ECAC Finals Weekend not on TV

[Jim Hyla]

FYI - I haven't worked for CBS College Sports in 5 years. Where was that info from?

And I had nothing to do with the inability to get the games on a cable/satellite channel somewhere, so don't blame me ... But I'd suggest blaming the league office isn't really fair either.  I know the efforts they made, and no one wanted it.  Would've cost more than the whole budget they have.

For Hockey East, NESN has always been the home, locally. It just so happens to be available on DirecTV too - but that's neither here nor there to NBC - which wants to hone in on that territory - especially (mostly) because Notre Dame will be in Hockey East in a year and a half - and NBC/Notre Dame are joined at the hip.

Its totally fair to blame the league office, because they've created an unmarketable tournament that no one wants to watch an hour south of the league's southernmost team, and multiple hours south of the league's furthest south team that actually has fans. What's a total embarrassment is that the AHA is being televised and not the ECAC. When did our league become less marketable than the worst league in the country? Hagwell has to go, because he's going to run the league into the ground.

Please explain to me how the location of the tournament has anything to do with televising it. Do the viewers really care where it's being played? You mean if it was played in Albany there would be more advertisers for a TV broadcast? ::screwy:: I hate the move to AC, but it has nothing to do with no TV. The fact that it's in AC is terrible, the fact that there is no TV is terrible. This is a true, true, but unrelated situation.

[css228]

FYI - I haven't worked for CBS College Sports in 5 years. Where was that info from?

And I had nothing to do with the inability to get the games on a cable/satellite channel somewhere, so don't blame me ... But I'd suggest blaming the league office isn't really fair either.  I know the efforts they made, and no one wanted it.  Would've cost more than the whole budget they have.

For Hockey East, NESN has always been the home, locally. It just so happens to be available on DirecTV too - but that's neither here nor there to NBC - which wants to hone in on that territory - especially (mostly) because Notre Dame will be in Hockey East in a year and a half - and NBC/Notre Dame are joined at the hip.

Its totally fair to blame the league office, because they've created an unmarketable tournament that no one wants to watch an hour south of the league's southernmost team, and multiple hours south of the league's furthest south team that actually has fans. What's a total embarrassment is that the AHA is being televised and not the ECAC. When did our league become less marketable than the worst league in the country? Hagwell has to go, because he's going to run the league into the ground.

Please explain to me how the location of the tournament has anything to do with televising it. Do the viewers really care where it's being played? You mean if it was played in Albany there would be more advertisers for a TV broadcast? ::screwy:: I hate the move to AC, but it has nothing to do with no TV. The fact that it's in AC is terrible, the fact that there is no TV is terrible. This is a true, true, but unrelated situation.

Raises the expenses for a regional network such as Time Warner Cable Sports to come and do the broadcast, which makes it less appealing to broadcast, and you're not going too get a local regional network from outside the league footprint to broadcast either (like a CSN or The Comcast Network). Its also just another example of the league office being generally incompetent.

[ursusminor]

FYI - I haven't worked for CBS College Sports in 5 years. Where was that info from?

And I had nothing to do with the inability to get the games on a cable/satellite channel somewhere, so don't blame me ... But I'd suggest blaming the league office isn't really fair either.  I know the efforts they made, and no one wanted it.  Would've cost more than the whole budget they have.

For Hockey East, NESN has always been the home, locally. It just so happens to be available on DirecTV too - but that's neither here nor there to NBC - which wants to hone in on that territory - especially (mostly) because Notre Dame will be in Hockey East in a year and a half - and NBC/Notre Dame are joined at the hip.

Its totally fair to blame the league office, because they've created an unmarketable tournament that no one wants to watch an hour south of the league's southernmost team, and multiple hours south of the league's furthest south team that actually has fans. What's a total embarrassment is that the AHA is being televised and not the ECAC. When did our league become less marketable than the worst league in the country? Hagwell has to go, because he's going to run the league into the ground.

Please explain to me how the location of the tournament has anything to do with televising it. Do the viewers really care where it's being played? You mean if it was played in Albany there would be more advertisers for a TV broadcast? ::screwy:: I hate the move to AC, but it has nothing to do with no TV. The fact that it's in AC is terrible, the fact that there is no TV is terrible. This is a true, true, but unrelated situation.

They are related in that they both illustrate incompetence at the league level.

