Flyers, NHL Rejoice

Last night’s overtime win by the Flyers in game three of the Stanley Cup Final put smiles on not only hockey fans in Philadelphia but also league executives in New York. Had the Flyers lost last night, the Blackhawks could have won the Stanley Cup as early as tomorrow night in a game that would have only been available to the U.S. audience via cable and satellite. Now that the series will last at least five games, the Stanley Cup is guaranteed to be awarded on U.S. network television via NBC, and the league will be able to maximize its exposure.

Now, if they had been smart, league executives should have never had to have held their breath in the first place. The broadcast schedule in the U.S., which grants two of the first four games to specialty channel VERSUS and the rest of the games to NBC, should have been designed to preclude VERSUS from potentially airing the Stanley Cup clinching game. In other words, instead of having VERSUS air two of the first four games, the specialty channel should air two of the first three games, thereby guaranteeing that NBC would air the Stanley Cup winning moment – be it game four, five, six, or seven. The NHL has worked too hard to let one of the greatest moments in professional sports fly under the radar screen.

When FOX televised game one of the 1995 Stanley Cup Final between the Red Wings and Devils, it marked the first time since 1980 that a game from the final round had aired on U.S. network television (and the first to do so in prime time since 1973, but I digress). Between 1995 and 1999, FOX split its coverage of the Stanley Cup Final with ESPN, not unlike today’s sharing of duties between NBC and VERSUS. But the way in which FOX and ESPN divided the games, combined with the length (or lack thereof) of each year’s final round, meant that ESPN often aired the decisive game. In fact, apart from the first year of the contract in 1995 when FOX aired the Devils clinching game, coincidence had it that each of the next four seasons deprived U.S. viewers of the chance to see the Stanley Cup being lifted on network television. To prevent this from happening in subsequent years, the NHL’s next broadcast contract with ABC and ESPN stipulated that ESPN would always air the first two games of the final series while ABC would air the remaining contests. So from 1999 through 2004, regardless in which game the Stanley Cup was won, the NHL knew the clinching game would air on U.S. network television.

Why the league abandoned this format is unclear – but the result is not. The current arrangement between NBC and VERSUS is a step backwards for the NHL and the league should consider itself lucky that it has escaped without harm – at least so far. Next year, everyone will have to hold their breath all over again.

TONIGHT'S GAMES:
No game scheduled