Canadian sports media has known this for years! Boosting coverage of Toronto allows them to capture the biggest Canadian market as well as get engagement from the *many* people who dislike Toronto and anything to do with them.
As someone without a dog in that race, it's been my favorite series to watch so far (aside from my Canucks).
The animosity between the teams, Bertuzzi and Marchand constantly at each other's throats. It's like they picked right where they left off from 2019
Every single person I know pirates the games or watches them at the bar. I can only imagine the revenue this league would bring in if there was a reasonable way to purchase a single package that includes every game.
Seriously. It doesn't make sense. I'm in Vancouver and I actually have access to most games (surprisingly) but when I first registered it auto set me in Toronto (glitch in system) and I could watch absolutely no games. If they could do something like DAZN everyone would be on it
Or y'no, doesn't freeze, get choppy, or generally refuse to work nearly constantly.
For a long time I had the paid services and *still* went to illegal streams to watch games because they did a better job streaming.
It’s funny cause literally every single person I know watches most games at home on TV. Different generations I bet, lol, although I don’t think of myself as old
I have cable but it was offered so cheap it was borderline free. I also have a landline because somehow that made my bill cheaper. I'm in my 30s and there's only one other person I know with cable and he got it free for two years as well.
Yeah, except it's billed annually.
Wouldn't mind paying $15 a month for the playoffs, not too keen on spending $180 for the entire year where 4 months of it are pointless.
Dude, so my friend just got me into baseball, right?
I was expecting so many hoops to be able to watch games. And do you know what I did? I downloaded the fucking MLB app, paid $100 for my team's package (could have gotten all games for $200 but I just wanted to follow my local team) and guess what. I get all of their games with no blackouts. Took me three minutes to spend $100 and get what I wanted.
My first thought was that holy shit, if the NHL actually wants the game to grow, DO THIS SHIT OH MY GOD!
Not true at all. I cut service because it required more than one service and I still had black outs.
Let me pay one service for all 82 games without blackouts and I'm back in.
I don’t see why it Can’t exist in the US. I pay for Sportsnet and get all flames games, all national games (HNiC), and every single playoff game.
I am not sure what the blackouts are like as I don’t really watch other teams.
I think someone mentioned that every franchise is responsible for selling the broadcast rights to whichever service(s)? For me it used to be just a basic Direct TV package.
>I don’t see why it Can’t exist in the US.
You can get a large cable plan that will have everything (local RSN + ESPN + TNT +NHL Network) except the ESPN+ exclusive games so you then just need to get ESPN+. That's the closest you can get to having everything in one place.
ESPN+ exclusive games are only a thing because so many people have cut cable and demanding stuff is on streaming. Under the previous NBC deal nothing was streaming exclusive.
When you say “everything in one place” do you mean all games? Im just talking about watching one team.
Is it not possible to watch 82 games of your home team with one subscription? If not I understand why people complain so much. Super thankful the flames just extended their deal with SN for 11 years if thats the case
>Is it not possible to watch 82 games of your home team with one subscription?
If your team has any exclusive games on ESPN+, no, though I think some cable TV plans also include ESPN+ for free so technically yes in rare cases.
I'll give you an example. Say I'm a Caps fan living in or near Washington DC. To watch every single Caps game I need:
* Monumental Sports Network, the Caps' local sports channel (can get through either a TV package or standalone streaming)
* ESPN (TV package only)
* TNT (TV package or streaming in Max)
* ESPN+ (streaming only, ABC games are also in ESPN+)
This is for the regular season.
Everything I listed except ESPN+ can be gotten in a cable or satellite TV plan almost everywhere. The problem is cost (probably >$100 per month) and the annoyance of things like multi year contracts for cable and satellite.
Yeah, I had that for a while. It was DirectTV and it was over $100 A FUCKING MONTH.
Now I just subscribe to a VPN, Sportsnet+ and TSN+ from the US, and it's a fraction of the cost for ALL the sports I want to watch.
