SHOULD THE NHL BE DOING SOMETHING, ANYTHING, DURING LOCKOUT?

          "Stubbornly, the NHL refuses to declare itself an
     alternative to [NBA] basketball and redouble its marketing
     efforts trying to fill the void," according to Jim Smith of
     NEWSDAY.  The league "has no plans to televise additional
     games while the NBA is dark."  Smith: "But wouldn't a
     television blitz attract some disgruntled NBA fans?  And
     wouldn't that be good for hockey?"  NHL COO Steve Solomon:
     "Our research shows there's probably more overlap between
     NFL and NHL fans.  To run an ad campaign, even assuming it
     would be likely to convert basketball fans to hockey fans,
     would be an enormous undertaking.  It really is prohibitive
     in cost against the likelihood of increasing the number of
     NHL fans as a result of it."  Smith: "From my perspective,
     more could be done."  Meanwhile, ratings on ESPN and ESPN2
     are "flat compared with the same amount of games last year
     and an MSG Network spokesperson said that ratings for the
     NHL Rangers' first 13 televised games were down 31% after
     the same amount last year (NEWSDAY, 11/16).