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The obligatory NHL (except NJ) on NBC yearly thread


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On 7/22/2016 at 7:50 AM, mfitz804 said:

Is this something people actually care about? I personally hate when I have to watch a game with a National broadcast crew. 

I'm with you.  Would much rather watch MSG.  That is why I used to love when ESPN had national rights, but the RSN still had the local market.

It is all about ratings and teams like the Blackhawks bring people in.  

Edited by Matteau#32
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On 7/21/2016 at 10:01 PM, RunninWithTheDevil said:

Wasn't there a rangers / wild Wednesday night rivalry too in the last few seasons?

Might have been, I don't remember.  But, they did play the Blackhawks this year on a Wednesday Night rivalry.  They haven't been rivals since the early 70s.

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3 hours ago, Matteau#32 said:

I'm with you.  Would much rather watch MSG.  That is why I used to love when ESPN had national rights, but the RSN still had the local market.

It is all about ratings and teams like the Blackhawks bring people in.  

Yeah this, i mean i don't get why people really get upset at this. It's a business and they want to make money off of those tv deals. If you put a Devils vs Arizona game on national television, i can assure you your ratings are not gonna be great. The Blackhawks are bringing in ratings. It's no different than UFC, without the big names not a whole lot of people would buy the PPV just to see 2 no namers fight.

Were the 5th lowest attendance team in the league... I don't see why the league would look at the numbers and be like... "Well even Devils fans are not filling their own arena but i'm sure other fans from around the nation would tune in for that right!?"

It really sucks but it is what it is, at some point we gotta stop blaming the league and start blaming people for not showing more support to the team so that the league doesn't have a choice

Edited by SterioDesign
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Chicago gets ratings, and then the league screws themselves later. When you only showcase 6 teams and they don't make your conference finals or Stanley Cup finals, you've trained your casual fans to not care. 


Exactly- you don't 'grow the game' if the casual hockey fan thinks there's basically six teams out of 30 (soon to be 31) worth watching. I get that it's a business, but they don't even really try anymore.
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5 hours ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

Chicago gets ratings, and then the league screws themselves later. When you only showcase 6 teams and they don't make your conference finals or Stanley Cup finals, you've trained your casual fans to not care. 

People wouldn't care if teams were 'showcased' earlier.  The ratings for national games outside the regions where the two teams are playing are miniscule.  Please don't argue it's because they show the same teams every time - that might have an effect, but that is swamped by the much larger effect that people just don't care very much when their team isn't playing.

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47 minutes ago, Triumph said:

People wouldn't care if teams were 'showcased' earlier.  The ratings for national games outside the regions where the two teams are playing are miniscule.  Please don't argue it's because they show the same teams every time - that might have an effect, but that is swamped by the much larger effect that people just don't care very much when their team isn't playing.

First off, please don't tell me what to argue and not to argue. 

Secondly yes, the league hurts themselves when it comes to the casual fan. Watch how NBC struggles to talk about a team that isn't one of their chosen ones when the playoffs roll around. It's pathetic. The Devils had one of the best goalies the game for 20 years and the league only really focused on them if they made the finals and had to. Or if they played the Rangers. How does that grow the game? The league can only crown one champion, so why limit yourself by showing a few that may not be there in the end?

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1 minute ago, Lateralous said:

....so what would be the argument against showcasing a team like Nashville more often?    

cause they have better attendance. I mean... are you saying there's some kind of conspiracy or something? lol it's all about numbers.

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Don't the Devils have better ratings TV ratings regionally than most teams in the NHL?  I know a lot of it has to do with the area they are in and us being in the NYC metro area certainly helps.  Just trying to make the point that arena capacity doesn't always equal how the TV ratings are.

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7 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

cause they have better attendance. I mean... are you saying there's some kind of conspiracy or something? lol it's all about numbers.

To the original point that DD56 was making that they need to start showcasing some other teams more often.  Playing in the national games comes with all the ads they run on CNBC, NBC etc so I think it does help spotlight those teams for the casual fan when they get the game of the week.  Instead of constant ads about Crosby vs Kane it would be good to see more clips of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and PK Subban 

I specifically called out Nashville in response to your post because that place is always packed and the fans get pretty into the game.  In general, I would say that they need to get Tampa, Nashville, Dallas, St Louis and Florida all on as much as possible.   Even if you're talking about a team like Florida that is notorious for having an empty building, it's not like they can't showcase them when they are playing one of the media darlings and you know the arena will be full.     

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1 minute ago, DevsMan84 said:

Don't the Devils have better ratings TV ratings regionally than most teams in the NHL?  I know a lot of it has to do with the area they are in and us being in the NYC metro area certainly helps.  Just trying to make the point that arena capacity doesn't always equal how the TV ratings are.

I know we were in the bottom 5... 2nd last 2 in 2014-2015 then went up outside of the bottom 5 last season but not sure exactly where but our ratings got better by 39%

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11 hours ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

First off, please don't tell me what to argue and not to argue. 

