Buisness Insider Article

Quote:In the last two days, the NHL, a league that does not have a television contract with ESPN, had five playoff games, including four game 7s. The NBA, an ESPN broadcast partner, had six games over the same period and none were a game 7. Meanwhile, Major League Baseball, another ESPN partner, had two full slates of action, but the season is early and there were no important rivalries going on this week.

....

Over the course of the two hour-long episodes, there was approximately 80 minutes of sports news coverage. Twenty-six of those minutes were dedicated to the NBA playoffs, while less than 16 minutes were spent on the Stanley Cup playoffs and their four game 7s.

There has been a lot of speculation about ESPN doing this, and it's nice to see some evidence to back it up. While the Big East is treated poorly by ESPN, it is likely that we will be virtually ignored should the conference sign with another network. Darned if we do, darned if we don't.

Ok in fairness, I think way more people across the US care more about the NBA over the NHL.

No surprise. If you watch ESPN enough, you may not even realize the Mountain West exists.

(04-28-2011 06:38 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  No surprise. If you watch ESPN enough, you may not even realize the Mountain West exists.

Except for when they've held 2-3 College Gamedays over the past two years, where the Big East hasn't hosted one since 2003 IIRC. Highlights of the top teams aren't tough to find. They did plenty of BYU, Utah and TCU highlights over the past few years. I can often find more MWC highlights on a Saturday than the Big East, sadly b/c more Big East games tend to end up on weeknights.

ESPN has a skeleton staff for the NHL and some of that staff is shared with TSN, ESPN's Canadian counterpart. Anchors like Buccigross and Cohn try to get the highlights in there.

For soccer, ESPN is a primary partner of the MLS, but a sublicense partner for the EPL (games purchased from FOX Soccer Channel) and doesn't have any UEFA Champions League games. I'm more likely to find EPL or UEFA highlights on a given day compared to MLS. Popularity still matter in some cases too.

(04-28-2011 06:07 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Ok in fairness, I think way more people across the US care more about the NBA over the NHL.

Yes, this type of analysis only makes sense if the sports are of equal general interest. But the NBA is a lot 'bigger' in terms of overall interest than the NHL.

I mean, there might have been a super-dynamic, ultra-important Cricket match played somewhere last week too, and ESPN ignored that also ..

That said, we also all know that ESPN does have a bias towards games it is televising. "Gameday" is a lot more likely to be at a game that ESPN/ABC is televising as opposed to a CBS or FOX game.

(04-28-2011 06:07 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Ok in fairness, I think way more people across the US care more about the NBA over the NHL.

Harris Interactive Poll: Which is your favorite sport?

Pro basketball is at 6%, Hockey at 5%. Furthermore, Hockey has shown growth since 1985, where pro basketball is now the same that it was in 1985. While pro basketball had growth (was at 13% and ranked 3rd overall), it has lost much of that popularity.

(04-28-2011 07:54 PM)BullsFanatic Wrote:  

(04-28-2011 06:07 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Ok in fairness, I think way more people across the US care more about the NBA over the NHL.

Harris Interactive Poll: Which is your favorite sport?

Pro basketball is at 6%, Hockey at 5%. Furthermore, Hockey has shown growth since 1985, where pro basketball is now the same that it was in 1985. While pro basketball had growth (was at 13% and ranked 3rd overall), it has lost much of that popularity.

According to Forbes, the average NBA franchise value is $367m, the average NHL franchise value is $223m. That's a big gap. Plus, the NBA has far greater star power, and star power is big for TV. Players like Kobe and Lebron and Shaq are among the biggest stars in all of sports.

The NHL's major players are unknown by comparison.

(04-28-2011 07:54 PM)BullsFanatic Wrote:  While pro basketball had growth (was at 13% and ranked 3rd overall), it has lost much of that popularity.

Perhaps the average sports fans identified more with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson 25 years ago than any of the gun toting, ( Gilbert Arenas & Javaris Crittenton) ho slapping ( Lance Stevenson ) malcontents (Ron Artest) that go through the motions of actually giving a sh*t each season.
CJ

I have never watched a whole pro or college hockey game in my life! I have watch a whole hockey game for the U.S. Olympic Team. But in general, I could care about hockey!

