Media Thread

[Michael]

I have seen things written to suggest that SportsNet is dropping a lot of other people. All I have heard for sure is Bob and Doug, already mentioned above.

Does anyone have anyone else to add to the list?

Apparently Rogers media division is losing lots of money...

[Heroic Shrimp]

I can't think of anybody who uses more words to say less than Renaud Lavoie.

[Can8899]

I have seen things written to suggest that SportsNet is dropping a lot of other people. All I have heard for sure is Bob and Doug, already mentioned above.

Does anyone have anyone else to add to the list?

Apparently Rogers media division is losing lots of money...

Any news about Hosehead the dog?  Anyone???

[Nik Bethune]

I have seen things written to suggest that SportsNet is dropping a lot of other people. All I have heard for sure is Bob and Doug, already mentioned above.

Does anyone have anyone else to add to the list?

It's Steve Simmons so obviously some caution is merited but the next name on the list may very well be Don Cherry:

Steve Simmons is reporting that SN hasn't renewed Don Cherry's expensive contract and may not do so given how much $ Rogers is losing on the NHL TV deal. Barrie wants 8M on his next deal, Kadri deal nixed was for Brodie and Jankowski, Matthews doesnt want to play with Kap anymore pic.twitter.com/af5XidETW1

— J (@Account4hockey) July 6, 2019

And buried within is some confirmation that Rogers is losing a ton of money on their NHL deal.

[Significantly Insignificant]

I have seen things written to suggest that SportsNet is dropping a lot of other people. All I have heard for sure is Bob and Doug, already mentioned above.

Does anyone have anyone else to add to the list?

It's Steve Simmons so obviously some caution is merited but the next name on the list may very well be Don Cherry:

Steve Simmons is reporting that SN hasn't renewed Don Cherry's expensive contract and may not do so given how much $ Rogers is losing on the NHL TV deal. Barrie wants 8M on his next deal, Kadri deal nixed was for Brodie and Jankowski, Matthews doesnt want to play with Kap anymore pic.twitter.com/af5XidETW1

— J (@Account4hockey) July 6, 2019

And buried within is some confirmation that Rogers is losing a ton of money on their NHL deal.

Well that is probably not good for the cap.  Would it make sense for the NHL to sell off the national rights in pieces to TSN and SN, or does it only make sense to sell them as a complete package?

[Rob]

I have seen things written to suggest that SportsNet is dropping a lot of other people. All I have heard for sure is Bob and Doug, already mentioned above.

Does anyone have anyone else to add to the list?

It's Steve Simmons so obviously some caution is merited but the next name on the list may very well be Don Cherry:

Steve Simmons is reporting that SN hasn't renewed Don Cherry's expensive contract and may not do so given how much $ Rogers is losing on the NHL TV deal. Barrie wants 8M on his next deal, Kadri deal nixed was for Brodie and Jankowski, Matthews doesnt want to play with Kap anymore pic.twitter.com/af5XidETW1

— J (@Account4hockey) July 6, 2019

And buried within is some confirmation that Rogers is losing a ton of money on their NHL deal.

Well that is probably not good for the cap.  Would it make sense for the NHL to sell off the national rights in pieces to TSN and SN, or does it only make sense to sell them as a complete package?

The $5.2 billion deal is already accounted for in the cap.  It's a twelve year deal so that won't change until 2026.

[Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate]

Maybe their ratings/profits might get a jolt if they quit featuring a guy whose main appeal is to a demographic that is literally dying out.

[Nik Bethune]

Maybe their ratings/profits might get a jolt if they quit featuring a guy whose main appeal is to a demographic that is literally dying out.

Honestly, I feel like that's giving Cherry too much importance. Ratings suck because the game is too local, there aren't really standout teams and the league has more or less maxed out their Canadian audience. None of the people I know who don't watch hockey are going to be won over by a really dynamic intermission show.

[Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate]

Maybe their ratings/profits might get a jolt if they quit featuring a guy whose main appeal is to a demographic that is literally dying out.

Honestly, I feel like that's giving Cherry too much importance. Ratings suck because the game is too local, there aren't really standout teams and the league has more or less maxed out their Canadian audience. None of the people I know who don't watch hockey are going to be won over by a really dynamic intermission show.

Yeah, you're right.  It's a niche sport and the niche is full.

[Nik Bethune]

There's another reality though and I think my Father is a good example of it. He's a pretty big sports fan but he's also recently retired and decided to cut back on a few things. Despite that he pays for MLB.tv which is about 130 bucks a year to stream every single Baseball game. Come the Fall he may give DAZN 20 bucks a month to watch every single football game.

Just to watch the Leafs you either need a cable package from Bell or Rogers that includes all of the sports channels or you need to subscribe to both the TSN and Sportsnet streaming services. Either way that works out to something like 60+ bucks a month. Hockey's great and obviously I'm too far gone to give up the Leafs but following this one team now costs roughly three times as much as the entirety of Major League Baseball or the NFL for Canadian fans.

So it's not just a niche, it's a league that seems intent on squeezing that niche to death.

[Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate]

There's another reality though and I think my Father is a good example of it. He's a pretty big sports fan but he's also recently retired and decided to cut back on a few things. Despite that he pays for MLB.tv which is about 130 bucks a year to stream every single Baseball game. Come the Fall he may give DAZN 20 bucks a month to watch every single football game.

Just to watch the Leafs you either need a cable package from Bell or Rogers that includes all of the sports channels or you need to subscribe to both the TSN and Sportsnet streaming services. Either way that works out to something like 60+ bucks a month. Hockey's great and obviously I'm too far gone to give up the Leafs but following this one team now costs roughly three times as much as the entirety of Major League Baseball or the NFL for Canadian fans.

So it's not just a niche, it's a league that seems intent on squeezing that niche to death.

We may disagree on many things, Nik, but we are Siamese Twins when to comes to our opinion of the intelligence of the NHL's leadership.

[Nik Bethune]

We may disagree on many things, Nik, but we are Siamese Twins when to comes to our opinion of the intelligence of the NHL's leadership.

It's an interesting thing of who's to blame there. My instinct is to put it on Bell/Rogers as opposed to the league itself(although I appreciate that as Leafs ownership the distinction there is minimal) but there's no question that the league is ceding power to TV folk because they're so hooked on that money.

[CarltonTheBear]

One day...

1) I must say I am hurt and disappointed that my friend Steve Simmons would suggest in his Sunday column that Hockey Night in Canada might not want me back for next year. I was told a week after the playoffs I would be back.

— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) July 8, 2019

2) The question I ask is this… why didn’t my friend Steve phone me and ask me?

— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) July 8, 2019

[Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate]

One day...

1) I must say I am hurt and disappointed that my friend Steve Simmons would suggest in his Sunday column that Hockey Night in Canada might not want me back for next year. I was told a week after the playoffs I would be back.

— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) July 8, 2019

2) The question I ask is this… why didn’t my friend Steve phone me and ask me?

— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) July 8, 2019

Sounds like Don has his tweets ghosted for him ... those are awfully even-keel.

[Zee]

I'm not a Simmons defender by any means, in fact i can't stand the guy, but he didn't actually say Cherry was fired.  He basically said they hadn't officially renewed coaches corner and because Cherry makes alot they might consider not bringing him back given the other cuts Rogers has been making (I.e. McCowan and McLean)