Secondly yes, the league hurts themselves when it comes to the casual fan. Watch how NBC struggles to talk about a team that isn't one of their chosen ones when the playoffs roll around. It's pathetic. The Devils had one of the best goalies the game for 20 years and the league only really focused on them if they made the finals and had to. Or if they played the Rangers. How does that grow the game? The league can only crown one champion, so why limit yourself by showing a few that may not be there in the end?

How does it grow the game to talk about a team that few people are interested in?  Ninety-something percent of people watching a hockey game are already a fan of a team. Therefore they see all other teams in relation to their own team.

You are looking at this like there's some enormous underserved market of hockey fans that would be watching if they didn't show the same teams on NBC/NBCSN.  There just is not that market.  It does not exist.  You can see how it doesn't exist when they actually do show teams with weak regional followings and they get exactly the ratings as expected.  Or are you seriously arguing that there are people who love NHL hockey but are so turned off by NBC/NBCSN coverage that they don't watch out of spite?  

Tumbleweeds watch outside of the regional market.  Go look at the numbers some time.

 

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1 hour ago, Lateralous said:

 

To the original point that DD56 was making that they need to start showcasing some other teams more often.  Playing in the national games comes with all the ads they run on CNBC, NBC etc so I think it does help spotlight those teams for the casual fan when they get the game of the week.  Instead of constant ads about Crosby vs Kane it would be good to see more clips of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and PK Subban 

I specifically called out Nashville in response to your post because that place is always packed and the fans get pretty into the game.  In general, I would say that they need to get Tampa, Nashville, Dallas, St Louis and Florida all on as much as possible.   Even if you're talking about a team like Florida that is notorious for having an empty building, it's not like they can't showcase them when they are playing one of the media darlings and you know the arena will be full.     

Is your suggestion to have Florida on NBCS on Wednesday Night at home when they are playing a team like the Penguins or Blackhawks? Does the league really want to showcase Florida having half their building filled with opposing fans?  I think it is very different if they show Rangers-Devils or Flyers-Devils from NJ and you hear the visiting fans in the background when they score.  People understand the territories overlap, so it makes sense for visiting fans to show up.  But Pittsburgh, Chicago, they are nowhere near Miami and just makes the Panthers and their fanbase look bad, imo,

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23 hours ago, SterioDesign said:

Were the 5th lowest attendance team in the league... I don't see why the league would look at the numbers and be like... "Well even Devils fans are not filling their own arena but i'm sure other fans from around the nation would tune in for that right!?"

That's not how national popularity works; it's not an inside out thing. People who are going to tune into a national game that their favorite team isn't playing in isn't doing so because of local popularity. The league is trying to showcase their top talents. Yea, atmosphere helps, but if Carolina had Chicago's roster and 3 cups in the past 6 years, they'd have a ton of national games.

2 hours ago, Lateralous said:

....so what would be the argument against showcasing a team like Nashville more often?    

 

2 hours ago, SterioDesign said:

cause they have better attendance. I mean... are you saying there's some kind of conspiracy or something? lol it's all about numbers.

Nashville has done a great job convincing everyone they sell out all of their games. I love how they've engaged that market, but there are still plenty of empty seats on most nights. But, SD, I think you missed what he was asking, which essentially was why don't other teams which put people in seats get national games, because more than 6 teams do so.

2 hours ago, DevsMan84 said:

Don't the Devils have better ratings TV ratings regionally than most teams in the NHL?  I know a lot of it has to do with the area they are in and us being in the NYC metro area certainly helps.  Just trying to make the point that arena capacity doesn't always equal how the TV ratings are.

 

1 hour ago, SterioDesign said:

I know we were in the bottom 5... 2nd last 2 in 2014-2015 then went up outside of the bottom 5 last season but not sure exactly where but our ratings got better by 39%

I just discussed this on the first page, and I was hoping others would chime in on it. Our ratings were second worst in the NHL last year, and DM, being in the NYC Metro actually significantly skews our ratings downwards. Ratings are based on market size, but realistically, most of the NY media market isn't the Devils specific market. I did the math and figured our true ratings to have been about 1.1 for last year. I can't find a full list of team ratings, but I think that's somewhere in the middle of the pack. Still not close to Buffalo's 6 something or the astronomical numbers the Penguins were putting up for a long time (north of 12), but definitely not as bad as the Nielsen numbers make it look.

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2 hours ago, Lateralous said:

 

To the original point that DD56 was making that they need to start showcasing some other teams more often.  Playing in the national games comes with all the ads they run on CNBC, NBC etc so I think it does help spotlight those teams for the casual fan when they get the game of the week.  Instead of constant ads about Crosby vs Kane it would be good to see more clips of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and PK Subban 

I specifically called out Nashville in response to your post because that place is always packed and the fans get pretty into the game.  In general, I would say that they need to get Tampa, Nashville, Dallas, St Louis and Florida all on as much as possible.   Even if you're talking about a team like Florida that is notorious for having an empty building, it's not like they can't showcase them when they are playing one of the media darlings and you know the arena will be full.     

