The NHL is back on ESPN

burstnbloom

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This is great news. ESPN has such an insanely large reach compared to NBC and it can only help with league revenue long term. Very exciting stuff.
 

Scoops Bolling

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Yeah, this is big. As awful as ESPN is, its reach to the sports audience is massive and simply getting games on ESPN means reaching a lot more eyeballs. All those peoples in bars, airports, etc., are now far more likely to catch a game than relegated to NBC. I think it makes a good deal of sense for ESPN as well; I have to think that airing an NHL game will garner more eyeballs on a Thursday at 7 PM than airing women's college basketball or men's college baseball to say nothing of the even more esoteric shit that sometimes pops up in those slots.
 

joe dokes

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This is unquestionably good for the league. And I expect no real dropoff in announcer quality (I won't have to endure the loathsome ESPN talking heads because I dont watch much of the pre and post game chatter, anyway.)
 

Jed Zeppelin

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I hope Gary Thorne is part of the contract
I honestly have no recollection of whether or not they are good announcers but Thorne with Pang in the Pierre role are the voices of primetime hockey nostalgia in my head the same way Jon Miller and Joe Morgan are for baseball.

I am curious to see how quickly ESPN.com unburies the NHL. It has been Where's Waldo since hockey left the network.

39406

Three spots above X Games!
 

Greg29fan

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I'm curious to see how this works out before I go ape-shit over it. While ESPN has a bigger reach than NBCSN, the NHL was clearly NBCSN's lead dog. Hockey on ESPN is going to be way, way, way behind the NBA in the hierarchy, and I'm interested to see how much coverage it actually gets, especially in playoff time, as the seasons overlap.
 

the1andonly3003

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I honestly have no recollection of whether or not they are good announcers but Thorne with Pang in the Pierre role are the voices of primetime hockey nostalgia in my head the same way Jon Miller and Joe Morgan are for baseball.

I am curious to see how quickly ESPN.com unburies the NHL. It has been Where's Waldo since hockey left the network.

View attachment 39406

Three spots above X Games!
I think that is alphabetical order from left to right
 

The Mort Report

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I'm curious to see how this works out before I go ape-shit over it. While ESPN has a bigger reach than NBCSN, the NHL was clearly NBCSN's lead dog. Hockey on ESPN is going to be way, way, way behind the NBA in the hierarchy, and I'm interested to see how much coverage it actually gets, especially in playoff time, as the seasons overlap.
You’d have to imagine that if ESPN is willing to do this kind of investment in hockey with all that’s going on right now they plan on putting a lot behind it. I’m wondering if numbers are showing that, with people spending far more time in front of their TVs, that hockey is holding eyeballs more than say college basketball. I mean for me it’s the only sport I can watch the whole game outside of Pats games
 

Ale Xander

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I hope Gary Thorne is part of the contract
Yes.

What is Bill Clement doing, too, may I ask? (I prefer him over Melrose. But the rift between Thorne and Levy is so much greater, I concur)

I do think this is bad for College Women's Basketball as there is a conflict on many nights.

But great for the league and for the viewing of most (i.e. not Baseball Jones) people

I'm assuming ESPN keeps their share of the NBA with Turner instead of not reducing CWB coverage.
 

Sandwich Pick

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Yes.

What is Bill Clement doing, too, may I ask? (I prefer him over Melrose. But the rift between Thorne and Levy is so much greater, I concur)

I do think this is bad for College Women's Basketball as there is a conflict on many nights.

But great for the league and for the viewing of most (i.e. not Baseball Jones) people

I'm assuming ESPN keeps their share of the NBA with Turner instead of not reducing CWB coverage.
Clement retired about a week before this season. He had been doing the Flyers local broadcast for about a decade.
 

RedOctober3829

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ESPN getting the broadcast rights will give John Buccigross a bigger platform as him and Steve Levy are/were the leading hockey voices on the network with Barry Melrose analyzing. Kenny Albert may be calling games on ESPN instead of NBC now since he also does Rangers games on 98.7 ESPN NY. That would open the door for Mike Tirico to be the clear #1 voice at NBC.
 

cshea

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I love Bucci but I hope they keep him far, far away from the broadcast booth. He is one of the worst pxp guys I've ever heard. He just doesn't have the voice for it. Nails on a chalk board. Let him be the studio guy.

I loved Gary Thorne. Steve Levy and Darren Pang were also great. Pang works for St. Louis, not sure he'd go back if they asked.