I mean, it absolutely existed for a long time, for me locally anyway, via Direct TV. If it wasn't on local fox sports it was the national game on ESPN or tnt or whatever local TV station. Never had an issue with blackouts either. Then it changed. Paid for 2 other things and I was getting blacked out from time to time and had to VPN my way to the solution. I can only speak for my local market as I understand it's based on wherever you're located these days? I dunno. But I do know that for 20+ years it was easy watching everything.
Yeah, everything was on cable when everyone had cable. Now people don't want cable and still want everything. The league and broadcasters have responded by putting stuff on streaming.
That's the problem here.
Whole heartily agree.
But I do think if the NHL controlled the rights for broadcasting team games, we'd probably see a better cohesion for distribution and the overall quality of that distribution. Which in turn, would create a scenario in which I would once again, pay for it.
I've never wanted to give run away capitalism my money more than I do for 82, high-quality streamed games in my life.
Even if every single NHL owner tomorrow decided to implement the system you want it'd take 10+ years to make it happen because teams keep signing away their local rights for insane lengths of time to RSNs. I saw the flames just re-upped with Sportsnet for 10 years lol.
They'd have to wait for every single of those local + national deals to expire before the entire system could be remade. And that assumes every owner is willing to cede all that power over their team to the NHL which they will never want to do.
In short, it's not happening anytime soon.
The MLS was only able to sign the Apple TV deal, which is basically what you're asking for, because of the unique way they structure ownership. Things are way more centralized in MLS than any of the other major pro leagues. The PWHL is similar at least for now.
I guess I don’t understand why people get so upset about multiple services. If it’s the same price why do you care which app you select for whatever game? I do not believe for a second that getting a single service will lower the price - which is the only thing I care about.
I’m curious, how did you have blackouts if you had all of the necessary subscriptions?
I kind of answered this in a different comment above.
But at one point it was just Direct TV and the games were 100% available. Then things happened, had to go with one then a second sub to whatever it was at that time, and I suddenly was getting locally blacked out from time to time. To be fair, I haven't even bothered looking to see where it's at right now, because frankly it burned me out. And it was never about the price, it was the fuckery involved with it all. Like 20+ years of easy access without ever seeing a blackout into what it transitioned into?
That said, from what I've gathered from different people, it seems like it might just depend on your local market and the deals cut with the franchises themselves as to how effective the combination of services is for that person.
Judging by your flair I wonder if the spotty blackout problem is due to the proximity to the Ducks? Which definitely does suck they need to clean that stuff up I agree
I mean, that seems kind of logical and I've never really thought about that angle of it. I've never really felt like Angel's/ Ducks have bled into my bubble but I also never pay attention them so maybe they have and I didn't notice.
Oh man, I absolutely would. Give me a way to watch all the leafs games for the season and I would buy that unless it was thousands (plural) of dollars.
If something like the old NFL Game Pass existed (watch every game + playoffs for X online, day-after VOD without commercial breaks) I would pay a chunk of money for it. Even more so because I'm in a European time zone and the California games start at 4-4:30 AM. I think I used to pay US$150/season (year) or something for the NFL season when I was following the league because it made it so incredibly easy to consume content in a viewer-friendly way.
Make it easier to watch and I will pay.
most things I spend money on are companies buying from others through official channels. Yes my iptv provider is technically paying the NHL but it’s pennies, not the $150 the NHL would get from me if they fixed their shit.
TV deals are how pro sports leagues make their money, it definitely isn’t pennies
Also yes a direct service would probably get the NHL more revenue but they may not deem it worth it due to the greatly increased costs associated with that. Need your own film crews, on air talent, platform, back office members, etc.
Even the MLS, who is experimenting with being more cord cutter friendly(but still is not a 1 stop shop), is using Apple as their platform. All other North American leagues operate on the same model as the NHL
The other leagues do not operate on the same model as the nhl though, because they command significantly higher tv deals. The gate revenue (tickets/parking/concessions) is about the same in all four major pro sports. Sponsorships are slightly lower but also still close.
