Not to beat a dead horse here, but…
I found it interesting that the late version of ESPN’s SportsCenter led with the NBA over the NHL Tuesday morning.
My son, Matt, who knows what I have been writing about ESPN’s hockey coverage (or lack thereof), called it to my attention. An avid hockey fan, he said, “I can’t believe they’re starting off with Memphis-Clippers.”
Indeed, ESPN’s producers decided Game 4 of a first round NBA series was more newsworthy than Game 5 of a second-round NHL series. And that game featured an incredible finish with the New York Rangers scoring the tying goal with six seconds remaining and then beating Washington in overtime.
Indeed, not only did ESPN begin with the Clippers game (admittedly an exciting overtime game), but it went to the San Antonio-Utah game next with extended highlights and interviews. Then, SportsCenter finally turned to Rangers-Caps.
OK, maybe ESPN opted for the Clippers out of the box because it finished late. Most viewers in the East went to bed without knowing the outcome. Also, the late SportsCenter is geared to a West Coast audience, especially in LA.
However, we still can ask the question: Would ESPN have made the same news decision if the network had the NHL rights? Given the finish and the fact that this was a pivotal game in a second-round series, wasn’t the Rangers victory more important?
Where’s that dead horse…?
have you noticed the rating? Other than the Spurs Jazz series, I think the NBA has out-rated the NHL by about 3-1 when head to head, and even more than that in total. I like hockey, but it is much less popular than the NBA, so ESPN is probably doing the right thing with their placements.
I disagree, the only reason that the NBA has higher ratings is because they are on ESPN and ABC. I have found it so much more difficult to find hockey games on television than basketball games. The NHL is always buried on NBC sports which is nowhere close to any of the other channels on many cable networks channel guides.
East coast biased (New York team involved) or hockey haters. Not sure ESPN could have won this decision either way.
What are the Memphis Clippers?
“For what might be the first time since the lockout as well, an NHL game beat an NBA game head-to-head in the ratings. The 1.85 millon Caps/Rangers viewers topped the 1.81 million viewers who tuned into the Jazz vs. Spurs playoffs matchup on TNT.” SBNation
You may have been right in the past but obviously way off base in this specific incident, and wrong on the direction of the viewership of the NHL. It has been growing every year where as I believe the NBA is seeing drops in their ratings.