There might be people in the league offices who agree.  However, the networks are paying the bill and are therefore the customer.  The networks do not see it as their job to get the casual fan interested in all 30 teams.  They want the match-ups they want.  A game like Florida-Tampa is never going to excite NBC as Penguins-Flyers or Blackhawks-Red Wings or Blackhawks-Kings.  The casual fan is just not going to care about 2 small market teams playing each other and trying to force it down everyone's throats by putting such games on is going to do more harm than good and will cause them to lose viewers long-term.

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4 hours ago, Matteau#32 said:

There might be people in the league offices who agree.  However, the networks are paying the bill and are therefore the customer.  The networks do not see it as their job to get the casual fan interested in all 30 teams.  They want the match-ups they want.  A game like Florida-Tampa is never going to excite NBC as Penguins-Flyers or Blackhawks-Red Wings or Blackhawks-Kings.  The casual fan is just not going to care about 2 small market teams playing each other and trying to force it down everyone's throats by putting such games on is going to do more harm than good and will cause them to lose viewers long-term.

I understand why it happens.  To the original point, if they insist on taking that view each weekend during the season then they can't be surprised in May when the Kings and Blackhawks are out and the rating go to crap.   I'm not saying that putting a other clubs on a few more times during the season would mean ratings anywhere near Chicago vs Boston, but I think it would help bring attention to some of these other good/great teams and their star players that often deserve a much bigger spotlight.  

 

4 hours ago, Matteau#32 said:

Is your suggestion to have Florida on NBCS on Wednesday Night at home when they are playing a team like the Penguins or Blackhawks? Does the league really want to showcase Florida having half their building filled with opposing fans?  I think it is very different if they show Rangers-Devils or Flyers-Devils from NJ and you hear the visiting fans in the background when they score.  People understand the territories overlap, so it makes sense for visiting fans to show up.  But Pittsburgh, Chicago, they are nowhere near Miami and just makes the Panthers and their fanbase look bad, imo,

I never said anything about Rivalry Night, just that they needed to get some of these great young teams and players on national telecasts more often instead of the same old 8 teams they always show.  It was brought up that some places don't have a great atmosphere to which I responded that you could easily schedule tv games that you know will be close to full.       

4 hours ago, thecoffeecake said:

Nashville has done a great job convincing everyone they sell out all of their games. I love how they've engaged that market, but there are still plenty of empty seats on most nights. But, SD, I think you missed what he was asking, which essentially was why don't other teams which put people in seats get national games, because more than 6 teams do so.

That first sentence sounds a lot like some of the attendance nonsense we have to hear from Tor & NYR fans. Nashville is generally packed and always has a lively environment.  I guess a lot of this was decided before the Subban trade but I can't believe they wouldn't get a roster like this on TV more.  Same with Dallas and Florida, especially while you can still attach Jagr's name to the Panthers.  

4 hours ago, Matteau#32 said:

 

Edited by Lateralous
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3 hours ago, Triumph said:

They're not surprised in May when the ratings are bad when certain teams go deep into the playoffs.  They know that they'll be bad based on when they put these teams on during the regular season and the ratings are bad.

I guess if you're really going to sit here and take the word "surprised" that literal I'll just say that it seems like an awfully silly business model to go through everything they've have as a league to achieve parity and then just hope and pray in May and April for the 6-7 ratings darlings to win out so NBC can have a successful playoff.  Again, I grasp why they do it, I just think both the NHL and NBC would be better off sacrificing some short term ratings gain to give some of the leagues best young teams and players more exposure, especially in a time when the sunbelt teams really seem to be trending up.        

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35 minutes ago, Lateralous said:

I guess if you're really going to sit here and take the word "surprised" that literal I'll just say that it seems like an awfully silly business model to go through everything they've have as a league to achieve parity and then just hope and pray in May and April for the 6-7 ratings darlings to win out so NBC can have a successful playoff.  Again, I grasp why they do it, I just think both the NHL and NBC would be better off sacrificing some short term ratings gain to give some of the leagues best young teams and players more exposure, especially in a time when the sunbelt teams really seem to be trending up.        

I just don't think exposure will do anything.  People don't watch.  How are you going to get people to watch something they don't want to watch?  It's not that there is some giant underserved market of hockey fans - there's fans on message boards who complain about 'the same teams playing'.  And yet when these special teams do get on TV, there's no corroborating uptick in ratings.    

TV is a small part of league revenues in the United States.  The league wants parity because it means more money at the gate, which is how teams pay their bills.

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Nashville has done a lot of great things and I think its become a true hockey town, but go take a look at some highlights from this past season. More games than not, they have a sizeable about of empty seats. Not a ton like back in the day, but a good amount. Off hand, I can tell you off hand they have Lexus ads on their seats in the lower bowl. I don't watch many games in Nashville, but I can see it off the top of my head.

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