Sept 5, (Reuters) - NBC executives are hoping that the National Hockey League and its players union reach a new labor agreement and avoid a lockout that could leave the network scrambling to find a replacement for one of its sports programming mainstays.I haven't seen anything official, but you have to wonder if there is a alternative plan? I know I enjoyed watching some of the AHL playoff games this past June, when the Stanley Cup games were over and those minor league hockey games did manage to fill the hockey void. Sometimes you wonder if the owners have thought this out.
Hockey is a linchpin of NBC Sports programming - the network signed a new $2 billion, 10-year contract with the league last year. A strike or delay in the upcoming NHL season would throw cold water on the momentum it built up from the London Olympics, which nightly averaged 31.3 million viewers for the network.
Labor talks between the NHL and the union representing its players broke down last week over economic issues such as revenue sharing. The league's owners have said they would lock out players if a deal is not reached by a Sept. 15 deadline. As of Wednesday afternoon, talks between the two sides had not yet resumed.
The worst case scenario for Comcast-owned NBC, which holds the exclusive national broadcast rights to NHL games, is for the entire upcoming season to be canceled. That's not without precedent. The NHL and its players union scrapped the entire 2004-05 season after failing to achieve a labor deal.
A better, but not ideal, scenario for NBC would be a delay to the NHL season, similar to what happened to the National Basketball Association last year. The first regular season NHL game is scheduled for Oct. 11, but exhibition games start about two weeks earlier.
Bill Daly: "It is obviously becoming increasingly unlikely that NHL training camps will start on time."@sbjlizmullen @sbjsbd
— Chris Botta (@ChrisBottaNHL) September 5, 2012
Bruce Dowbiggin, Globe and Mail --- One broadcast change from the 2004-05 lockout is there is a considerable TV component at play for the NHL if a lockout goes too far. Eight years ago, NBC, which had made no payments to the league for its rights, understood it might have no content and did not pressure the NHL for an early CBA settlement.These are things to consider - the NHL and HBO would lose a lot of money if there wasn't an NHL season this year. I have read where some speculate that he NHL wants to be going by November so they don’t miss out on their money maker. One silver lining is, if there is an NHL lockout, I guess one could always spend more time with our families. Yeah!
This time, the league has much invested in its partnership with HBO on 24/7, a sports-documentary program that leads into the much-ballyhooed Detroit/Toronto Winter Classic on NBC. For that series to go as planned, filming must start in late November or early December. Losing the HBO connection would be a blow to the prestige the NHL has built of late with its new initiatives.
That’s reminiscent of what happened in the 1994-95 lockout when Fox TV had paid a significant rights fee to start carrying games in January of 1995. The obligation to pacify its U.S. TV partner pushed the NHL to settle earlier than it wanted and, in some ways, created the conditions for the disastrous lockout 10 years later.
Larry Brooks, New York Post --- “You can sense the hatred building from the last game, especially with some of the big hits,” Michael Del Zotto told The Post after coming off the ice from yesterday’s optional skate at the Garden. “It feels like there’s something building.”
There were three incidents involving hits to the head in Saturday’s Game 3, but only one gained notice enough to be reviewed by the NHL after it had been replayed multiple times on the NBC telecast of the Rangers’ 3-0 victory. That was Prust’s elbow.
That was followed by Saturday’s post-game press conference in which Devils coach Pete DeBoer matter-of-factly labeled the incident, “Headhunting, plain and simple.”
What was plain and simple is the unpenalized Prust elbow at 2:38 of the second period came between the unpenalized Dainius Zubrus right elbow to Anton Stralman’s face that drew blood at 8:00 of the first period and the unpenalized leap from behind by Zach Parise onto Michael Del Zotto’s head when the Blueshirts defenseman was in pursuit of the puck with 6:22 remaining in the third period.
A bit of a pattern develops here when Zac Rinaldo took out Dainius Zubrus, another payback recipient, with a low bridge hip check (video link) just above the knees. While kneeing was initially reported on the call, interference appears on the official score sheet as Pierre Maguire of NBC correctly pointed out at the time. This was a needless and dirty play. The puck was in the opposite corner of the rink as Zubrus cut around the net and was low bridged by Rinaldo. I can appreciate the fact that the refs would not want to put the game on the line by assessing a five-minute major penalty for clipping even though Zubrus appeared shaken up on the play and was attended to.
We don’t hate hockey. When I worked in Boston (as sports editor of the Boston Globe), I probably went to more Bruins games than Celtics. There’s probably not a better in-the-house sport than hockey. Watching it live. My own personal feeling is that it never transferred well to television. I’m not exactly sure why that is. [Sherman Report]
Image via WikipediaThis is the latest argument that has come up, some want to make the use of visor mandatory in the NHL, the AHL visors are already mandatory. Me personally, I think it should be up to the individual player, if they don't want to wear the visor them it should be up to them. Hockey News --- For most players, like sidelined Flyers forward Ian Laperriere, they simply haven't abandoned their outdated attitudes that wearing a shield means a player isn't tough. Facemasks aren't hip—and only the real macho players are willing to take the ice without them.
Some players once felt the same way about helmets and other protective gear. Now, keeping heads safe is mandatory. Eyes could be next.
The time could be near when visors are as much a part of the game as sticks and gloves.
"Sometimes you have to save the players from themselves," said Pierre McGuire, an NHL analyst for NBC and Versus.
Added Vancouver Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault: "Visors should be mandatory."
Pat Hickey, The Gazette - Canadian hockey fans will be seeing a lot less of Pierre McGuire in the future.I found this paragraph to be puzzling. If this is the case why does Pierre McQuire come off on TSN as being so anti-Division One College Hockey and so pro Major Junior Hockey, it’s almost as if he is a mouth piece for the CHL? I am not anti Major Junior by any stretch of the imagination and college hockey has a fair share of their top players playing in the NHL and I get it that good share of the best players in the NHL are from the CHL, that being said the Major Junior hockey isn't for everyone but I don't get this guy and his abrasiveness and lack of respect towards Division One College Hockey. Is it because McGuire never played Division One hockey?
The ubiquitous analyst, who has been dividing his time between Canada and the United States since NBC regained the U.S. rights for National Hockey League games in 2006, has decided to concentrate on his duties south of the border.
“It’s a chance to spend more time with my family,” said the 50-year-old McGuire, who has an 11-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old. “I’ll be doing two games a week for Versus or NBC and spend one night in the Versus studio.”
McGuire, his wife Melanie and the kids will move in August from Westmount to New Canaan, Conn., which is a hop, step and a jump from the Versus studios in Stamford, Conn.
McGuire said he will continue to appear on TSN’s network of radio stations across Canada, and that includes his daily hit with Mitch Melnick on the Team 990. There have also been suggestions that McGuire may be involved in some special projects for TSN such as contributing to its draft coverage.
“I’ve enjoyed my time with both networks and I’m grateful for the opportunities TSN and NBC have provided for me,” McGuire said. “Concentrating my efforts on the NBC and Versus gives me more family time and there are some interesting professional opportunities.”
McGuire is referring to the fact that NBC recently renewed its contract to cover the Olympic Games.
“I’ll get a chance to work on the next three summer Games and two winter Games,” McGuire said.
NBC and McGuire have been working on a deal for several months and the final negotiations were delayed by the sudden departure of NBC Sports boss Dick Ebersol.
McGuire was born in New Jersey and grew up there and in Montreal. He played hockey at a Division III school in the U.S. and later played in Europe. He has his name on the Stanley Cup as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992, had a brief head coaching stint with a very bad Hartford Whalers team and was in the Ottawa Senators’ head office before he began his broadcasting career.
