Iceman said:
pathetic
ucking:
NHL's Strong Comeback Marred by Poor TV Ratings
[SIZE=-1] Associated Press[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]June 04, 2006
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The NHL playoffs, mostly relegated to the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), a second-tier cable channel known for hunting and fishing programs and its Tour de France coverage, have barely registered with the American public. NBC's ratings aren't great, either.
"You look at the NHL playoff [ratings] numbers, and they have been beaten pretty soundly by poker and bowling," said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. "But I don't think this year was ever about robust TV numbers. It was about the gate and about competitive balance. With an economic model that doesn't rely on television, they can make this league work long-term."
The NHL parted ways with ESPN when the network declined to offer the NHL any type of upfront rights fees for airing its games. Instead, ESPN proposed splitting profits after the network recouped its costs, terms virtually unheard of among the major professional sports leagues.
Measured another way, the NHL will earn about 3 percent of its revenue from national television this year. The NBA's and MLB's share of national television revenue is well into the double digits, and the NFL's television revenue is about 66 percent of the total league-wide earnings.
During the playoffs, OLN is averaging 0.4 rating, which is well below the 0.7 ESPN had at the same time in 2004. NBC's telecasts have averaged a 1.1 rating, off from the 1.5 ABC pulled two years ago. There's a sliver of good television news: the Eastern Conference finals between Carolina and Buffalo last week was one of the most watched OLN programs ever. But that's a far cry from the big national television presence that Bettman and NHL owners hoped to achieve when they expanded in the 1990s.
"The two objectives of parity and creating a national television contract are not necessarily consistent with each other," said Jeff Citron, a Toronto-based attorney who once worked for the players' union. Then again, said Citron, "hockey, in all fairness, is just not a sport with national appeal to Americans."
What remains to be seen is whether the improved on-ice product will ever translate into better ratings. Some supporters say the NHL may have to consign itself to being a gate-driven sport with little widespread appeal.
"The NHL is what it is," said television consultant Mike Trager. "It's a major sport that is ratings-challenged."