Exposure, ESPN, And Selling Out

I happened to catch NHL Live on the NHL Network yesterday, thanks to a week-long cold that refuses to go away. The show itself was pretty okay, but there were two topics addressed on the show that really got me thinking.

The first one came up just minutes into the show. The topic of the Boston Red Sox and Oakland A's opening up the Major League Baseball season in Japan was mentioned, and host Don LaGreca was not very impressed by this move. LaGreca said, paraphrased, "It's a joke. Major League Baseball opens up and nobody even knows about it, and nobody says a word. God forbid the NHL did something like this, you'd never hear the end of it." And he's right. You didn't hear many good words about the Ducks and Kings opening the season in England; instead, all you heard about was how miserable the teams were and how the fans wanted to see a fight. Aside from the whole flap about the Red Sox assistants not being paid, have you heard even one bad word about MLB's trip to Japan? I doubt it.

The second, and more critical point, came later when Patrick and Jonathan Roy were inevitably brought up. Both LaGreca and E.J. Hradek bashed the media, stating they only show highlights of hockey in times of a violent incident. Hradek mentioned the name of Steven Stamkos, an OHL player who may very well be the first overall pick in 2008. Stamkos scored four goals on Tuesday night and didn't get one-millionth of the publicity the Roys did. While it might be unreasonable to expect the American media to get all over some kid from Ontario, Hradek's point was well taken.

The simple truth is that the media loves negativity. Look at Britney Spears. They play her songs and keep her in the public eye, just so they can bash her. It's the same with the NHL. What stories have hit the major mainstream media over the past five years? The Todd Bertuzzi incident, the lockout, the Rick Tocchett gambling ring, the first Chris Simon incident, the Winter Classic, the second Chris Simon incident, and the Jonathan Roy incident. Of those seven things, only one painted hockey in a positive light. But what else would you expect when you don't have the promotional wing of ESPN in your corner?

Ah, yes... ESPN. Remember them? The network that used to air NHL games. Did you ever notice how, once they stopped broadcasting hockey games, they ceased virtually all coverage of the sport? As ESPN's ombudsman, the excellent Le Anne Schreiber noted last year, coverage of the NHL on SportsCenter was down 28 percent from three years prior, when the games were still on ESPN. Hmm.

It's a personal belief of mine that ESPN is out to ruin the NHL and make it look bad, just because big bad ESPN can. If you regularly visit ESPN.com, you may remember a headline on the front page about the NHL's record-low Stanley Cup Finals ratings. However, what you might not have seen a week later was the article about the all-time low rating for NBA Finals play on ABC. ABC and ESPN are both owned by Disney. Hmm.

Get the picture? Get ESPN in your corner, you're gold. Turn your back on ESPN, and you're facing an extremely tough battle. Need proof? Look at Arena Football, which ESPN bought and shoved down our throats. Major League Soccer signed a new deal with ESPN in 2006 which not only got them a weekly prime-time game, but increased time on SportsCenter and more exposure on ESPN.com. And if you're wondering what the big deal is about ESPN, it's simply America's most popular sports outlet, which essentially means it dictates the sports-watching trends for America. If you're not prominently featured, you're in trouble. And that's the predicament the NHL finds itself in.

Rumors were swirling last summer that the NHL and ESPN were talking again, but it appears as though nothing came of the discussions. The NHL re-upped with Versus, and there's still a chance ESPN could come on board if Versus were willing to drop its status as the NHL's exclusive cable partner. Time will tell if that will ever come to pass.

The thing of it is, as much as the NHL needs ESPN, I really don't want them to come to terms. As much as people love to bash Versus for not being very available on cable (and, quite frankly, neither is the NFL Network or NBA TV), the network has done a great job with the NHL package. They've made hockey a real event on Versus; even if that's only because WEC Wreckage and PBR Rodeo haven't hit the big time yet, it's still impressive. Let's face it, when ESPN aired the NHL, the sport was sort of an afterthought. You got the impression that they couldn't wait for the game to end so they could throw it back to SportsCenter. And once ESPN got a hold of the NBA, the NHL really got the shaft. At least Versus programs an entire two nights around hockey, whereas ESPN would just show random games, Dodge Intermission Reports, NHL2Night, and that was about it. Come to think of it, aside from the opportunity to hear Gary Thorne calling hockey on a regular basis again, there's not much I'd welcome about ESPN's potential return.

That said, I'm all about what's best for the league. And the truth is that ESPN would do a world of good for the NHL. Not just in terms of coverage on SportsCenter and all the other frills, but for purposes of credibility as well. I think we all want the NHL to be seen as a legitimate top sport, and now's a good a time as any. The game is better than it has been at any time since the '94 lockout, and the American sporting public needs to see what the NHL has to offer. I'm sick of Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin being the only two people to crack the main page of ESPN.com. I want the whole league to be embraced and promoted, the way it should be. And I'm more than willing to watch my favorite sport sell out to ESPN to make that happen. Truly, it's the only possible way.