Great hockey, yes, but is anyone watching?

By Darren Rovell

ESPN.com

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In case the NHL isn't already reeling enough from its low regular-season television ratings, the numbers from the Stanley Cup playoff broadcasts could really stagger the league.

 

The four teams still playing in the conference finals are a quintessential small-market assemblage: Anaheim, Buffalo, Carolina and Edmonton. The last time the Stanley Cup finals were played, when small-market titans Tampa Bay and Calgary battled in the Cup finals in June 2004, ABC recorded its lowest ratings for the season-ending series since it began airing the NHL in 2000.

 

Now this. Edmonton is already up 2-0 on the Mighty Ducks in the Western Conference finals, which hurts appeal in American markets. Even north of the border, Edmonton is the smallest Canadian city that has an NHL franchise. The Raleigh-Durham area, home to the Hurricanes, is only the 29th-rated television market in the United States. Buffalo ranks 49th on that list.

 

And in Anaheim, which is part of the greater Los Angeles population base, 51 percent of the market doesn't have access to the Outdoor Life Network, one of the league's two current television partners, on its cable system.

 

Regular-season broadcasts on OLN this year drew an average of only 117,000 households, according to Nielsen, compared with the 416,000 homes that watched hockey broadcasts on ESPN and the 209,000 homes that watched games on ESPN2 in 2003-04. Last year's season and playoffs were canceled because of a work stoppage.

 

"We need to grow the ratings. The NHL knows that, and we know that," OLN president Gavin Harvey said. "We think that's something that needs to be judged over a couple of years."

 

 

To put those numbers in perspective, more people watched the 13 WNBA broadcasts on ESPN2 last year than the NHL on OLN this year. And NBC's poker series, which preceded the network's NHL playoff coverage two weeks ago, easily outdrew the hockey by more than 200,000 viewers.

 

Still, the playoffs have been and are expected to continue to be very competitive, so the NHL is staying optimistic about the remaining Stanley Cup matchups.

 

"We don't think having small market teams necessarily equates to bad ratings," league spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur said. "Viewership is also about the quality of the game, and the game is in great shape."

 

One of the issues, though, for the ratings is the star power, or lack of it, on the teams still alive. It's hard to imagine any combination of Teemu Selanne, Michael Peca, Chris Drury and Eric Staal being embraced overwhelmingly during the Stanley Cup finals by NBC viewers used to watching "Deal or No Deal."

 

If there ever was a year in which the league needed a little luck with large-market success stories or teams with great traditions -- such as Detroit and Montreal -- this is it. In the wake of the first yearlong work stoppage in pro sports history, two new broadcast partners (OLN and NBC) are airing the NHL; and neither has been able to generate anything in the way of big ratings.

 

"The ratings comparisons are not an accurate barometer of how many NHL fans we have," Mansur said. "The younger 12-to-18-year-old male demographic isn't necessarily watching the games on television as much as they are following them on the Internet or using other technology to find out about their favorite teams."

 

The deal with OLN, which will bring the league at least $65 million for each of the first two seasons, has been the most criticized.

 

From a financial perspective, it seemed like a no-brainer when the deal was struck. ESPN, which had broadcast NHL games regularly since 1992, declined its one-year, $60 million option after the canceled season, when replacement programming such as "Bowling Night" and "Stump The Schwab" drew ratings that were at least comparable to its hockey broadcasts of a year earlier.

 

"It wasn't as if ESPN didn't want us at all," Mansur said. "It was just a question of how much they were willing to pay."

 

From a long-term future outlook, league officials rationalized that OLN -- famous for Tour de France and bull-riding broadcasts -- would market the league better than ESPN did because the new partner, unlike ESPN, would make the league's broadcast the cornerstone of its property.

 

OLN has done that, as its prime-time broadcasting during the playoffs essentially has turned it into the hockey channel.

 

Although the network has expanded to 69 million homes -- an increase of 6 million -- during the season, that number is still 21 million short of ESPN's reach. Critics also noted from the outset that putting hockey games on OLN would make broadcasts of the NHL appointment television only. Few people seem to stumble on to OLN the way they seem to come across ESPN on their cable dial.

 

So far, the playoffs haven't generated any additional interest for NBC, either. In fact, the ratings are down. The network's regular-season games were watched in 1.09 million households, according to Nielsen data, and playoff games have been watched by 1.02 million households

 

"Given that there was no play last year, the ratings are within the ballpark of what we expected," NBC spokesman Brian Walker said. "From a business standpoint, we expected to be profitable in Year 1, and we will be."

 

That was going to be a more attainable goal for NBC than for OLN, as NBC's deal with the NHL was a revenue-sharing arrangement rather than a rights-fee contract.

 

On the positive side, the NHL's hard-core fan base has returned to the game and boosted in-house attendance, as many league officials predicted would happen. The NHL is the only league that has averaged more fans in the stands after a work stoppage, and it has managed that feat twice. After a lockout shortened the 1994-95 season to 48 games, the NHL averaged 50 fans more per game than it did in the 1993-94 season. This year was even better. League attendance was up by 2.4 percent as arenas across the league were filled to 91.7 percent capacity.

 

The average per-game attendance of 16,955 is an all-time record for the NHL.

 

"It wasn't like we didn't expect things to be affected," Mansur said. "We did lose an entire season."

