My latest Chicago Tribune column is on how much is at stake for NBC in the Chicago-Los Angeles series.
You also can access the column via my Twitter feed at Sherman_Report.
From the column:
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They won’t admit it, but privately NBC will be rooting for the Blackhawks to pull off the comeback against the Los Angeles Kings this weekend.
Having the Hawks in the Stanley Cup Final is huge for NBC. Not as much with the Kings.
With the New York Rangers and Kings still alive, Chicago technically is the nation’s No. 3 TV market in terms of overall viewers during the playoffs. But thanks to the avid following for the Hawks, the town is a clear-cut No. 1 in terms of delivering hockey viewers.
The numbers tell the story. Prior to Thursday’s Rangers-Montreal game, New York was averaging a 4.1 rating for Rangers games during the playoffs; Los Angeles is at 1.7 for Kings games. Meanwhile, Chicago checks in at a robust 13.4 for Hawks playoff games.
While being careful not to play favorites in the Western Conference final, Mike Emrick knows what the Blackhawks have meant to the NBC in recent years.
“It’s a magical time for hockey in Chicago,” Emrick said. “There’s a passion that is hard to discount. Even Mr. Fix-it on Saturday morning is talking Blackhawks hockey.”
The rating for the Hawks’ overtime victory in Game 5 really hammers it home. The game pulled a 16.3 rating in Chicago. It only did a 3.0 rating in Los Angeles even though the Kings had a chance to clinch a bid to the Final.
Here’s a further breakdown of the numbers: 1 rating point in Chicago is worth approximately 35,000 homes; 56,000 homes in Los Angeles, the No. 2 market. That means Game 5 was seen in 576,000 homes in Chicago compared to 169,000 for Los Angeles. To put it in further perspective, the Chicago rating accounted for an astounding 39 percent of the national rating for NBCSN.
Little wonder why they play “Here Come the Hawks” in NBC Sports’ corporate offices.
Mr. Sherman,
How about a note in your sports media column about the nice job that Kenny Albert and Brian Engblom have done on NBC during the Hawks-Kings series? It’s been a relief for Hawks fans ( and all hockey fans for that matter) to have a play-by-play announcer who actually does play-by-play and a color analyst who doesn’t seem to get paid by word. Anyone who has watched Games 1-5 of the Hawks-Kings series and then watched Game 6 of Rangers-Canadiens last night night could hear the difference. Mike Emrick can be a good play-by-play announcer but he has trouble finding time to call the play with Eddie Olczyk and, especially, Pierre McGuire asking each other questions as if the telecast is for themselves and not viewers, making redundant comments on plays we’ve just seem (especially while the play is going on), or giving us useless information, e.g., McGuire’s habit of telling us where every player is from and where he played minor league/junior/college hockey. Give us analysis but tell us something we don’t know that will help us watch the game. Yes, we get it that McGuire is a hockey historian. So get off the air and write a book.
Engblom, on the other hand, is more from the less-is-more school where he’ll give us a view or piece of information from his vantage point without making it sound like it’s a private conversation, as it’s often presented by McGuire, Eddie O and “Doc” Emrick. And Kenny Albert has been great at calling the play, cutting short the mindless banter and histrionics and just giving us the game.
Thanks.
Michael Pajonk
Oak Park, IL
NBC loses. Californians cheer. And Giants and A’s aren’t doing bad either. Tiger? Well . . .
No, Albert was terrible the entire series and he’s not good in any sport. His bias for the L.A. Kings was obvious and disgusting and he poisoned the whole booth. EVERYTHING was what the Kings did do or what the Kings did not do. He never even talked about the obvious goalie interference on Crawford in game 6. It was all about the Kings for him. And the officiating was absolutely horrible. Kenny’s Rangers are due for a quick exit, so have fun with that everybody. Hockey is dead in Chicago until next season.
I am a die hard LA KINGS fan and have to endure series after series of bias commentary by NBC announcers. Frankly it’s disgusting… So bad it’s become necessary to watch the game on mute. NBC needs to take a hard listen to the irritating comments of their announcers as I am not the only fan fed up with listening to their bias drivel. NHL is slightly above average excluding the “we” slip up by Jamal Mayers during the Kings/Hawks Series.