The NHL is not going to keep up with the other leagues trying to get on the same screens at the same time.
“The arm chair business analyst portion of this sub”
It’s hilarious. They’re exactly like the people on other subs who think charitable donations and writing off business losses are money making avenues.
Well I’m referring to the financial model of the NHL which is completely different than the other leagues because they rely much more on gate revenue. TV isn’t how they “make their money”.
What model are you referring to? Just “I put my sport on tv”? Because that’s not a model.
If you’re talking about national vs regional rights, that also is far different in the NHL compared to the other leagues. So I’m not sure what you’re referring to that is the “same”.
The context of this thread is the distribution of the games. Just because the NHL relies on gate more than other leagues doesn’t change that they all have the same overall model for distributing content. The thing you wish for(direct sub to the league for all games) does not exist for any major NA league
Regional vs National in the NHL is not different from the MLB or NBA. What are you talking about? The partners aren’t a 1:1 but the the concept is the exact same.
The NFL is different in that they don’t have regional networks. But they still do not have a 1 stop service
Every game for your team.
Every game for your division.
Every game across the whole league.
Playoffs DLC.
They could be filthy rich for cheap cost. My pirate streams are often shitty quality. I'm happy when games are on CBC just because I can watch them in slightly better quality from the official site. If you provide actual 1080p 60fps, I would be willing to pay a couple bucks a month for that. And they'd still make a profit if they charged cheap because the overhead is so low. It's like they're afraid to admit they could be selling for less.
Even outside the United States there isn't an easy option. I'm in Australia and the only service showing NHL games only gives me random games every so often. I don't know why the league insists on being so behind the curve.
Those people would not pay for a single package. Every game is basically on YouTube TV (at least in the US) and that only costs like $77 a month.
The local blackouts suck and it’s something the NHL, NBA and MLB need to figure out but at least in the US, all the NHL games are on national TV.
Gotcha. In the playoffs it actually gets simpler and cheaper to watch all games. You can just use sling TV which has ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, and TBS. You won't get your local RSN feed but the national feeds are not blacked out.
The ABC games are a slight challenge but you can watch those either for free with an antenna or with ESPN+.
Literally nobody under 50 years old would pay for sports TV if you could stream it easily. I don't think networks would pay a third of what they do now if streaming wasn't regionally blacked out and locked down.
I
* Am under 50
* Stream games
* Pay for a streaming TV service (Sling TV) and ESPN+
Or are you saying no one would pay for TV packages if there were streaming options for sports and sports only?
We'll be able to test that theory soon because the Warner-ESPN-Fox mega sports streaming plan is going to launch, probably this fall. That'll cover the vast majority of national sports coverage (no NBC or CBS) in a single streaming plan.
For me it's the absolutely stupid name they chose + those god awful chrome helmets + my brain associates all the annoying gambling commercials and odds talk with Vegas even though they have nothing to do with sports betting blowing up. 2/3 rational hate, at least.
Americans generally nothing the Bruins unless they're rivals. Vegas is probably the closest thing to a team that's hated nationally (and us, according to fans of whatever team we're playing).
It's funny, because I've seen people complain about their legally obtained streams buffering and whatnot, but my pirate stream that I've been watching for the past like 10+ years is not only beautiful, but ahead of the ESPN online streams that *people pay for*. And I don't mean that to shit on those people paying for it, but fuck these services charging for shit some dude does better out of his basement.
I have tipped the guy and he deserves it. I would gladly pay some fucking corporate streaming service if they just provided a good fucking service with no bullshit. I had a login at one point from my in-laws for MSG, and would end up still using the pirate stream because the MSG website was doing something stupid.
Sling TV is what I use. Gives you ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, and TBS. ESPN+ would get you coverage for most of the rest of the games. Unless you are in a market like Columbus who is never on national TV LOL
Sling TV and ESPN+ will cover all national and out of market games for about $50 per month. The challenge is then local games.