 

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at Darren.rovell@espn3.com.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2006...ht&lid=tab2pos2

People try and make it out to be that it's the teams and matchups which don't interest people and are resulting in low national TV ratings, but that couldn't be any farther from the truth, it's quite obvious why the NHL is having such sh*tty ratings - because their national primtime games are on the friggen OUTDOOR LIFE NETWORK, a channel which most people have never even heard of and countless more don't even receive. NBC isn't even a factor considering they've only broadcast about 10 playoff games so far, as opposed to OLN's broadcasting of 51 playoff games. When 51 of the 60 some odd playoff games thus far have been on the OUTDOOR LIFE NETWORK, what the hell do you expect? Ratings will never go up until the NHL finds a real network to actively and regularly broadcast NHL games and NHL programs (i.e. NHL 2 Night)

 

It's the NHL's own fault for going with OLN rather than taking a less lucrative deal with ABC/ESPN, just absolute stupidity. The fact of the matter is that while national ratings are down, ratings on all of the local and regional networks for each individual team have absolutely skyrocketed.

 

Things will change soon, ESPN has recognized the success and dramatic difference and excitement in the "new" NHL and they're now actively trying to get back the broadcast rights.

yeah... i dont get that channel. i've never even heard of it before the playoffs.

i'm surprised that people are surprised that ratings are low.

OLN isn't on basic brighthouse cable in Central Florida.

 

My parents have digital cable through BH and they get OLN on one of the higher channels.

 

It really is ridiculous. The only playoff games I've seen have been on NBC on the weekends or the times I watched the sh*tty Red Wings games on OLN at the 'rents house.

I haven't been able to watch for that exact reason.

OLN is in the 600s on DirecTV.....not exactly easy to find.

The OLN deal was a bad one for the NHL.

 

Take less from ESPN and you're guaranteed to get free promotion.

What doesn't help the NHL is the rediculously low coverage it gets from ESPN. They hardly show highlights of these playoff games.

What doesn't help the NHL is the rediculously low coverage it gets from ESPN. They hardly show highlights of these playoff games.

 

Compare that to a meeting between an overrated USC team and an overrated Texas team, scheduled on the ABC family of networks, which culminated in a nightly slurpy-d*ck-suck that we all enjoyed.

 

It's kinda funny how sportscenter is 95% NBA and MLB now. Kinda nice for me, actually.

What doesn't help the NHL is the rediculously low coverage it gets from ESPN. They hardly show highlights of these playoff games.

 

Compare that to a meeting between an overrated USC team and an overrated Texas team, scheduled on the ABC family of networks, which culminated in a nightly slurpy-d*ck-suck that we all enjoyed.

 

It's kinda funny how sportscenter is 95% NBA and MLB now. Kinda nice for me, actually.

I agree. I cant stand the hockey highlights.

 

Blame the NHL for OLN.

I personally don't care about the teams left in the playoffs though.

 

And it just seems like the NHL playoffs have become a sham. The Oilers and Ducks? C'mon now.

 

That being said, it still deserves better game coverage. But the NHL got themselves into this mess. They're to blame.

I personally don't care about the teams left in the playoffs though.

 

And it just seems like the NHL playoffs have become a sham. The Oilers and Ducks? C'mon now.

 

That being said, it still deserves better game coverage. But the NHL got themselves into this mess. They're to blame.

Why are the Ducks and the Oilers a sham? The Ducks were in this position a few years ago and the Oilers were one of the elite teams from the 80s that was forced into really noncontention because all of their players left or were traded due to money issues.

I personally don't care about the teams left in the playoffs though.

 

And it just seems like the NHL playoffs have become a sham. The Oilers and Ducks? C'mon now.

 

That being said, it still deserves better game coverage. But the NHL got themselves into this mess. They're to blame.

 

Before that post I could only name 1 team left, and that was the Oilers.

 

And I consider myself a pretty big sports follower.

I personally don't care about the teams left in the playoffs though.

 

And it just seems like the NHL playoffs have become a sham. The Oilers and Ducks? C'mon now.

 

That being said, it still deserves better game coverage. But the NHL got themselves into this mess. They're to blame.

 

Before that post I could only name 1 team left, and that was the Oilers.

 

And I consider myself a pretty big sports follower.

Watching ESPN != big sports follower.

I remember, I was yelled at for suggesting that this OLN deal was absolute stupidity. ESPN was a gold mine, I know plenty of people who want to watch hockey again, for the first time in awhile but simply can't get at it on OLN.

 

With an ESPN deal, you have free pub, and a channel everyone has and know's where to get at it on their dial.

OLN deal was a horrible idea honestly, most folks that might want to watch cant.

There is no correlation between hockey, WNBA and poker.

 

I watch hockey and not the other two so I coudl give a damn what they pull. Plus, I actually go to games. As long as Fox Sports Ohio carries blue jackets I could give a damn.

 

I know hockey rules, who cares if others don't?

The OLN deal will look better in the next year or two compare to what it looks like now. ESPN low-balled the NHL and the NHL decided to get paid more, get more games on TV, and actually get other programming in a Hockey Block around its games. You cannot fault the NHL for doing something that will go through growing pains, but bloom into something that is better for them.

 

The NBC deal is basically free, has given better exposure to the league than ABC used to, and it will have games 3-7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

 

OLN will soon be moving to basic packages. Dish didn't have OLN back on because of the NHL dispute until some games into the playoffs! But since turning it back on, OLN has been a better home for the NHL than ESPN ever was. They even are able to simulcast the CBC and TSN coverage if they wish and many in the USA appreciate that because the CBC has a pretty good broadcast of certain games. Plus, OLN made the move to HD quickly.

 

By this time next year, many more of you will have OLN. Comcast and DirecTV already have it on basic packages and expect more to follow as OLN renegotiates deals. OLN will become Versus as well.