Wait a minute, ESPN

[Ed26]

I'm sitting here watching college hockey on ESPN2 and it just crossed my mind that i've never seen a hockey game (NHL Game) on ESPN.

now I'm not that into hockey, I watch some games here and there when i'm surfing channels and see that their playing... But have ESPN ever broadcasted a Hockey (NHL) game before in the past 10-5 years?

I'm just wondering. They call themselves "the worldwide leader in sports" but i've never seen a NHL game on ESPN, unless i just haven't seen them when they broadcast it.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

I'm sitting here watching college hockey on ESPN2 and it just crossed my mind that i've never seen a hockey game (NHL Game) on ESPN.

now I'm not that into hockey, I watch some games here and there when i'm surfing channels and see that their playing... But have ESPN ever broadcasted a Hockey (NHL) game before in the past 10-5 years?

I'm just wondering. They call themselves "the worldwide leader in sports" but i've never seen a NHL game on ESPN, unless i just haven't seen them when they broadcast it.

I believe that NBC/Versus signed a long term exclusive deal back in 2010 or maybe 11 - not sure though.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

ESPN had hockey on their stations back in the early 1980s and 1990s. They stopped for a while when Comcast offered the NHL more money back in 2005. But they started showing hockey again for at least the past 4 or 5 years.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

I guess you might not be old enough to remember NHL Hockey night they use to have on ESPN back in the day.

[Tovarich]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

Loved the old NHL theme ESPN had

http://youtu.be/MfOB3jzfpoU

I still have no idea how to embed videos in a post. Sad.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

ESPN doesn't talk about the NHL. It's a combination of the average sports fan not giving a **** about the sport, them not having to promote it because they don't show it, and spite.

[kehlis]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

ESPN doesn't talk about the NHL. It's a combination of the average sports fan not giving a **** about the sport, them not having to promote it because they don't show it, and spite.

But mostly spite.

[VDusen04]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

I grew up loving the NHL on ESPN. Gary Thorne was my guy. One of my all-time favorite hockey moments (and games):

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ALZc2jrFVnU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

Gary Thorne did the Minnesota High School tournament this year. It was great.

[spidertour02]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

But mostly spite.

Their website is especially infuriating -- they rarely put NHL stories on the main page, and when they do, it's almost always something freakish and horrible, as if they're deliberately trying to discredit the league or make them look bad.

Meanwhile, they go out of their way to work Lebron into stories as much as possible, even when they don't involve basketball in any way!

[superjames1992]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

Their website is especially infuriating -- they rarely put NHL stories on the main page, and when they do, it's almost always something freakish and horrible, as if they're deliberately trying to discredit the league or make them look bad.

Meanwhile, they go out of their way to work Lebron into stories as much as possible, even when they don't involve basketball in any way!

Yes. They did the same for NASCAR. They treated it as if it didn't exist before 2007 (though they did show NASCAR on ESPN back in the 1990s, IIRC), then they started showing NASCAR races again (taking the last half of the season away from NBC). Then, all of a sudden, they had a NASCAR Now show and actually talked about it. Now, with NBC offering more money than ESPN from 2015+, ESPN will be losing NASCAR again, so I expect it to get almost no coverage in the future.

I've noticed a similar pattern with the NHL.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

^ Yep. But we've known that ESPN is not truly an informational entity any longer. It is about its own ratings and entertainment. And that's OK. Plenty of other ways to get better information about your favorite sports nowadays.

[elTodd]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

Yeah, it just sucks because the majority of people don't seem to realize that. They're so uninformed about what is actually going on in the sports world as a result.

Makes having conversations about sports very frustrating for me. Which is why I really try to avoid them unless I know the person has a bit of knowledge on the subject.

[Watson]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

The thing that gets me is the fact that Sportscenter anchors openly admit on air that they know nothing about the sport and have to bring in somebody to talk about hockey.

If you have some bad blood with the league or decide to not talk about because you don't carry it, fine, I don't agree with that but that's the breaks. But doing that is incredibly unacceptable.

[Ed26]

Re: Wait a minute, ESPN

I believe that NBC/Versus signed a long term exclusive deal back in 2010 or maybe 11 - not sure though.

ok. that i did not know.

and after reading all of these answer. now i have a better idea of why ESPN doesn't really talk hockey that much. to me at first was "that's ESPN" they only care about NBA and NFL.