Article: The Wild Are About To Play A Game ESPN Is Trying To Hide From the World

[Tom Schreier]

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[1Brotherbill]

Sigh, this again.  The Western conference is over half the country spread across three time zones.  

[greg]

Yes it's ridiculous.  It seems like the Wild and especially their fans don't matter.  10pm start on a weeknight?  That's one of thr many reasons the NHL is a bush league compared to most of the other major league sports.

[Fezig]

Between all of the ESPN's and TNT this could be played earlier. Even if it's on during another playoff game, the new fangled remote controls allow us to flip back and forth between games. Many TV's even give us a new jiggered way of having two screens on at one time! 

[FredJohnson]

The problem is the NHL sold the cup broadcast rights to one entity. That means said entity can dictate the game times. Shortsighted decisions by The Penguin again!

[Sam]

3 hours ago, Fezig said:

Between all of the ESPN's and TNT this could be played earlier. Even if it's on during another playoff game, the new fangled remote controls allow us to flip back and forth between games. Many TV's even give us a new jiggered way of having two screens on at one time! 

Yeah, what’s with the new remotes? I miss the old standard cable television where everything was live when you changed the channel. What do they call it now, a fire stick or something? And no, I’m not an old fart. 

[raithis]

6 hours ago, Fezig said:

Between all of the ESPN's and TNT this could be played earlier. Even if it's on during another playoff game, the new fangled remote controls allow us to flip back and forth between games. Many TV's even give us a new jiggered way of having two screens on at one time! 

Yeah, that isn't going to happen.  Allowing that would mean that people would often do it during commercials.  Sports leagues and networks like ESPN are all about those advertising and gambling dollars. 

They used to play multiple games at a time years ago, but as both the league and the broadcasters found new ways to bring in money from advertising and gambling, the focus has shifted more to making the most from that - and it's not so late for people to make their wagers in Vegas.

It's for the money.  The fans are secondary.

I don't have to like it, but I understand why it is the way it is and why the choice was made to put the game in the time slot it was put in.

[Scalptrash]

Just boycott it and don't watch. I'm going to skip, and if by some miracle, the Wild win, I'll watch the replay tomorrow. Nothing speaks like viewership numbers for that all important advertising and gambling revenue. They will get the numbers in Vegas, but if half the viewers don't show up, that sends a message.

BTW, you're kidding yourself if you think it will start at 10. It will be 10:15 at the absolute earliest. They need those extra 15-20 minutes of additional ad revenue too.

[mnfaninnc]

It was 11 my time for the "scheduled" start. By then, I had drifted off to sleep. One nice thing about not having to be on my phone or computer all the time is that I can block out the noise, picked it up this morning without knowing any outcome. Fast forward through the commercials and intermissions and it was about 1.5 hours of watch time. 

I agree with playing the games at the regular local time. For us, Kaprizov has to be a good enough draw for others nationally to watch. Personally, I think going to the '78s or '80s will make us more enticing to watch, and give the top line that flash they need. 

In theory, this lineup should work, but in practice it's disastrous. For instance, the Florida-Tampa Bay game was well in hand with a FL 6-2 win. People were probably ready to switch stations. East Coast bias reigns in the league. However, the Canes got an early start, and the last New York City area team had to start early. 

You can stagger the games properly on the weekends, but weeknight games deserve to be in the proper time slots. Staggering the 3rd periods might be the best strategy overall during the weeknights. Honestly, I don't think many people are going to watch 8 hours of hockey on a weeknight.