There’s nothing that screams hockey more than the NHL on NBC introduction playing with Doc Emrick’s voice blaring through your television in your living room or at a bar. This offseason, Doc Emrick, the head commentator at NBC for years retired, and there’s no real frontrunner as a replacement. While names such as John Forslund or Brendan Burke have came to many people’s attention, they have contracts already signed with the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders. Kenny Albert may take the role.

After Mike Milbury was sent out of the bubble by NBC for some sexually suggestive comments, and Jeremy Roenick’s departure, and Ray Ferraro doing the majority of his work with TSN Canada now, the NHL on NBC is suddenly very short-staffed. The NHL’s contract with NBC expires this offseason, and it is apparent that ESPN has interest, but NBC will fight to keep their broadcasting rights to the National Hockey League for at least the next ten years. ESPN has had broadcasting rights to the NHL before, as ESPN and ABC broadcasted games from 1992-2004.

Is ESPN and hockey a fit?

The idea of a partnership with ESPN for the NHL seems crazy, especially considering how much NBC has helped grow the game in the United States.

ESPN is known for their lack of hockey coverage and minimal knowledge of the sport on all platforms, whether it be their social media or their TV networks. In fact, ESPN’s own Max Kellerman said on the air, “… nobody really cares about hockey… it’s not one of the four major sports.” This received quite the amount of backlash on social media from angry hockey fans, and rightfully so. While this is certainly an ignorant take, out of the four major sports in the United States (MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL), hockey performs the worst by far. There are a few reasons for this fate, and ESPN might be able to address each of those reasons. So, ESPN does have the potential to be a good fit for the NHL.

Of course, if ESPN were to cover the NHL, they would need to hire a group of commentators and expand and solidify its hockey coverage, but those things would be addressed should ESPN jump the gun and get a deal done with the NHL.

Why is the NHL so far behind? How can ESPN help?

1. Geographic Locations

Quite obviously, hockey is Canada’s sport. Pretty much anywhere in Canada, hockey is the dominant sport as it is a key part of Canadian culture and has been since the invention of the sport. However, the same can’t be said about the United States, where NBC and ESPN both broadcast from.

The reality is the love for hockey in the United States is regional. While hockey has grown drastically in unexpected places like Texas, Vegas, and Nashville over the last decade, hockey isn’t popular in all of the United States like baseball, basketball, and football are.

The majority of America’s hockey fans are in northern states like Minnesota or Michigan, or crammed in the Northeast in places like Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey.

Hockey is a foreign concept to many areas in the Midwest, South, and West, While teams like the Hurricanes, Predators, Stars, and Golden Knights have excellent fans and good attendance, the regional devotion to hockey still lags behind other sports in these areas.

Right now, ESPN broadcasts a lot of baseball, basketball, and college football. College football is big in areas where hockey is not, like West Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and others. While of course the climate, and unfortunately, financial situations aren’t always ideal for hockey in these areas, the exposure of hockey on a major network like ESPN across the country can draw interest from these unsuspecting geographical areas.

Right now, California has three NHL teams and Texas has one. This seemed like it would be a fantasy a few decades ago, but the game is expanding and ESPN can certainly speed up the process.

2. Marketing Strategies

Out of the four major sports, the NHL does the worst at marketing the game by far, which is a prominent reason the league is behind others.

Through marketing, advertising, and powerful sports networks, other sports are able to attract more people and help grow the game more easily. While NBC Sports is a big group, it doesn’t match what other sports have in networks such as CBS, ESPN, and ABC.

The NHL also doesn’t do a great job marketing its superstars and teams to EXTERNAL audiences. Sure, while watching NHL Network, or the commercials of an NBC-broadcasted NHL game, you likely will see an advertisement showcasing a player’s talent or an upcoming game. But think outside of those situations. With the exception of a major playoff game on NBC, where advertising is still minimal, hockey is barely advertised outside of when it is actually being broadcasted.

This is a major problem, and while the NHL needs to completely revamp its marketing system and a deal with ESPN wouldn’t solve all of the league’s marketing problems, a major TV deal would grow the game economically and in terms of popularity.

In short, ESPN does a fantastic job marketing their sports, and that’s why their ratings are so high. For a sport like hockey that needs it, if ESPN is willing to pursue a deal with the NHL, the NHL should be all ears.

3. Emphasis on Big Market Teams

NBC has done their fair share of growing the game, with bone-chilling broadcasts with legendary commentators. But, over the last ten years, the vast majority of NBC’s broadcasts have included some combination of the following teams- Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Washington Capitals.

While it makes perfect sense that the teams NBC wants to broadcast the most are ones playing in big American markets, the strategy is actually quite flawed for a plethora of reasons.

• Fans preferring local broadcasts– If a fan of a team like the Boston Bruins is being broadcasted on NBC or NBCSN 15-20 times a year, a national television broadcast doesn’t carry the same significance as it would to a Coyotes fan, who may get only one or two a year. As a result, the Bruin fan would likely rather watch their own announcers and commentators, lowering NBC’s ratings.
• Shifting interest– As teams like the Red Wings and Blackhawks move down the standings, and teams such the Penguins and Capitals have experienced early playoff exits, hockey fans have had an increased interest in young players and teams that are on the rise. Seeing players such as Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Elias Petterson, Mathew Barzal, and Nikita Kucherov will likely gain more viewers than the same teams being rotated in a cycle.
• Failure to showcase all teams- If NBC’s sole focus is to advertise big market teams, that is only prioritizing one-third of the league and leaving the rest in the dust. If you look at every other major sport, their major networks do a good job of showcasing teams from all around the league, attracting all audiences. If major sports networks become comfortable showing teams from all areas, that suddenly grows the market.

ESPN can fix all of these things. By spacing out teams somewhat more evenly like they do with the rest of their sports, the market will expand as it will include more young talents that are attention-grabbing. In short, ESPN has a golden chance to capitalize on NBC’s shortcomings, as long as it can improve its hockey coverage and bring in the right people to do so.

John Smark