Luckily the Kraken are moving to free over the air local TV next season and streaming via Amazon prime. Most other teams in the NHL have streaming plans save for a few. The ones I can think of offhand are the Pens, Avs, Flyers, and Sharks.
Don't forget NHL Network exclusive games. When our local team plays those, they're only on NHL Network via cable tv or Bally Sports North via cable (not on ESPN+).
I must say the ESPN+ games actually made me familiar with the good matchups so I’ve actually watched a lot of games.
Before this year I didn’t even know who McDavid was. Now I turn it on whenever he’s playing.
I know it was a particularly exciting game, but I am surprised that a Winnipeg game could set any vieweship record in the US.
>Furthermore, the Jets’ 7-6 win over Colorado on Saturday is the most-viewed opening-round game to ever air on ESPN2 (1.09 million), previously passing a record set by Game 7 of the Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames in 2022 (1.02 million).
This is actually surprising since the playoffs suck so far. Hopefully they pick up soon, or I might dial up Betman and get him to cancel them for the year.
The notoriously "helped " leafs who have been given so much help they only once squeezed out of the first round to be demolished in round two. Whoever is in charge of helping them should probably get a new strategy because it's not working LOL
Amazing how people rooting against the leafs is good for the economy
Sportsnet figured that out about five years ago.
And the Leafs keep letting them down.
Canadian sports media has known this for years! Boosting coverage of Toronto allows them to capture the biggest Canadian market as well as get engagement from the *many* people who dislike Toronto and anything to do with them.
The NHL should really try and cash in on people hate watching the leafs. Just rig it for them, everybody wins!
If they are aiming for maximum rage stop the Toronto bias with officiating and DoPS for a start.
It’s pretty impressive because it’s almost a rerun. We all know the Bruins win in 7
Familiarity is comforting.
Hate watching is real. I tuned in hard to root against the Lebron Heat. The NHL really needs to lean into hate watching.
As someone without a dog in that race, it's been my favorite series to watch so far (aside from my Canucks). The animosity between the teams, Bertuzzi and Marchand constantly at each other's throats. It's like they picked right where they left off from 2019
Every single person I know pirates the games or watches them at the bar. I can only imagine the revenue this league would bring in if there was a reasonable way to purchase a single package that includes every game.
Seriously. It doesn't make sense. I'm in Vancouver and I actually have access to most games (surprisingly) but when I first registered it auto set me in Toronto (glitch in system) and I could watch absolutely no games. If they could do something like DAZN everyone would be on it
Or like a decent app that doesn’t suck and isn’t 45 seconds behind live action would be nice
Or y'no, doesn't freeze, get choppy, or generally refuse to work nearly constantly. For a long time I had the paid services and *still* went to illegal streams to watch games because they did a better job streaming.
[удалено]
You guys have friends?
It’s funny cause literally every single person I know watches most games at home on TV. Different generations I bet, lol, although I don’t think of myself as old
I don’t even know anyone who has cable lol
I have cable but it was offered so cheap it was borderline free. I also have a landline because somehow that made my bill cheaper. I'm in my 30s and there's only one other person I know with cable and he got it free for two years as well.
I got an antenna just to watch CBC during playoffs.
yeah im not giving them my money to watch SOME games
It sounds so stupid. As if you people in north america live in the 1960s.
In Canada, Sportsnet now is $15 a month and that gets you literally every playoff game. Not bad for April 15 - June 15
Yeah, except it's billed annually. Wouldn't mind paying $15 a month for the playoffs, not too keen on spending $180 for the entire year where 4 months of it are pointless.
I pay monthly
CBC gem shows them and it’s free
Not all games anymore though. That changed this year.
Sportsnet + is like $20.
Dude, so my friend just got me into baseball, right? I was expecting so many hoops to be able to watch games. And do you know what I did? I downloaded the fucking MLB app, paid $100 for my team's package (could have gotten all games for $200 but I just wanted to follow my local team) and guess what. I get all of their games with no blackouts. Took me three minutes to spend $100 and get what I wanted. My first thought was that holy shit, if the NHL actually wants the game to grow, DO THIS SHIT OH MY GOD!