[adamw]

Its totally fair to blame the league office, because they've created an unmarketable tournament that no one wants to watch an hour south of the league's southernmost team, and multiple hours south of the league's furthest south team that actually has fans. What's a total embarrassment is that the AHA is being televised and not the ECAC. When did our league become less marketable than the worst league in the country? Hagwell has to go, because he's going to run the league into the ground.

Nothwithstanding as someone else said - what does the location of the tournament have to do with TV (if anything, it improves the odds) .... Do you understand the decision to go to Atlantic City was not Steve Hagwell's?  It was a 9-3 vote of athletic directors - the people that decide on any major decision, including Cornell's and everyone else's.  Hagwell had nothing to do with it.

[marty]

FYI - I haven't worked for CBS College Sports in 5 years. Where was that info from?

And I had nothing to do with the inability to get the games on a cable/satellite channel somewhere, so don't blame me ... But I'd suggest blaming the league office isn't really fair either.  I know the efforts they made, and no one wanted it.  Would've cost more than the whole budget they have.

For Hockey East, NESN has always been the home, locally. It just so happens to be available on DirecTV too - but that's neither here nor there to NBC - which wants to hone in on that territory - especially (mostly) because Notre Dame will be in Hockey East in a year and a half - and NBC/Notre Dame are joined at the hip.

Its totally fair to blame the league office, because they've created an unmarketable tournament that no one wants to watch an hour south of the league's southernmost team, and multiple hours south of the league's furthest south team that actually has fans. What's a total embarrassment is that the AHA is being televised and not the ECAC. When did our league become less marketable than the worst league in the country? Hagwell has to go, because he's going to run the league into the ground.

Please explain to me how the location of the tournament has anything to do with televising it. Do the viewers really care where it's being played? You mean if it was played in Albany there would be more advertisers for a TV broadcast? ::screwy:: I hate the move to AC, but it has nothing to do with no TV. The fact that it's in AC is terrible, the fact that there is no TV is terrible. This is a true, true, but unrelated situation.

It is possible that Time Warner would have picked it up from RPI TV the way that they did the Freakout this year.  Possible but not a cinch.  I will watch to see if both Channel 1 and 3 are busy during the tournament on Friday and Saturday.  If the announced conflict is only playing on Channel 3 then it is likely that Albany plus RPI-TV would have worked for TW.

[Beeeej]

Nothwithstanding as someone else said - what does the location of the tournament have to do with TV (if anything, it improves the odds) .... Do you understand the decision to go to Atlantic City was not Steve Hagwell's?  It was a 9-3 vote of athletic directors - the people that decide on any major decision, including Cornell's and everyone else's.  Hagwell had nothing to do with it.

Who had the meetings with the Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce?  The twelve athletic directors?

[Jim Hyla]

Nothwithstanding as someone else said - what does the location of the tournament have to do with TV (if anything, it improves the odds) .... Do you understand the decision to go to Atlantic City was not Steve Hagwell's?  It was a 9-3 vote of athletic directors - the people that decide on any major decision, including Cornell's and everyone else's.  Hagwell had nothing to do with it.

Who had the meetings with the Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce?  The twelve athletic directors?

So it must be that Hagwell met with AC, brought back a lousy proposal that the ADs voted to accept, right? This is like the coaches complaining that they don't like the full mask. Then convince your schools not to vote for it. No one comes down and tells the schools this is it, the schools vote on a specific proposal. If the proposal is not what they think, then they have lousy lawyers.

[jkahn]

It's certainly disappointing to have to be watching on the small, sometimes fuzzy, screen.  Back in 2000 I switched to Directv and got it installed hours before the ECACs, mainly for that purpose.  It's been great for college hockey, and it's sad that the ECAC couldn't find one of those stations (like MSG++) to cover the games.
A few of us old-timers even remember back in the circa '72-'73 to '74-'75 era when PBS stations in the Northeast carried a Saturday afternoon ECAC game of the week.  Now we can't even get on TV with hundreds of stations out there.  Maybe the ECAC should've tried some longshot possibilities like ION or Spike (perhaps they did for all I know). It's a way for those networks to make more people aware that they exist. Heck, even TRU TV is showing NCAA BB games tonight.

[Trotsky]

Hagwell has to go, because he's going to run the league into the ground.

Seems to me that blaming Hagwell for the league's lack of money and marketability is a little like blaming Sandy Alderson for the Mets' lack of money and marketability.  At the end of the day, it's ownership, not management.  The ECAC member schools are not willing to front the money for things like TV contracts and marketing and the championship venue, and not willing to erode academic qualifications that hold back the league from competing with the other majors.

