Ever since reading that the NHL is guaranteed its “Winter Classic Money” I have been bothered by an idea. The NHL gets their money, but NBC can not be happy about paying $200 million for a game a decade down the road. Furthermore, I question the willingness of the NHL to simply scrap what has developed into its premier promotional tool. Since becoming an annual occurrence in 2008, the Winter Classic has overtaken the ALL-Star game as the NHL’s go to event. The NHL loves it, the NHLPA loves it, big corporate sponsors love it, NBC loves it, and the fans love it. Heck, almost everybody loves it. Hockey originated outdoors and few sights warm the hearts of hockey purists more than snow lightly falling while hordes of fans cheer their favourite players.
With that being said, and with my tinfoil hat firmly in place, I wonder whether or not we will see a concerted push by the NHL to delay the season and officially kick things off with the Winter Classic. Imagine the optics. After a lockout with decidedly more vitriolic criticism then the last one; we kick off the season with the Maple Leafs and Red Wings facing off in front of 100 000 cheering fans. It would help repair the NHL’s tarnished image and get people like me back and interested in the season. Despite all of my anti-NHL rants in the past few months, I would 100% tune in to watch that game.
But it would also serve another purpose. Simply put, the NHL struggles year in and year out during the fall months. They have baseball, football, basketball, and college football to contend with. Meaning that in most American markets, they sit at best 4th, maybe 5th, on the sports watching depth chart. By holding out during September, October, November, and December the NHL not only avoids confronting these other sports, but they can use the time to build up hype for the inevitable (I hope) return of hockey. This is just a tin foil hat inspired idea of mine, but it is an intriguing possibility to keep in mind.
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/gretzky-optmistic-nhl-lockout-thinks-labour-deal-done-154024386–nhl.html
He may not have come out and said that the Winter Classic will be a driving force behind the resolution of the current CBA dispute, but at least someone agrees that we will probably have hockey back on Jan 1st, 2013.
To further your point about the fees, if the NHL continues to be in danger of a lockout every 4-5 years, media corporations will be less willing to shell out money for a game that may not be played. I think the NHL took a huge hit when a deal with ESPN failed to materialize, and further down the road, it looks like the English Premier League and soccer may overtake hockey in American markets.
This just isn’t good. Hockey is a niche sport, but it doesn’t deserve a niche TV broadcaster like Vs. Want to grow the game, Gary? The era of expansion is over. Get the best TV deals. Make smart scheduling a priority. Longer road trips, fewer weekend afternoon games, and avoid Mondays (MNF), Tuesdays (Baseball Tonight), Thursdays (NFL), and Sundays (obvious). TSN figured it out with Wednesday Night Hockey and HNIC’s got Saturdays covered. Fill in those holes rather that compete with the other sports.
I’ve always been a fan of ‘Rivalry Month’, a half-baked idea of mine in which for a whole month teams will only play rival teams from their conference. Leave the inter-conference games for the slow months in November, January and February. Blow up October and March (Opening Night and playoff runs) with NYI/NYR, PIT/PHI and Original Six matchups. On a cold December night, who doesn’t want to watch Crosby and Geno go at it against Ovechkin during Christmas time? The NHL hit the nail on the spot with staggered start times for the last day of the season in which all 30 teams played. We need more of that.
I am not sure the NHL will ever get back on ESPN as long as Gary is in charge. His ego is so inflated I am sure he is taking a “we dont need you” approach. I hate to burst your bubble Gary, but you do need ESPN. No sport will ever reach its potential in the US without being on that network.