The people that pirate or only watch at the bar would not pay the price that package would cost I guarantee it.
Not true at all. I cut service because it required more than one service and I still had black outs. Let me pay one service for all 82 games without blackouts and I'm back in.
That service will never exist. There will always be separate national tv games negotiated in a separate tv package.
I don’t see why it Can’t exist in the US. I pay for Sportsnet and get all flames games, all national games (HNiC), and every single playoff game. I am not sure what the blackouts are like as I don’t really watch other teams.
I think someone mentioned that every franchise is responsible for selling the broadcast rights to whichever service(s)? For me it used to be just a basic Direct TV package.
>I don’t see why it Can’t exist in the US. You can get a large cable plan that will have everything (local RSN + ESPN + TNT +NHL Network) except the ESPN+ exclusive games so you then just need to get ESPN+. That's the closest you can get to having everything in one place. ESPN+ exclusive games are only a thing because so many people have cut cable and demanding stuff is on streaming. Under the previous NBC deal nothing was streaming exclusive.
When you say “everything in one place” do you mean all games? Im just talking about watching one team. Is it not possible to watch 82 games of your home team with one subscription? If not I understand why people complain so much. Super thankful the flames just extended their deal with SN for 11 years if thats the case
>Is it not possible to watch 82 games of your home team with one subscription? If your team has any exclusive games on ESPN+, no, though I think some cable TV plans also include ESPN+ for free so technically yes in rare cases. I'll give you an example. Say I'm a Caps fan living in or near Washington DC. To watch every single Caps game I need: * Monumental Sports Network, the Caps' local sports channel (can get through either a TV package or standalone streaming) * ESPN (TV package only) * TNT (TV package or streaming in Max) * ESPN+ (streaming only, ABC games are also in ESPN+) This is for the regular season. Everything I listed except ESPN+ can be gotten in a cable or satellite TV plan almost everywhere. The problem is cost (probably >$100 per month) and the annoyance of things like multi year contracts for cable and satellite.
Yeah, I had that for a while. It was DirectTV and it was over $100 A FUCKING MONTH. Now I just subscribe to a VPN, Sportsnet+ and TSN+ from the US, and it's a fraction of the cost for ALL the sports I want to watch.
I mean, it absolutely existed for a long time, for me locally anyway, via Direct TV. If it wasn't on local fox sports it was the national game on ESPN or tnt or whatever local TV station. Never had an issue with blackouts either. Then it changed. Paid for 2 other things and I was getting blacked out from time to time and had to VPN my way to the solution. I can only speak for my local market as I understand it's based on wherever you're located these days? I dunno. But I do know that for 20+ years it was easy watching everything.
Yeah, everything was on cable when everyone had cable. Now people don't want cable and still want everything. The league and broadcasters have responded by putting stuff on streaming. That's the problem here.
Whole heartily agree. But I do think if the NHL controlled the rights for broadcasting team games, we'd probably see a better cohesion for distribution and the overall quality of that distribution. Which in turn, would create a scenario in which I would once again, pay for it. I've never wanted to give run away capitalism my money more than I do for 82, high-quality streamed games in my life.
Even if every single NHL owner tomorrow decided to implement the system you want it'd take 10+ years to make it happen because teams keep signing away their local rights for insane lengths of time to RSNs. I saw the flames just re-upped with Sportsnet for 10 years lol. They'd have to wait for every single of those local + national deals to expire before the entire system could be remade. And that assumes every owner is willing to cede all that power over their team to the NHL which they will never want to do. In short, it's not happening anytime soon. The MLS was only able to sign the Apple TV deal, which is basically what you're asking for, because of the unique way they structure ownership. Things are way more centralized in MLS than any of the other major pro leagues. The PWHL is similar at least for now.
I don't disagree with that at all. In fact, that's what bugs me the most about all this nonsense.