Put that way, it is not an unmitigated bad thing.  It might be fun to be Minnesota from time to time, but do you really want to be Minnesota all the time?

[marty]

Nothwithstanding as someone else said - what does the location of the tournament have to do with TV (if anything, it improves the odds) .... Do you understand the decision to go to Atlantic City was not Steve Hagwell's?  It was a 9-3 vote of athletic directors - the people that decide on any major decision, including Cornell's and everyone else's.  Hagwell had nothing to do with it.

Who had the meetings with the Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce?  The twelve athletic directors?

So it must be that Hagwell met with AC, brought back a lousy proposal that the ADs voted to accept, right? This is like the coaches complaining that they don't like the full mask. Then convince your schools not to vote for it. No one comes down and tells the schools this is it, the schools vote on a specific proposal. If the proposal is not what they think, then they have lousy lawyers.

Now I am seeing

beeeej@ecachockey.com

Don't click on the above or shagwell might get wind of the coup in progress.

[adamw]

Nothwithstanding as someone else said - what does the location of the tournament have to do with TV (if anything, it improves the odds) .... Do you understand the decision to go to Atlantic City was not Steve Hagwell's?  It was a 9-3 vote of athletic directors - the people that decide on any major decision, including Cornell's and everyone else's.  Hagwell had nothing to do with it.

Who had the meetings with the Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce?  The twelve athletic directors?

The league solicits bids.  The league office takes the bids, and brings them to the ADs to vote.  The ADs went with Atlantic City because it promised a large guarantee that no other place would do.  And there's too many coaches that don't want to be in Lake Placid because of the large ice surface.  And no one wanted to be back Albany except maybe Union and RPI.  So options were limited.

[adamw]

It's certainly disappointing to have to be watching on the small, sometimes fuzzy, screen.  Back in 2000 I switched to Directv and got it installed hours before the ECACs, mainly for that purpose.  It's been great for college hockey, and it's sad that the ECAC couldn't find one of those stations (like MSG++) to cover the games.
A few of us old-timers even remember back in the circa '72-'73 to '74-'75 era when PBS stations in the Northeast carried a Saturday afternoon ECAC game of the week.  Now we can't even get on TV with hundreds of stations out there.  Maybe the ECAC should've tried some longshot possibilities like ION or Spike (perhaps they did for all I know). It's a way for those networks to make more people aware that they exist. Heck, even TRU TV is showing NCAA BB games tonight.

Jeff - that is not the issue.  A TV network needs to have the infrastructure in place to produce a remote broadcast.  If it doesn, the ECAC would have to produce the broadcast itself, hiring indepdendent production companies. To do so costs about $50,000 once you include labor costs - and all of the buildings, including Albany, have union employees that need to get paid.  The league was not willing to pay that cost.

[adamw]

Hagwell has to go, because he's going to run the league into the ground.

Seems to me that blaming Hagwell for the league's lack of money and marketability is a little like blaming Sandy Alderson for the Mets' lack of money and marketability.  At the end of the day, it's ownership, not management.  The ECAC member schools are not willing to front the money for things like TV contracts and marketing and the championship venue, and not willing to erode academic qualifications that hold back the league from competing with the other majors.

Put that way, it is not an unmitigated bad thing.  It might be fun to be Minnesota from time to time, but do you really want to be Minnesota all the time?

This is exactly right Greg.  The ECAC schools have to be willing to do certain things, and they are not - and somehow the league office becomes a scapegoat ... Perhaps there are perfectly good reasons all around for why things are the way they are.  The ECAC is what it is.  Embrace it.  That said, it would be nice to figure out a way to get on TV.

[releck97]

Nothwithstanding as someone else said - what does the location of the tournament have to do with TV (if anything, it improves the odds) .... Do you understand the decision to go to Atlantic City was not Steve Hagwell's?  It was a 9-3 vote of athletic directors - the people that decide on any major decision, including Cornell's and everyone else's.  Hagwell had nothing to do with it.

Who had the meetings with the Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce?  The twelve athletic directors?

The league solicits bids.  The league office takes the bids, and brings them to the ADs to vote.  The ADs went with Atlantic City because it promised a large guarantee that no other place would do.  And there's too many coaches that don't want to be in Lake Placid because of the large ice surface.  And no one wanted to be back Albany except maybe Union and RPI.  So options were limited.

Yet, RPI is producing this year's tourney for the internets. I would think that the only thing missing is the network willing to take the feed.

[BMac]

Just hold it in Lynah, dammit.