SportsBusiness Daily — Sports Business Resources — your sports business news and information source. Learn More
Advanced
Home About Us Advertise With Us Marketplace/Classifieds College & University Program Subscribe/Trial My Account

Friday
May 9, 2008
Print This Issue


 
MOST VIEWED STORIES
View the top 20 stories
 
Recent Issues
Leagues & Governing Bodies

Playoffs Boost TV Ratings, Fuel Interest In Resurgent NHL

NHL Highlights Making Way To Top
Of ESPN's "SportsCenter" Broadcasts
The presence of Stanley Cup playoffs highlights near the top of ESPN's “SportsCenter” broadcasts, after a “recent past where NHL highlights might be sequestered to the hour-long show’s final five minutes," says something, according to Adam Thompson of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. So too does ESPN tapping the CBC’s Don Cherry to provide analysis on “SportsCenter” for the duration of the playoffs, whose ratings on both NBC and Versus “continue to climb.” Thompson wrote people are “starting to watch again, and they should be.” The game is as “fast and fun as it’s been in years, and this year’s playoffs have made good use of its young stars.” That this “renaissance is happening now comes after a lost decade and change.” The league still has a “laundry list of problems, from its placement on the still-obscure Versus to its continuing inability to penetrate much of the Sun Belt.” The NHL’s Penguins-Sabres Amp Energy Winter Classic outdoor game on New Year’s Day “lived up to the hype -- but the burden remains for the league to prove that wasn’t a one-off success.” The league and the NHLPA “ought to swallow their pride, retreat from a few markets that have consistently failed to gain traction -- the NHL remains an afterthought in Nashville and South Florida -- and, for the love of all things decent, permanently table any talk of further expansion to hockey hinterlands like [K.C.] and Las Vegas.” A game “already taking positive steps would look even better with a more concentrated talent pool free of talent-poor fourth-liners.” Thompson: “All that said, the present game looks great” (WSJ.com, 5/8).


Get A Free Trial To SportsBusiness Daily

Reader Comments

To post comments on this article, log in or register for a free trial.

Related Stories By Company Related Stories By Sport
Bettman Sits For Q&A With Maclean's
November 19, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

Wild Have Held Winter Classic Talks
November 17, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

Hargrove Discusses Ongoing NHLPA Saga
November 16, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

NHL Reinstates Ducks Owner Henry Samueli
November 13, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

NHLPA Committee To Review Constitution
November 13, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

Filings Show Coyotes Lost $5M In Oct.
November 20, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

Canucks Criticized For Getting H1N1 Vaccine
November 20, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

Panthers Hold Promo For Rink Naming Rights
November 20, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

Ticket Package Offered For Flyers, 76ers
November 20, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

Blackhawks' John McDonough Profiled
November 19, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

ALSO IN THIS SECTION


A Publication of Street & Smith's Sports Group.
Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (REVISED 2009-06-23) and Privacy Policy (REVISED 2009-06-23).

© 2009 Street & Smith's Sports Group and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Street & Smith's Sports Group.