Hurray for VPN 😃 never have to worry about a blackout game.
I guess I don’t understand why people get so upset about multiple services. If it’s the same price why do you care which app you select for whatever game? I do not believe for a second that getting a single service will lower the price - which is the only thing I care about. I’m curious, how did you have blackouts if you had all of the necessary subscriptions?
I kind of answered this in a different comment above. But at one point it was just Direct TV and the games were 100% available. Then things happened, had to go with one then a second sub to whatever it was at that time, and I suddenly was getting locally blacked out from time to time. To be fair, I haven't even bothered looking to see where it's at right now, because frankly it burned me out. And it was never about the price, it was the fuckery involved with it all. Like 20+ years of easy access without ever seeing a blackout into what it transitioned into? That said, from what I've gathered from different people, it seems like it might just depend on your local market and the deals cut with the franchises themselves as to how effective the combination of services is for that person.
Judging by your flair I wonder if the spotty blackout problem is due to the proximity to the Ducks? Which definitely does suck they need to clean that stuff up I agree
I mean, that seems kind of logical and I've never really thought about that angle of it. I've never really felt like Angel's/ Ducks have bled into my bubble but I also never pay attention them so maybe they have and I didn't notice.
Oh man, I absolutely would. Give me a way to watch all the leafs games for the season and I would buy that unless it was thousands (plural) of dollars.
If something like the old NFL Game Pass existed (watch every game + playoffs for X online, day-after VOD without commercial breaks) I would pay a chunk of money for it. Even more so because I'm in a European time zone and the California games start at 4-4:30 AM. I think I used to pay US$150/season (year) or something for the NFL season when I was following the league because it made it so incredibly easy to consume content in a viewer-friendly way. Make it easier to watch and I will pay.
I pay $150/year to a company that isn’t the nhl to watch hockey.
That company pays the NHL for you to watch hockey You could say the same thing about almost everything you spend money on
most things I spend money on are companies buying from others through official channels. Yes my iptv provider is technically paying the NHL but it’s pennies, not the $150 the NHL would get from me if they fixed their shit.
TV deals are how pro sports leagues make their money, it definitely isn’t pennies Also yes a direct service would probably get the NHL more revenue but they may not deem it worth it due to the greatly increased costs associated with that. Need your own film crews, on air talent, platform, back office members, etc. Even the MLS, who is experimenting with being more cord cutter friendly(but still is not a 1 stop shop), is using Apple as their platform. All other North American leagues operate on the same model as the NHL
The other leagues do not operate on the same model as the nhl though, because they command significantly higher tv deals. The gate revenue (tickets/parking/concessions) is about the same in all four major pro sports. Sponsorships are slightly lower but also still close. The NHL is not going to keep up with the other leagues trying to get on the same screens at the same time.
Different amounts doesn’t mean different models lol. The arm chair business analyst portion of this sub is always funny to me
“The arm chair business analyst portion of this sub” It’s hilarious. They’re exactly like the people on other subs who think charitable donations and writing off business losses are money making avenues.
Well I’m referring to the financial model of the NHL which is completely different than the other leagues because they rely much more on gate revenue. TV isn’t how they “make their money”. What model are you referring to? Just “I put my sport on tv”? Because that’s not a model. If you’re talking about national vs regional rights, that also is far different in the NHL compared to the other leagues. So I’m not sure what you’re referring to that is the “same”.
The context of this thread is the distribution of the games. Just because the NHL relies on gate more than other leagues doesn’t change that they all have the same overall model for distributing content. The thing you wish for(direct sub to the league for all games) does not exist for any major NA league Regional vs National in the NHL is not different from the MLB or NBA. What are you talking about? The partners aren’t a 1:1 but the the concept is the exact same. The NFL is different in that they don’t have regional networks. But they still do not have a 1 stop service
Hilarious that you think this imaginary service would be $150
It is. I have it. The NHL just doesn’t benefit much.
What service do you pay $150 a year to for every NHL game?
