HEY GARY, WAKE UP!

Written by Greg Ezell

Monday, 01 March 2010 10:07

garybettman

Wow, it's already March! I can't believe the playoffs are a little over a month away. I hope everyone is (getting) over their Olympic hockey hangover because we're currently in the midst of the NHL trade deadline. The deadline is coming up on us on Wednesday, March 3 and some teams are expected to start announcing trades as soon as today.

Unfortunately, watching Olympic hockey has made me realize just how faulty the NHL actually is. It pains me that I haven't felt as connected to an NHL game (exluding Game 6 of the Bruins/Canadiens game in 2008) than I did watching either the USA or Germany. Maybe I'm still reeling from the games themselves, but you can tell there is definitely something missing in Gary Bettman's NHL.

The sad thing is, you can tell Bettman doesn't even care about the product in front of him because it doesn't present any green backs. During the US/Finland game, Bettman was interviewed by NBC and basically stated (paraphrasing) "We're a little bummed that it cuts into our schedule." That's about it. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I took away from his stupid interview.

The biggest thing I hope Gary takes away from these Olympic games is the commercial-less periods. The NHL has way to many commercials, interjecting ads during game play or missing out on some spots because they're running a commercial. Is Gary, the NHL and it's television partners aware of how irritating and frustrating it is as a fan to watch that? The reason the Olympics worked so well is because there was a visible ebb and flow of the game that was not interrupted by multiple car or Subway ads.

Unlike the Olympics, if a puck is iced or heads into the stands (especially on Versus) the television station will rattle off 2-3 commercials and interrupt the viewing experience. Why can't the NHL state "This period is brought to you with limited commercials by Subway" much like they did on NBC? Hell, you want some advertising, throw the Subway logo into the score ticker.

I also enjoyed the no-touch icing, but that isn't as important as the commercial-less periods.

There are many things that the NHL could do to improve its product (commercial-less periods, eliminating four teams, removing the trapezoid, etc) but all of this will once again fall on deaf ears. The NHL's problem begins at the top and slowly trickles its poison down the tree.

Hopefully Gary was paying attention to the 17.6 overnight Neilsen rating it received on NBC, because his league hasn't come close to that number in God knows how long.

"But it's in the middle of our schedule..."

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Comments (3) Add Comment

I agree
written by EyeBob, March 01, 2010

I was unsure that i would like the NHL at the Olympics this year given the rather bland showings by the NHL players in the last two olympics, but this was better,probably because it was (essentially) on home turf for a large number of players. I'd consider it again, but with the next Winter Olympics being in Russia, not sure.

Anyway, with regards to the rule changes, I couldn't agree more. A question for you and your readers, if the NHL goes to commercial-free periods, would you think that enough people would order games as a pay per view? Didn't Chicago do that a few years back? I'm just saying that the league probably cannot afford going to go without the commercials during the periods but I imagine that PPV could offset that, yes?

bt

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written by BCJM76, March 01, 2010

Certain markets have been experimenting with advertising superimposed on the glass on the end boards. I'm wondering if that would be a way for the league to recoup losses from the loss of TV timeouts. I know, here in Canada, the CFL superimposes ads on the field during play.

I'm sure it would be an eyesore but, after a lot of conversations with my grandpa, so were board ads when they were first introduced but now I barely notice them when watching a game. It wouldn't get in the way of the viewer at the arena because it wouldn't actually be there and it could be a way for the NHL to reduce the number of commercials they have to run.

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written by arossi12, March 01, 2010

Greg, you've also gotta realize that those "TV Timeout" breaks also help concession sales, as people are running out during those little breaks to grab something. Sponsors are also running promotions during those small breaks, so it's not just the commissioner and league backing those timeouts, it's the teams and venues themselves who also need them to produce revenue. I don't think it will ever completely go away.

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Sarah is the editor and site administratior at Something's Bruin. She's a diehard Bruins, P-Bruins, and Boston University fan, and blows tons of gas money every season attempting to visit as many NHL & AHL arenas as possible. When not focusing on the NHL, she covers the P-Bruins/AHL beat, and focuses primarily on covering the prospects in the Bruins system, from juniors up to the top minor leagues.

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