ESPN sold out around 5-7 years ago.....they used to be the one to go to for all sports all highlights.....now they clearly have partnered up.....screw em, and it opens up a niche for another program to fill in for the rest of us looking for coverage....its not about sport to sport either, its about large market/or popularity...

It's not just about how many people's favorite sport is though, but now many casual fans there are. The NHL may have close to as many die-hards as the NBA, but my guess is that NBA has a lot more casual fans (people who would say college basketball or football is their favorite sport). The NBA also delivers particularly good ratings among younger viewers which is something networks covet (based on Frank the Tanks last blog).

(04-28-2011 07:54 PM)BullsFanatic Wrote:  

(04-28-2011 06:07 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Ok in fairness, I think way more people across the US care more about the NBA over the NHL.

Harris Interactive Poll: Which is your favorite sport?

Pro basketball is at 6%, Hockey at 5%. Furthermore, Hockey has shown growth since 1985, where pro basketball is now the same that it was in 1985. While pro basketball had growth (was at 13% and ranked 3rd overall), it has lost much of that popularity.

It would be a more effective question if it wasn't your 'favorite' sport. Football/Basketball covers far larger of an audience than Hockey, and many of those football fans are basketball fans. The Southeast/West are the most likely to choose football as the first choice, how many of them follow Hockey?

(04-28-2011 10:26 PM)UCF08 Wrote:  

(04-28-2011 07:54 PM)BullsFanatic Wrote:  

(04-28-2011 06:07 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Ok in fairness, I think way more people across the US care more about the NBA over the NHL.

Harris Interactive Poll: Which is your favorite sport?

Pro basketball is at 6%, Hockey at 5%. Furthermore, Hockey has shown growth since 1985, where pro basketball is now the same that it was in 1985. While pro basketball had growth (was at 13% and ranked 3rd overall), it has lost much of that popularity.

It would be a more effective question if it wasn't your 'favorite' sport. Football/Basketball covers far larger of an audience than Hockey, and many of those football fans are basketball fans. The Southeast/West are the most likely to choose football as the first choice, how many of them follow Hockey?

Great explanation. Because I was seriously perplexed in trying to figure out why hockey was so close to basketball, when i knew that te NBA has a much larger audiance.

If they had asked "What sports have you watched in the past year" or "Rank your favorite three sports", it would get better and more accurate responses. Then again, you'd have to go further in depth and cross analyze how much those people watch those sports on average (to specify the average viewers from sports buffs) to get a more accurate representation but that's just me thinking outloud.

Good points by the people pointing out that the Harris Poll is limited because it forces you to choose a single sport. By TV ratings, it's not even a debate. The NBA Finals
drew a larger audience than the World Series last year (much less the Stanley Cup) and ratings for nationally-televised regular season NBA games are substantially higher than both MLB and NHL games. There are plenty of things to complain about in terms of biases at ESPN (such as treating spring training Yankees-Red Sox
games as Armageddon), but putting NBA games ahead of NHL games on SportsCenter isn't one of them (and I enjoy hockey and think this year's playoffs have been fantastic). The NBA has arguably overtaken MLB as the #2 sports league behind the NFL for casual sports fans, so ESPN's
coverage reflects that.

(04-28-2011 06:03 PM)BullsFanatic Wrote:  Buisness Insider Article

Quote:In the last two days, the NHL, a league that does not have a television contract with ESPN, had five playoff games, including four game 7s. The NBA, an ESPN broadcast partner, had six games over the same period and none were a game 7. Meanwhile, Major League Baseball, another ESPN partner, had two full slates of action, but the season is early and there were no important rivalries going on this week.

....

Over the course of the two hour-long episodes, there was approximately 80 minutes of sports news coverage. Twenty-six of those minutes were dedicated to the NBA playoffs, while less than 16 minutes were spent on the Stanley Cup playoffs and their four game 7s.

There has been a lot of speculation about ESPN doing this, and it's nice to see some evidence to back it up. While the Big East is treated poorly by ESPN, it is likely that we will be virtually ignored should the conference sign with another network. Darned if we do, darned if we don't.

Speculation?

Most news networks spent a lot of time promoting their OWN upcoming telecast (i.e. ESPN & CBS pump of SEC Football, FOX promotes mostly NFC Games, CBS promotes mostly AFC games, etc...).