For nostalgia's sake:

View: https://youtu.be/yJJPivHWy2k
 

joe dokes

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Too bad Tirico is gone from ABC/ESPN. He is my current favorite hockey pbp guy.
 

TFP

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With PGA Tour Live going to ESPN+ next year as well, it's now a no brainer subscription for me.
 

Ale Xander

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Oct 31, 2013
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Just 25 games for ESPN/ABC?

Who gets the 3/7 of the Finals remaining?

I'm disappointed
 

McDrew

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This solves the "I want to pay one person one amount of money to get all Bruins games" problem I had.
 

Ale Xander

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This solves the "I want to pay one person one amount of money to get all Bruins games" problem I had.
Bruins will get above average, but the average team will get 2 of these ESPN/ABC regular season games per year. 5 more for ESPN+
 
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McDrew

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I'm out-of-market. As I understand it NHLTV is being rolled into ESPN+. This means I can get all the (what is currently) NHL.TV and the ESPN+ Exclusives with the same subscription. Isn't that all of the games now, or does NBC still have a few that I'd need to find alternatives for?
 

TFP

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Yeah my read is that all the out of market games will be on ESPN+ like NHL.tv was now.
 

Ale Xander

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I'm out-of-market. As I understand it NHLTV is being rolled into ESPN+. This means I can get all the (what is currently) NHL.TV and the ESPN+ Exclusives with the same subscription. Isn't that all of the games now, or does NBC still have a few that I'd need to find alternatives for?
Yeah my read is that all the out of market games will be on ESPN+ like NHL.tv was now.
You guys are correct. I was solely going by Domer's post of 75 games.

"Additionally, the NHL’s out-of-market streaming package, with more than 1,000 games (formerly on NHL.TV), will now be available for fans to stream only as part of an ESPN+ subscription."
 

LogansDad

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So, my reading of it is that I will need to switch to ESPN+ for my NHL.tv content, but will also need to keep my Sling for games on NBCSN and NHLN. I can't tell if this is going to save me money or not.
 

kenneycb

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NBCSN is not going to be a thing by the end of the year. I believe they're shifting games to USA so not sure how that impacts your decision.
 

tonyandpals

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I'm out-of-market. As I understand it NHLTV is being rolled into ESPN+. This means I can get all the (what is currently) NHL.TV and the ESPN+ Exclusives with the same subscription. Isn't that all of the games now, or does NBC still have a few that I'd need to find alternatives for?
Gotcha. Out of market is the key piece then.

I'm going to continue to churn the FUBO.tv free trials as I'm in market.
 

yeahlunchbox

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I love Bucci but I hope they keep him far, far away from the broadcast booth. He is one of the worst pxp guys I've ever heard. He just doesn't have the voice for it. Nails on a chalk board. Let him be the studio guy.

I loved Gary Thorne. Steve Levy and Darren Pang were also great. Pang works for St. Louis, not sure he'd go back if they asked.

For nostalgia's sake:

View: https://youtu.be/yJJPivHWy2k
My cousin had an extra ticket to this game and brought me. He won $500 on the over and $500 on the Bruins. After the game we did a pub crawl and right before my first ever scorpion bowl he told me, "if you want to get drunk and full cheap and fast, go to a Chinese restaurant." For my 40th birthday in December he got me a cameo from PJ Stock chirping me for my new found old age. Truly that day is the gift that keeps on giving.
 

cshea

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Bucci is nails on a chalkboard bad at PBP so that sucks, but was inevitable. Great guy for hockey but just the worst PBP guy around. They also should leave Wshynski behind the paywall so nobody needs to be involuntarily subjected to the vomit coming out of his mouth. I thought Melrose was dead by now. Too bad.

Other than that, good stuff. Traded Edzo for Ray Ferraro, huge upgrade.

Hope Levy is lead pbp. He is great at hockey (not so much football).
 

burstnbloom

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Jul 12, 2005
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I like Ferraro but feeling kind of uninspired by these choices. I don't know why but I expected ESPN to make some bold choices with their broadcast and studio teams to make the broadcasts more exciting. I'm excited to never see Keith Jones again but a whole bunch of meh in that list. I don't know why I thought that now that it's happened and its ESPN and they don't really ever do anything bold.

Oh well, hopefully their game presentation is better than the trash heap at NBC.
 

Ale Xander

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Oct 31, 2013
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Where is KT going? NHLN? New NESN host? (they’d never afford her)

And Levy? Uggh

more Seanie, Hextall and Wisch please