Brett Hull Thinks The NHL Is Screwed
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Well if Brett thinks it is....then that HAS to be the case right? Right??? No seriously....I'm really looking for an answer to this one. This isn't a rhetorical question.....I have no idea how to respond to Hockey News anymore.
I'm sure the majority of you are like the rest of me.....you watched hockey when you were younger, you stopped watching it in the past couple of years, and you only "sort of" pay attention once the Stanley Cup rolls around. But as a whole I like the sport, and I LOVE going to games.
With that said......we all know that the strike and TV deals have destroyed the NHL's viewing audience, and Brett Hull is pissed.....
"You need to have some sort of pregame or postgame show so we can sit down and talk about the trade deadline — or the Buffalo-Ottawa (brawl)," Hull says. "I have a lot to say. But in 20 seconds, you have to be some sort of English lit professor to do it with any style or bravado."It's a very valid point, but one that I think will ultimately not be addressed. To tell you hockey fans the truth I didn't even realize the sport was on NBC until the Caps played the Pens. Adding a half-hour to a pregame isn't going to help when no one watches to begin with. I on the other hand might watch if Brett Hull really is Hockey's Charles Barkley.
"People don't even know that we're on. That's a huge problem," he says about Versus. "We're at the mercy of Versus, NBC, ESPN, CBS. Unless two of them want to show hockey, the NHL is screwed."
No Holding Back For Hull (USA Today)
4 Comments:
Good for Brett. Someone needs to call out the paltry coverage given by the NBC and Versus.
Bettman ought to demand Versus show a minimum of four games a week in prime time and a half-hour highlight show every night.
I don't think hockey should even be on NBC or Versus, it had its moments on ESPN/Abc, especially when Gary Thorne was the announcer.
Hockey is a terrible tv game. In person its great. They've let NASCAR roar right past them, as well as college basketball and poker.
What to do? I don't have a clue.
They need to address the sport somewhere, in some fashion if they want to get new viewers. I like hockey plenty, but I don't know much about the current teams and players to really follow it. If ESPN or any outlet would throw a little coverage the NHL's way I think people could actually care enough to watch the games when they are actually on.