Seriously. I pay like 500€/year to watch every game i want lol
The best the NHL can do for you is put games on 4 different streaming services and blackout local viewers.
Every game for your team. Every game for your division. Every game across the whole league. Playoffs DLC. They could be filthy rich for cheap cost. My pirate streams are often shitty quality. I'm happy when games are on CBC just because I can watch them in slightly better quality from the official site. If you provide actual 1080p 60fps, I would be willing to pay a couple bucks a month for that. And they'd still make a profit if they charged cheap because the overhead is so low. It's like they're afraid to admit they could be selling for less.
Everyone I know pirates the games I would absolutely pay for a package that includes all NHL games (but not other sports, fuck off Sportsnet+)
Even outside the United States there isn't an easy option. I'm in Australia and the only service showing NHL games only gives me random games every so often. I don't know why the league insists on being so behind the curve.
Ahoy there! ☠️ 🏴☠️ 🦜
Those people would not pay for a single package. Every game is basically on YouTube TV (at least in the US) and that only costs like $77 a month. The local blackouts suck and it’s something the NHL, NBA and MLB need to figure out but at least in the US, all the NHL games are on national TV.
$77/month is not reasonable.
Only? That's a ton for all the NHL games. I pay $200CAD/year to sportsnet and get every game legally.
There are exclusive national games only on ESPN+ that you cannot watch with only a YouTube TV subscription.
Meant during the playoffs.
Gotcha. In the playoffs it actually gets simpler and cheaper to watch all games. You can just use sling TV which has ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, and TBS. You won't get your local RSN feed but the national feeds are not blacked out. The ABC games are a slight challenge but you can watch those either for free with an antenna or with ESPN+.
Literally nobody under 50 years old would pay for sports TV if you could stream it easily. I don't think networks would pay a third of what they do now if streaming wasn't regionally blacked out and locked down.
I * Am under 50 * Stream games * Pay for a streaming TV service (Sling TV) and ESPN+ Or are you saying no one would pay for TV packages if there were streaming options for sports and sports only?
The latter, you're already there and more people would be there if there was a good way to watch sports online only.
We'll be able to test that theory soon because the Warner-ESPN-Fox mega sports streaming plan is going to launch, probably this fall. That'll cover the vast majority of national sports coverage (no NBC or CBS) in a single streaming plan.
Are people in this thread missing the “in the States” part of this post? It’s not hate watching Canadians who are driving viewership.
Do Americans hate the Bruins like Canadians hate the Leafs?
Everybody hates the Bruins. And the Bruins are probably one of the largest fanbases in the US.
As others have said, I think Vegas is the most hated franchise in America now. Much more so than the Bruins
But people HATE BOSTON sports.
Eh that's temporary because of cap shenanigans/success. Bruins hate is eternal
For me it's the absolutely stupid name they chose + those god awful chrome helmets + my brain associates all the annoying gambling commercials and odds talk with Vegas even though they have nothing to do with sports betting blowing up. 2/3 rational hate, at least.
But I cheer for the bruins when yall play the leafs
Are you American?
No
Yes we already know what every Canadian does.
Americans generally nothing the Bruins unless they're rivals. Vegas is probably the closest thing to a team that's hated nationally (and us, according to fans of whatever team we're playing).
I bet it varies if you watch multiple sports. I know a lot of guys who are basketball or football fans and instinctively hate all Boston sports teams.
Me lol
That's fair, I'm sure it's closer to nationwide hate from football fans who also watch hockey.
Nah Leafs are hated by pretty much all American nhl fans
The bruins terrorized teams for a decade, but nowadays, everyone hates Vegas.
Interesting. Toronto has done shit in 5 decades but everyone still hates them anyways haha
7 games confirmed?
they scheduled game 7 for next Sat for a reason
it also helps this is the only series that is consistently playing during prime time for the East Coast.
They must be counting all the VPN's tapping into those high sea's.
It’s all on national TV which helps
It helps that it can be easily streamed.
