To NBC/Versus, The NHL Is About The Red Wings

Like many other frustrated hockey fans, there are many aspects of the current state of the NHL that don't make sense to me. The main one being that the product is really good right now and the league still can't sell it.

Now I am not in marketing in any way, shape, or form. However, this seems to be the easiest thing to fix and yet they don't.

Let's look at the current national contracts with NBC and versus. NBC has a sunday afternoon game and Versus has Monday and Tuesday primetime games. One thing NBC could do is put that sunday game in primetime. There are two reasons to do so.

First, they wouldn't be competing with the NBA on ABC. Second, the NBC contract picks after football season. Why not replace Sunday Night Football with Sunday Night Hockey? That worked when ESPN had the NHL contract.

Would that move alone fix the situation? Of course not, NBC and Versus should make sure that the Detroit Red Wings are shown in one of those three games every week. Is that fair? Maybe-maybe not, but the reality is that the Wings are the most marketable team right now. You have Pavel Datsyuk and then half the Swedish Olympic team. Not only are the Wings the defending champs, so are the the Swedes.

Look at the other sports, the NFL has games on FOX, CBS, NBC, ESPN, and NFL Network. Why is that we always seem to see the Patriots, Colts, and Cowboys? It is quite simple. Those are the most marketable teams.

In baseball, why is it always broadcast nationally when the Yankees and Red Sox play? It is the same thing.

When FOX had the contract, the game was at it's highest point as far as ratings go. They broadcasted the marketable teams. ABC was terrible with it. NBC and Versus need to improve their marketing of it too.

Yes I am a lifelong fan of the Red Wings, but the fact is that they are team that is the most marketable and can get people to watch and care about hockey again.

Another suggestion is to make sure Sid the Kid gets plenty of national broadcast games. Love him or hate him he is the Anakin Skywalker of the NHL. He is the chosen one. Therefore, the league must market him.