Frozen Four 2012

[Weder]

ESPN, in their infinite wisdom, demotes the Frozen Four semifinals down to ESPNU and the title game down to ESPN2:

http://puckthemedia.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/espn-bumps-ncaa-hockey-title-game-off-to-espn2-because-espn-is-heroically-unafraid-of-being-stupid/

What did hockey get bumped for: World's Strongest Man Competition, Poker, or High School Cheerleading?

At least I'm not at the mercy of TV. I get to see the games live B-].

ESPN is carrying an NBA doubleheader the night of the championship game.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/scoreboard?date=20120407

I'm having a hard time getting worked up about the title game getting moved. How many people who get ESPN don't get ESPN2?
Moving the semifinals to ESPNU *is* a big deal, though, but I'm sure it's a calculated move to get people to complain to their cable companies and/or pony up extra money for the sports tier.

I don't think that has anything to do with it. How many college hockey fans are there? Probably just alumni of and people who live near big hockey schools (Cornell, Michigan, etc). And even within in that subset I don't think it's all that high a percentage (2 years ago I asked a friend that goes to BU if he was going to the Cornell-BU MSG game and his reaction was basically "I didn't know about that. They don't really publicize the hockey team at BU." Even here at Cornell, Lynah sells out every game but the student section seats only a few hundred. There are several thousand students). And then you have to consider how many college hockey fans will want to watch a game that doesn't include their favorite team. There is a much larger audience for NBA games than for college hockey.

Yeah, but I don't think you can look at it only from the standpoint of college hockey. It's part of a bigger strategy. ESPN will keep a handful of NCAA championship games on ESPN/ESPN2 and move the bulk of the rest of the coverage to ESPNU/ESPN3. Then it tells viewers to ask their cable companies to add ESPNU and, perhaps down the road, pressure the cable companies to move ESPNU from a sports tier to a basic or expanded basic package.

EDIT: The more I think about it, I think ESPN3 is the key piece here. By putting more events on ESPN3, and keeping ESPN3 access limited to those who subscribe to cable providers, ESPN is working to protect its most important revenue stream.