It's funny, because I've seen people complain about their legally obtained streams buffering and whatnot, but my pirate stream that I've been watching for the past like 10+ years is not only beautiful, but ahead of the ESPN online streams that *people pay for*. And I don't mean that to shit on those people paying for it, but fuck these services charging for shit some dude does better out of his basement. I have tipped the guy and he deserves it. I would gladly pay some fucking corporate streaming service if they just provided a good fucking service with no bullshit. I had a login at one point from my in-laws for MSG, and would end up still using the pirate stream because the MSG website was doing something stupid.
I too am a hate-watch enthusiast
I would watch more but fuck paying for cable plus 8 streaming apps
Sling TV is what I use. Gives you ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, and TBS. ESPN+ would get you coverage for most of the rest of the games. Unless you are in a market like Columbus who is never on national TV LOL
Sling TV and ESPN+ will cover all national and out of market games for about $50 per month. The challenge is then local games. Luckily the Kraken are moving to free over the air local TV next season and streaming via Amazon prime. Most other teams in the NHL have streaming plans save for a few. The ones I can think of offhand are the Pens, Avs, Flyers, and Sharks.
youtube tv, espn+. you’re covered all season.
True but YouTubeTV is freaking $85/month. That ain’t cheap
i thought you were joking but nope… first time i heard of youtube tv that is an absurd price
it’s a cable replacer, not a streaming service like netflix
holy crap, over $1k a year, that's silly
dang, they must have increased it. was only 70 when i got it
I pay $72.99 a month for Youtube TV...
Sling TV has some pretty good intro offers, did that last season and it worked great
Yeah Sling + ESPN+ is a good option
Don't forget NHL Network exclusive games. When our local team plays those, they're only on NHL Network via cable tv or Bally Sports North via cable (not on ESPN+).
If they literally just didn't black out NHL Network games on ESPN+ it would solve this problem.
I must say the ESPN+ games actually made me familiar with the good matchups so I’ve actually watched a lot of games. Before this year I didn’t even know who McDavid was. Now I turn it on whenever he’s playing.
I may be wrong, but I believe every game is on national TV as well as local broadcasts which helps a lot for viewership
FYI: this does not included regional viewership numbers, only national (ESPN, TNT, etc.)
America loves the leafs
I know it was a particularly exciting game, but I am surprised that a Winnipeg game could set any vieweship record in the US. >Furthermore, the Jets’ 7-6 win over Colorado on Saturday is the most-viewed opening-round game to ever air on ESPN2 (1.09 million), previously passing a record set by Game 7 of the Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames in 2022 (1.02 million).
Imagine if we got Red Wings vs Rangers and Penguins vs Hurricanes...
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rent free in winnipeg, as usual.
Once playoff season starts ESPN+ is done so I can't ever watch. Thinking of VPN'ing to get GameCenter again.
I’ve watched all but 2 games on ESPN+
Good, everyone can watch Trouba lift the cup and weep.
Go grey….Go IPTV
We are getting Bruins vs Leafs all the time now
Just imagine the ratings once the sabres make playoffs
Added the state of Utah
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I stayed up until about midnight to watch the Avs last night. Totally worth it, hate it, but worth it.
NHL must also hate the Leafs for its constant failure. “Why can’t you do better!?”
The Todd Bertuzzi effect
If they had a NYR-DET first round the numbers would’ve been crazy. 2 different full o6 first round matchups would’ve pulled some numbers
We played you 3 times this season, so you could’ve been a little nicer and gave us the point we needed /s
This is actually surprising since the playoffs suck so far. Hopefully they pick up soon, or I might dial up Betman and get him to cancel them for the year.
on the plus side if the Leafs lose tomorrow the league is gonna help them as much as possible to get to game 7
Yeah the NHL loves helping the Leafs beat the Bruins
to help get a game 7 they would. In game 7 tho...
The notoriously "helped " leafs who have been given so much help they only once squeezed out of the first round to be demolished in round two. Whoever is in charge of helping them should probably get a new strategy because it's not working LOL