BREAKING NEWS: ESPN Drops NHL

[Whisper]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/article.jsp;jsessionid=OKDCDFAOKNIA?content=200505 27_164035_6528

League revenues take another hit. How will this affect the CBA negotiations?

Sportsnet.ca -- ESPN has declined its option to retain National Hockey League broadcasting rights next season for $60-million US, Sportsnet has learned.

While some consider this a huge blow to the league and its exposure south of the border, there is a sense ESPN 2 may attempt to use this opportunity to negotiate a much cheaper rights fee.

Regardless, this decision will clearly have an impact on NHL revenues and may factor in to the current CBA negotiations as the pie continues to shrink.

Meanwhile, Bain Financial remains intent on buying the NHL. A memo was circulated around the league Friday announcing the group has tabled an offer of $4.3-billion for all 30 NHL teams. The offer would split the teams into three categories based on the estimated worth of each franchise.

[Jafo]

***Yawn***

What's Hockey?

[ChampTTU]

Exactly Jafo...The indifference is palpable.

[Whisper]

your mamma is palpable!

NBA lockout please.

[Jafo]

NHL is an acronym for what? National Homo League?

[kraft]

Ehh, I am a blues fan whenever they are playing... but come on. What the hell is the point of all of this? Can you really complain that much when you are getting paid more than doctors to play a sport? Maybe their 500k contracts weren't keeping up with inflation and they got pissed.

[Whisper]

NHL is an acronym for what? National Homo League?

Jack ass fucking octopus?

[Jafo]

Jack ass faping octopus?

Guess you never saw Blue Thunder..

[Dark Enemy]

Seriously this is all getting old. Does anyone honestly care anymore..

[Stifler]

Seriously this is all getting old. Does anyone honestly care anymore..
I do and I always will, but now that the MLB season is in full swing and the CFL will be starting in a couple weeks it'll takes some ease off the NHL. When you've been born and raised on hockey and the NHL, something like this really takes its toll on you. I don't expect Americans to give a shit because they don't appreciate hockey as much as Canadians do - I guess that's why we usually fair better when it comes to international play.

[OneSharpMarble]

The only sport worth watching is Hockey, it will be back next season. Baseball, football and basketball are all right up there with curling and golf on my "boringshitOmeter"

[No Fear 23]

well, i never liked hockey and i never watched it.

[Wolf]

wow. I don't understand how anyone can rate football and basketball in the same boringness category as golf and curling. mindboggling.

[No Fear 23]

wow. I don't understand how anyone can rate football and basketball in the same boringness category as golf and curling. mindboggling.


you can expect that from an canadian :D

[MapleHamwich]

wow. I don't understand how anyone can rate football and basketball in the same boringness category as golf and curling. mindboggling.
I can understand it.

[Whisper]

Baseball is just as boring as Curling. People call baseball a "game of anticipation" .. but I'm sorry what exactly am I anticipating? The only exciting part of the game are some of the amazing catches that are done defensively, but they are few and far between.

Hockey is a full 60 minutes of excitement.. well atleast it can be. I admit, in this age, where the trap is played by half the teams, it can become tedious when 2 trapping teams meet up.. but what about in a regular hockey game?

The flow is sensational. In hockey, all 6 guys on the ice have to work together. Not one guy can take a shift off, or it will result in a scoring chance or goal. Hockey is a game that has to be played with both finess and strength at the same time. The play can be anywhere on the rink and still be a battle.

The only sport that even comes close is Basketball.. Basketball is pretty fast-paced and has lots of back and forth action, but doesn't have the physical aspect hockey does. "ooo ooo, you slapped my wrist! foul! foul!"

Football has the phsyical aspect, but not as much as hockey.. football is also slower paced, though can still be exciting.. it's a balance between pace and anticipation.

Hockey is god. Please come back NHL.

[OneSharpMarble]

The only sport that even comes close is Basketball.. Basketball is pretty fast-paced and has lots of back and forth action, but doesn't have the physical aspect hockey does. "ooo ooo, you slapped my wrist! foul! foul!"


It is fast paced but it is the SAME THING OVER AND OVER! They run back and forth like a hundred times and scoring doesn't really have any excitement until the last few minutes.

Don't feel bad America at least you don't watch Soccer, that is a snorefest if ever there was one.

[No Fear 23]

ok, so you guys are talking about how other sports are as boring as hockey....then why is hockey not doing so good?

hockey is as boring as baseball...u hit the puck back and forth chase after it, bump uglies with a few guys and try to score.


dont look at america to try to help you guys out to get hockey back. hockey is from canada...so do something about it.

[Wolf]

It is fast paced but it is the SAME THING OVER AND OVER! They run back and forth like a hundred times and scoring doesn't really have any excitement until the last few minutes.

Don't feel bad America at least you don't watch Soccer, that is a snorefest if ever there was one.


The scoring is pretty exciting if you ask me, if you actually care about one of the teams in the game anyway. or if you have some reason to pull for or against a team.

Football is very exciting to me. just about anything can happen on any given play; big yardage, big hit, TD, INT, etc. plus its also extremely exciting to me when I go to games at NC State and sit right behind the student section. the place is really intense and loud. hockey was pretty exciting too though, when I used to go to hurricanes games.

hockey is pretty exciting too, but to me, nothing compares to going to a football game.

