More reaction on NBC’s decision to pull Ottawa-Buffalo game 5 before overtime for the Preakness
Sunday, March 30th, 2008HORSES OR HOCKEY? NBC DECIDES WHICH IS THE WEAKEST LINK
On Saturday the Buffalo Sabres faced down the history books. Trailing Ottawa 3-0 in a best-of-four Eastern Conference Final series, the realization that only 2 teams rallied back to advance in the NHL’s entire 90-year history had to set in. The Sabres took the first step with a 3-2 win in Ottawa, and they returned for an afternoon game 5 at HSBC Arena nationally broadcast on NBC.
It was a tight checking game after two periods. Ottawa started the third trying to protect a 2-1 lead, but things began to turn in Buffalo’s favor. Right wing Maxim Afinogenov jumped on a rebound and tucked it past goaltender Ray Emery, and this elimination game was going into overtime.
After a return from a commercial break, there was a short notice from NBC and a graphic: Overtime will be available on Versus except in the Buffalo market. Then the picture switched to a woman interviewing a jockey on a couch. Upon switching to Versus, there was coverage of the America’s Cup sailing race for several minutes before the familiar NBC hockey crew magically appeared prior to the start of overtime.
Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson scored the biggest goal in Senators franchise history to win the game in overtime 3-2, clinch the series 4-1, and give the perennial playoff upset a chance to compete for its first Stanley Cup Championship. The entire post-game show I could not help but think if this was the NHL’s version of the television Heidi moment.
Eric McErlain off Offwing documented the sustained rage of many fans and members of the media here, the Globe and Mail’s James Mirtle and Dallas Stars’ Daryl Reaugh contributed similar sentiments. The media reaction to NBC pulling the plug on overtime varied from an embarassment, to shame, to just plain wrong. Canada was upset that its traditional 7PM start for HNIC neccessitated a rare Hockey Afternoon in Canada.
Much of this was piling on, but a deeper look at the numbers was almost as painful watching that jockey on the couch, instead of one of the most important NHL games of the season:
- The overnight ratings for the Preakness Stakes on NBC was a 5.4/13, with the NHL/Versus broadcast of the Ottawa at Buffalo Stanley Cup Playoff Game 5 pulling in a 1.2/3. According to Sports Media Watch, even with the switch the ratings for Game 5 were comparable with the first game of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals between the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes.
- Based on my rudimentary calculations, the NHL/Versus broadcast drew 1,124,040 U.S. households, with the Preakness on NBC garnering 5,554,080 U.S. households. This assumes 1,102,000 households per ratings point.
- NHL spokesperson Jamey Horan offered this initial explanation for why the switch was made: “We were fully aware of NBC’s programming commitments following Game 5 between the Sabres and Senators, and the challenges overtime could present for viewers and our network partners. However, our decision to schedule the game with NBC was done to provide the broadcast to the greatest number of viewers.”
Fair enough, the NHL and NBC were trying to get the game in front of as many American viewers as possible. BUT, pulling the plug on an elimination game giving one team a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs might just give those casual fans an adverse reaction.
- Did anyone else notice the thousands of enthusiastic Sabres fans outside of HSBC Arena? No other fan base in the NHL has represented their team better this season than Buffalo. Props to NBC for cutting to the cheering mob outside the building after each big play inside the building.
- Richard Sandomir reported in the New York Times that a mishap at the Versus master control in Denver delayed the switch from NBC for at least 2 minutes. Watching sailing made it feel like longer.
Sandomir also quoted NHL VP of broadcasting John Shannon, “Our concern was that people were told to go to Versus, and it wasn’t there right away.”
This raises three problems. One, those who switched to Versus found a different sport and migrated elsewhere for a warm summer Saturday afternoon. Two, those who happened to get up and grab a beer during intermission returned to a painfully long Preakness preview. Three, the notice to switch to Versus came and went so quickly it could have been a subliminal advertisement. There was no notification of a possible switch during the last 9 minutes of regulation.
- The absolute worst part of this was the fact that NBC pulled the plug 20 minutes prior to the scheduled start of its Preakness programming. Game 5 was slotted to air from 2:00-5:00PM ET, but the game was switched to Versus at 4:40PM. NBC had three choices: switch to Versus at the start the third intermission (which they did), switch to Versus at the start of of its Preakness programming (about 5 minutes into OT), or letting the overtime period run into NBC’s Preakness preview (multiple overtime games common in the playoffs).
- The question I did not get to ask NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman when he was in San Jose for Game 4 against Nashville, would have been about the NHL’s cooperation with Youtube, Google and Yahoo this season (to help get a little pub from local tech publications and tech blogs), and if the streaming of games on Yahoo or Comcast could make up for cities that did not have access to Versus (there are a few in the Bay Area).
Streaming the games online with either Yahoo or Comcast could have helped allieviate some of the problems NBC faced with switch. Tune into Versus for overtime. Don’t have access to Versus? Switch to Yahoo or Comcast. It would have annoyed many of the club and fire weilding journalists, but a big chunk of NHL fans could have made the change seamlessly. Just do not make the switch to CBC or TSN, which block Americans from games they stream online. Or the league could have pointed to video or audio of the game on NHL.com.
- Full disclosure, both NBC and Versus have asked this blog to link to their websites or pre-game shows. Both have done an extraordinary job covering the NHL this season.
The Baltimore Sun has an interesting selection of video and audio from the Preakness weekend. NBCvideo has video of the awards ceremony, an analysis of the win by Curlin, and a breakdown of hard charging Street Sense’s close second place finish. It was a great race, and NBC had an isolation camera on Curlin and Street Sense.
[Update] NHL gets its ‘Heidi’ with Sabres-Sens - Buffalo News.
Judging from message boards, blogs and newspapers, never has “Heidi” been typed so often in a 24-hour period. What a pleasant surprise to us pop culture and history buffs.
On Nov. 17, 1968, the Jets led Oakland, 32-29, with 50 seconds left. As the game crossed into prime time in the East and Central time zones, NBC switched to its planned programming, a movie version of Heidi. The network’s office switchboard blew up, especially after a bottom screen crawl told the nation the Raiders had won, 43-32 (after a 43-yard TD pass and a fumble return on the ensuing kickoff).
The Heidi Bowl had few equals until this spring. Not Saturday, but last month. Guess which league suffered? Late in Vancouver and Dallas’ fourovertime masterpiece, an automated switch on some cable systems replaced Versus’ broadcast with an infomercial.
Oops. Heidi II.
[Update2] You can’t blame NBC for what they did to the NHL on Saturday - Sports Business News.
[Update3] NHL partnership with NBC does little to sell game in the U.S. - Montreal Gazette.
There are a couple of things worth noting here. The first is that nobody in the NHL was outraged by NBC’s action and nobody in the NHL felt it owed an apology to the loyal, if somewhat tiny, fan base that watches games on NBC.
From a business point of view, NBC’s decision makes sense. The Preakness drew nearly five times as many viewers, but NBC could have avoided the problem by agreeing to air the game in prime time, or as it did earlier when there were conflicts with golf, declining to show the game.
The irony is NBC could have stayed with the game and missed a small portion of the prerace nattering because the winning goal was scored at 5:14, nearly an hour before Curlin ran down Street Sense at the wire. The NHL goes out of its way to please its so-called “partner” in an attempt to sell the game in the U.S., but surely, Saturday’s fiasco didn’t win the league any fans.