe, the NHL picked the wrong company to get in bed with. I know that the NHL has basically come out and backed Comcast in their dispute with DirecTV. Bettman has done everything short of getting down on one knee to profess his undying commitment to the Cable conglomerate. Given the vested interest that the NHL has in Comcast’s success, is it any surprise that Bettman and the league have taken Versus’ side?
Just for a second stop and think about if the NHL had the same relationship with Fox that it currently has with Comcast. Political beliefs and glow pucks aside, the FS networks, FX and Fox (and ideally NHL Network) have as much pull as Comcast could ever have. Can you imagine actual NHL advertising a couple of times a week during American Idol? I don’t care if you like the show or not, there are about a billion eyeballs directed at that show every week.
Unfortunately, I don’t see this relationship ending anytime soon. As a fan, it’s incredibly frustrating that my league has such a great product, yet continually makes such poor decisions. I don’t care how good the game is on the ice—if no one sees it, then its never going to grow. Until then, we’ll have to sit back and just take what Versus (and by extension the NHL) do for their bottom line. Some of us will keep missing match-ups like the great Caps/Flyers game on Tuesday. Yeah, all the Center Ice and PPV in the world wouldn’t put that on my TV on Tuesday night.
The entire situation is unbelievably frustrating. But then again, I guess that’s something we should be used to.
Matt Reitz is the Editor-In-Chief here at ViewFromMySeats.com and former NHL Writer for ProHockeyTalk on NBCSports. When he’s not shoving a mic in the face of NHLers or explaining why home teams should wear white, he’s usually trying to figure out what song to play next on his iPod. It’s a never-ending job.