[Steven]

I do and I always will, but now that the MLB season is in full swing and the CFL will be starting in a couple weeks it'll takes some ease off the NHL. When you've been born and raised on hockey and the NHL, something like this really takes its toll on you. I don't expect Americans to give a poop because they don't appreciate hockey as much as Canadians do - I guess that's why we usually fair better when it comes to international play.


Agree with you 100% Hockeys my life

[OneSharpMarble]

ok, so you guys are talking about how other sports are as boring as hockey....then why is hockey not doing so good?

hockey is as boring as baseball...u hit the puck back and forth chase after it, bump uglies with a few guys and try to score.


dont look at america to try to help you guys out to get hockey back. hockey is from canada...so do something about it.

Actually I was saying how most (if not all) sports are more boring than hockey. I don't think the popularity has anything to do with the real problems the NHL is having.

There is far more strategy in hockey than baseball, thats not even comparable. More skill is required for hockey than football or baseketball and more endurance.

Really? Hockey is from Canada? It seems America has been trying to buy it and claim it as it's own for years. 80% of the players in the NHL are Canadian, it kills me when I hear some American claiming how great his hometown team is when 18 out of the 23 players is a Canuck. :rofl:

Would any of my fellow Canadians drop a tear if the states closed up shop and got rid of their teams? I sure wouldn't.

[Wolf]

I disagree. with much of your post.
I'll elaborate l8er.

[wbio]

Really? Hockey is from Canada? It seems America has been trying to buy it and claim it as it's own for years. 80% of the players in the NHL are Canadian, it kills me when I hear some American claiming how great his hometown team is when 18 out of the 23 players is a Canuck. :rofl:

Would any of my fellow Canadians drop a tear if the states closed up shop and got rid of their teams? I sure wouldn't.
I don't think that *most* Americans really make a big deal over whether the player comes from Canada or the US or Zimbabwe for that matter, if your team is good, then you have some bragging rights. I don't think the fact that there aren't many Americans on the team takes away any of the bragging rights for any team that wins the Stanley Cup, because it really doesn't matter what country the players are from, they're on a team there. It's like this in all sports, and I really don't see why the fact that 18 of the 23 players are Canadian on any team makes it any less of an achievement for them (as in the team). You confuse me :huh:

[duke]

It's asinine at best to care where players on a team come from in this day and age. Canada-America, east coast-west coast, etc.

You're in the league. You play for a team in that town. Most of my Raiders aren't from Oakland, and Stojakovic is not a natural born American, should I not root for them if they're on my team?

Blah, blah, blah skill, endurance,whatever. Everyone who is a fan of any sport repeats the same crap over and over again. Soccer fans, basketball fans, golf fans. Each sport takes a certain skill set specifically tuned to that sport.

Americans have not been trying to claim hockey as our own. We simply managed to put together a league that can attract the best players in the world, which you could not. Don't get all sensitve if Canadian players didn't volunteer to go play in the CHL or whatever you have up there. Never noticed many Canadians in the CFL not rooting for a player or team just because we've used you guys as our farm league.

Some sports are boring to everyone. For most of them, it seems to me that once someone takes the time to learn more about any sport, they generally get into them. There's a reason they all have large fan bases. Stop the e-penis waving. It's just pathetic.

[Whisper]

Hockey is the most international league in North America hockey fans cannot afford to be country-biased.. atleast a dozen countries are represented.. I'll try and run them down for no reason:

Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Norway, Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Slovenia (1 coming next season), Finland, South Korea, Kazahkastan, Austria, Denamrk, Switzerland, Latvia... that's all I can come up with off my head

wow.. 18 countries.. that's crazy


Americans have not been trying to claim hockey as our own. We simply managed to put together a league that can attract the best players in the world, which you could not.


The NHL may have more American teams now.. but that does not make it America's league. It was formed in Canada in 1910 as the NHA, and changed it's name to the NHL in 1917, and only included Canadian teams (2 in Montreal, 1 in Ottawa, 1 in Quebec, and 1 in Toronto). American didn't get a team until 1924 when the Boston Bruins arrived.

American had the first league, the Pacific Coast League, but quickly folded. They also started up the International Pro Hockey League (even though they only played in Michigan) - folded in 3 years. Both came before the NHA.. but couldn't even run 5 years. So the NHL was Canadian, and rose to a top sport in North America and the World under Canadian control.

Now an American has control, and look what's happening...

[duke]

Interesting. The more you know.........

[Wolf]

I don't think that *most* Americans really make a big deal over whether the player comes from Canada or the US or Zimbabwe for that matter, if your team is good, then you have some bragging rights. I don't think the fact that there aren't many Americans on the team takes away any of the bragging rights for any team that wins the Stanley Cup, because it really doesn't matter what country the players are from, they're on a team there. It's like this in all sports, and I really don't see why the fact that 18 of the 23 players are Canadian on any team makes it any less of an achievement for them (as in the team). You confuse me :huh:
exactly

Am I supposed to not support my hometown team because there are some people from a different country on it?

OneSharpMarble would have a point in some specific cases, if someone was like "canada sux," and then supported canadians, but his statement seemed kind of general.

and I think there is a bit more strategy in baseball than you want to believe, one sharp marble. your football and basketball statements are arguable points as well.

[Whisper]

planned strategy in baseball, all to go along with playing the numbers.. which doesn't make it very exciting

I love hockey because the strategy is on the fly and fast paced.