Can't believe this is even considered "news" to some.

PS. While the playoff hockey games have been great...their tv ratings are still dwarfed by NBA playoff games (even if those games are boring) and even interest in the NFL Draft...so you always target your #1 (and #2) audiences first and foremost.

Remember, Hockey had soooo few tv viewers a few years ago...NHL signed a deal I believe where they had to PAY the network for airtime...as the TV network didn't pay the NHL a dime!

NOTE: Even though NHL TV ratings soared last year with Chicago winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in like 50 years, their TV ratings were still dwarfed by those in the NBA:

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2010/06...year/53289

(04-28-2011 10:26 PM)UCF08 Wrote:  

(04-28-2011 07:54 PM)BullsFanatic Wrote:  

(04-28-2011 06:07 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Ok in fairness, I think way more people across the US care more about the NBA over the NHL.

Harris Interactive Poll: Which is your favorite sport?

Pro basketball is at 6%, Hockey at 5%. Furthermore, Hockey has shown growth since 1985, where pro basketball is now the same that it was in 1985. While pro basketball had growth (was at 13% and ranked 3rd overall), it has lost much of that popularity.

It would be a more effective question if it wasn't your 'favorite' sport. Football/Basketball covers far larger of an audience than Hockey, and many of those football fans are basketball fans. The Southeast/West are the most likely to choose football as the first choice, how many of them follow Hockey?

Yes, good point. For example, if asked what my favorite sport is, i'd say football. But, basketball is a strong #2 for me and i watch all kinds of basketball, college and NBA. I watch essentially no hockey.

But if the poll just asks what my favorite is, then that leaves the impression that my interest in basketball and hockey is equal.

(04-28-2011 10:26 PM)UCF08 Wrote:  

(04-28-2011 07:54 PM)BullsFanatic Wrote:  

(04-28-2011 06:07 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Ok in fairness, I think way more people across the US care more about the NBA over the NHL.

Harris Interactive Poll: Which is your favorite sport?

Pro basketball is at 6%, Hockey at 5%. Furthermore, Hockey has shown growth since 1985, where pro basketball is now the same that it was in 1985. While pro basketball had growth (was at 13% and ranked 3rd overall), it has lost much of that popularity.

It would be a more effective question if it wasn't your 'favorite' sport. Football/Basketball covers far larger of an audience than Hockey, and many of those football fans are basketball fans. The Southeast/West are the most likely to choose football as the first choice, how many of them follow Hockey?

I agree 100%. It gives an idea as to the hardcore fan bases, but not overall fan base.

As for the NHL's former TV contract, a lot of that had to do with losing an entire season to the strike.

(04-29-2011 11:05 AM)BullsFanatic Wrote:  

(04-28-2011 10:26 PM)UCF08 Wrote:  

(04-28-2011 07:54 PM)BullsFanatic Wrote:  

(04-28-2011 06:07 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Ok in fairness, I think way more people across the US care more about the NBA over the NHL.

Harris Interactive Poll: Which is your favorite sport?

Pro basketball is at 6%, Hockey at 5%. Furthermore, Hockey has shown growth since 1985, where pro basketball is now the same that it was in 1985. While pro basketball had growth (was at 13% and ranked 3rd overall), it has lost much of that popularity.

It would be a more effective question if it wasn't your 'favorite' sport. Football/Basketball covers far larger of an audience than Hockey, and many of those football fans are basketball fans. The Southeast/West are the most likely to choose football as the first choice, how many of them follow Hockey?

I agree 100%. It gives an idea as to the hardcore fan bases, but not overall fan base.

As for the NHL's former TV contract, a lot of that had to do with losing an entire season to the strike.

Absolutely had a lot to do with that. Now viewership and attendance is stronger than before the strike. The NHL is growing and for hockey fanatics like myself who will watch nearly every playoff game that's a good thing.

As for paying for airtime that's not exactly the case. NBC gave them a share of the profits for the telecasts. Now NBC/Versus is a combined deal that is nearly tripling what they made off the old deal. For two main reasons one is of course that ratings are way up the other being that live sporting events are the only thing that generates big live ratings. You're less likely to miss the game where as you can watch say the Office or NCIS off your DVR, on-demand or online. You could watch it later but unless you have somewhere to be you're not going to want to after knowing what happened.