Section 215
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ESPN’s World Cup of Hockey Deal Confirms it Can no Longer Ignore The NHL

By Akiem Bailum

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Every Monday morning, Section 215’s Akiem Bailum gives an in-depth and unfiltered look at all of the latest sports news in The Monday Morning Realist. You can follow Akiem on Twitter @AkiemBailum.

Feb 22, 2015; Saint Paul, MN, USA; A puck sits on the ice during a game between the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild defeated the Stars 6-2. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Bristol is ready to get itself out of the penalty box and back on the ice.

Recently, it was announced that ESPN was the NHL’s choice to be the American broadcast partner for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Why there is even a such thing as a “World Cup of Hockey” is a Realist column in itself, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, Realists.

The NHL also signed a deal where SportsNet, the Rogers-owned Canadian sports channel that competes with Bell Media’s TSN will be Canada’s broadcast partner for the World Cup of Hockey.

The thing is that the SportsNet deal was somewhat expected given the fact that the NHL just signed a major deal that shut out TSN entirely. The CBC and SportsNet are the primary broadcast partners for the NHL, relegating TSN to regional coverage Canada’s hockey teams.

As far as the ESPN deal is concerned, that is the one that had to send shockwaves throughout the sports media landscape.

Let us remember that this is ESPN we are talking about. Ever since the lockout of 2004-05, this is a network that has behaved so brazenly cocky in regards to its lack of hockey coverage that you wonder if the executives that run ESPN can tell a hockey puck from a volleyball.

Yes, ESPN has noted hockey fans there, most notably Linda Cohn, Steve Levy, Barry Melrose, and John Buccigross. Realists, I am confident that those four will do a great job anchoring ESPN’s World Cup of Hockey Coverage in 2016.

But, let’s also remember that this is the same network that employs Colin Cowherd. The same Colin Cowherd that, a few years ago, said that hockey is a sport where media outlets send their youngest and cheapest reporters to cover while more seasoned veterans get NFL and NBA assignments.

Cowherd does know that his radio show can be heard in Canada, correct? He can get away with saying such inflammatory comments in Connecticut. Toronto, Ontario? Not so much.

But, Cowherd’s comments aside, what does it really confirm? NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said that the reason why ESPN got the rights as opposed to its primary NHL rights holder (NBC) is because of scheduling conflicts that would have came about if NBC got the rights to the World Cup of Hockey.

So, were scheduling conflicts a reason as to why ESPN won out over NBC? Most likely. But, the World Cup of Hockey deal also confirms something very visceral and fundamental above everything else.
ESPN’s World Cup of Hockey deal confirms that the four-letter network out of Bristol can no longer ignore the NHL.

It is not much of a secret that sports channels play favorite. Sports channels such as ESPN, Fox Sports One, NBC Sports Network, and CBS Sports Network play favorites based on which sports they have business relationships with. ESPN’s primary rights deals are with the NFL, NBA, MLB, Wimbledon, etc. So, ESPN goes wall-to-wall for those sports essentially as an infomercial to get you to watch their coverage.

Oh, and don’t forget the litany of advertisements from their corporate partners that will be seen during their wall-to-wall Wimbledon, NFL, NBA, or MLB coverage.

Fox Sports’s major deals are with the NFL, MLB, Nascar, and the UFC. As expected, Fox Sports One goes heavy on those sports. NBCSN has the NHL, NFL, and Olympic sports in its back pocket, so it goes heavy on those sports. Watch CBS Sports Network during March Madness. That is a textbook definition of a broadcast network using a digital sports channel to drive up ratings, interest, and ad viewership.

But, something has happened as of late over the past few years. What has happened can be summed up in one word.

Demographics.

The NFL and NBA are vastly popular with the 18-34 crowd. Major League Baseball is the Rush Limbaugh of sports—only popular among people who are over 55.

Meanwhile, other sports such as the NHL and even English Premier League Soccer have seen surging ratings and revenue as of late. Why are those sports so popular? They are popular among younger demographics than the cash cow that is MLB.

Culturally, fast-paced sports like the NHL, NBA, NFL, and EPL are more popular among younger demographics because they are a reflection of a more instantaneous lifestyle that younger people can relate to as opposed to the slow-paced lifestyle more embraced by older crowds. This is somewhat of a problem and somewhat of a good thing as well. Again, another Realist column for another time.

But, the biggest thing that one should take away from this is that the NHL and EPL have been able to maintain a level of popularity without ESPN. The NHL’s deal with NBC has been just enough to put hockey back into the mainstream.

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If one were to watch ESPN, one would probably assume that every single one of the NHL stadia below the U.S./Canada border not named Joe Louis Arena, Madison Square Garden, or TD Garden would have so many empty seats it would be featured on the Twitter feed that shows empty seeds in sports stadia.

Not the case.

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to attend a College Media Association conference for sportswriters. Included in the arrangement were free tickets to a game at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville between the Predators and New York Rangers.

Mark my words when I say that the entire city was painted gold and navy blue. I saw nothing but Preds jerseys all over the place and when I got into the arena to see the game, there was not an empty seat in sight.

Nashville, Tennessee is not exactly the prototypical hockey town. But, it is indeed one, whether it be as a product of Bettman’s expansion plans or not. Hockey is thriving in “Smashville.”

This is a fact that is not lost among the braintrust at ESPN. They see the numbers for the NHL even though it is a much better sport to watch in person than to listen on the radio or watch on TV.

They also know that the league has made no secret about its intentions on expanding to include four more teams—a second Toronto team along with new franchises in Quebec City, Seattle, and Las Vegas.

There’s already a ticket drive in Sin City and an arena deal in the Emerald City is being fast-tracked by its mayor saying he’d amend a Memorandum of Understanding saying an NBA team is supposed to be the first occupant of a new stadium.

All of this is coalescing together and it is making many a suit in Bristol want to finally get out of the penalty box and back on to the ice. That is why ESPN did this deal with the NHL for the rights to the World Cup of Hockey.

World Cup of Hockey today, NHL regular season tomorrow? Appears that ESPN is about to execute a power play and it wants to get into a shootout with NBC over NHL TV rights in the U.S. If they see the ratings data, attendance data, and expansion plans, it should be an empty netter for them.

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