NBC Stanley Cup bullsheot

[Beaver-Cleaver]

NBC should be a non-player. I'm sick of Bettman thinking they need to grow the sport. Frak that. The NHL makes enough money to stay alive, pay players, put on a national network of tv fans, and thrive. 4th sport? Fine. Baseball sucks a$$ with more viewers. Who cares. NBA sucks. Who cares?



NBC shows what? A total of 20 games per season, if that? Screw 'em.

Cater to the fans, not the "potential" fans.

Last year, ESPN and ABC proved they didn't give a damn about the IRL. Ratings were down to pre-2005 levels. THE most anticipated moment in motorsports dating back to Dale Earnhardt's Daytona 500 win ended up being shown live on ESPN CLASSIC. The moment most of the IRL fanbase has waited years for, Danica Patrick's win at Twin Ring Motegi, and most everybody was not able to see it.

IRL moved to Versus (with the exception of the Indy 500 and three other races ABC was forced to take in order to have broadcast rights to the 500), and ratings have gone up for the first time in years. No more waiting two hours for a tennis match to end just to find out the race is being shafted over to ESPNCL. It was unpopular at the time, but now Tony George looks like a genius for signing with Versus.

IRL's given up the proverbial "We need all of our races on broadcast in order to survive" and it's working out better for them.

The bottom-line: VERSUS IS GETTING HIGHER RATINGS THAN ABC!

So, why does the NHL need NBC, who doesn't care about the sport?