Abysmal TV ratings should have swayed NHL

By: JOHN MAFFEI - Staff Writer | Thursday, February 17, 2005 11:46 PM PST ∞

In the solar system that is sports on TV, the NHL is one of the farthest planets from the sun.

Not only does the NHL rank behind Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA in ratings and revenue, it gets its collective butt kicked by professional golf, NASCAR, college basketball, the Professional Bowlers Association tour and poker.

Even the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show lifts it leg on the NHL.

And that was before NHL officials announced Wednesday that the 2004-2005 season had been canceled.

In one of the great miscalculations in sports history, NHL officials and players actually thought people outside Canada give a darn about their game.

If the 0.2 ratings the league got last year on ESPN2 didn't tell them otherwise, then the 0.4 rating ESPN2 has averaged with second-tier college basketball as a fill-in for the NHL should.

The NFL's current TV deals are worth $17.6 billion.

The NHL signed a deal with sports-starved NBC last year with no up-front rights fees. NBC has a similar deal with the Arena Football League, which isn't exactly America's pastime.

Each NFL team gets about $77 million in TV dollars each season.

Major League Baseball and NBA teams get about $15 million a season in national TV revenue. NHL teams get about $4 million a season from ESPN. The league's two highest-paid players, Peter Forsberg and Jaromir Jagr, make more than twice that.

An America Online survey showed only 18 percent of respondents said they'd miss the NHL.

ESPNEWS showed 69 percent of those polled said they don't care the season was canceled.

Hockey is a great sport in person.

Obviously, it doesn't translate on TV.

Clearly by the TV ratings and rights fees, the NHL has slipped into the secondary-sports league status.

Is there hope? Maybe.

ESPN slashed its rights fees to the NHL by 44 percent and drastically cut the number of games it carried. ABC doesn't want the league except for the playoffs. NBC only wants it if it can get it for free.

The new male-oriented Spike TV and maybe even Time Warner's TNT and TBS might be interested in a package of games, but at a bargain-basement price.

The lack of a sweetheart TV deal created a do-or-die situation for the NHL.

Since it didn't do, it died this season.

And next season and seasons beyond are clearly on life support.

All-Star Weekend

Coverage of the NBA All-Star Game tips off today at 4 p.m., with the All-Star Celebrity Game on ESPN followed by the Rookie Challenge at 6 p.m., on TNT.

Saturday at 5 p.m., TNT has the slam dunk contest and the 3-point Shootout.

The all-star game is 5 p.m. Sunday on TNT.

Good riddance

The folks at Fox Sports Net came to their senses and mercifully canceled "I, Max" after a disastrous six-month run.

The show featuring Max Kellerman drew a 0.0 national rating. Loosely translated that means if you mistakenly had your TV tuned to that program and walked out of the room, the dog would follow and the kids' potato growing in a jar would cover its eyes.

The egotistical Kellerman, who had a good gig at ESPN, turned his back on the network that gave him a chance and accepted an $850,000 a year deal with Fox. Bad move, Max.

Now if Fox would follow and cancel "Best Damn Sports Show Period" all would be right in the world. That show was marginally watchable with a cast of thousands and Chris Rose as the host. With the cast cut to two, Rose gone, the show trimmed from two hours to one and Tom Arnold hosting, the show in a word ---- sucks.

On the links

ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC are rolling out the big guns for next week's Accenture Match Play at La Costa Resort and Spa.

ESPNEWS will have live coverage of the brackets at 4 p.m., on Monday.

"SportsCenter" will broadcast live every day from La Costa, starting Tuesday.

Coverage of the 64-player field begins Wednesday at 11 a.m., and continues Thursday and Friday on ESPN. ABC takes over Saturday and Sunday.

Mike Tirico hosts the network coverage with Paul Azinger and Nick Faldo in the booth with him.

Radio waves

The Mighty 1090 has picked up Fox Sports Radio to fill programming shortfalls. Bad move. The night shows are awful and the weekend programs are worse. I realize all local is expensive, but this is bad, bad radio at any price.

John Fricke, late of The Mighty 1090, has landed at ESPN Radio in Denver. John Kentera, Fricke's partner at The Mighty 1090, turned down a job offer at the same station.

Executives at The Mighty 1090 are in negotiations to add two stations ---- one AM and one FM ---- to fill some of the dead spots in the station's coverage area and to act as an outlet for overflow play-by-play.

The Chargers are still negotiating with a number of radio stations on a new deal, but word is the team wants $3 million in rights fees, which will narrow the field quickly.

Around the dial

Julie Browman, who worked at San Diego's Channel 10, is now with Altitude Sports in Denver, working the sidelines on Nuggets games. Former San Diego State basketball and volleyball star Chris Marlowe is the Nuggets' play-by-play man on Altitude.

John Maffei's TV/Radio Column appears every Friday. He can be reached at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.

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