As it enters its final season of its TV deal covering
the NHL, "Fox Sports seems bent on irking the league,"
according to Richard Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES. Fox
Sports' new NHL promotional spots, yet to be aired, "extol
fighting - an image the NHL has tried to flee." One spot
begins with "glorious shots" of hockey with a voice-over
saying, "Maybe it's the pageantry of this glorious game
that's born on the frozen ponds of youth. Maybe it's the
great ones who amaze us forever, providing those golden
moments that will be permanently etched in our minds and on
the Stanley Cup." The visual then switches to fight
footage, with the voice-over, "Maybe it's two guys beating
the bleep out of each other." NHL COO Steve Solomon: "I
think it's not the right message, or the appropriate message
for promoting the NHL." Solomon "refused to speculate"
whether the new spots were created in response to Fox losing
the NHL TV deal to ABC, but he has "unsuccessfully
complained" to Fox Sports President David Hill about the
campaign. Fox Sports Senior VP/Media Relations Vince
Wladika: "We've promoted hockey for four years in many ways,
but they didn't boost ratings. So we thought, 'Let's go
back to the basic instinct and see if it works.'" Fox will
run the spots during the NFL playoffs (N.Y. TIMES, 12/15).
