Read Sports Geek’s argument and Bleacher Fan’s argument about whether or not the NHL made a mistake when giving their broadcast rights to Versus over ESPN.
Perhaps you are familiar with the television channel Versus. Versus, formerly known as OLN (Outdoor Life Network) until 2006, is a sports-oriented channel on many cable and satellite systems. The channel carriers sports such as college football, Indy racing, college basketball, cycling, outdoor sports, and others stuff. I watch it occasionally, as I specifically recall watching a good bit of the Florida State-BYU game on Versus earlier this year. For the purpose of today’s debate, The Sports Debates is going to look at the relationship between Versus and the National Hockey League.
In 2005, Versus (then still known as OLN) won the rights to televise the NHL with a two year, $130 million dollar contract (with a network option for a third). The contract has since been extended to last through the 2010-2011 season. Hockey had previously been televised by ESPN, and ESPN decided not to match OLN’s original offer. It should also be noted that NBC also has a smaller deal with the NHL.
Seems like a win-win situation, right? Well, not necessarily.
Last month it was announced that Comcast (the cable company that owns Versus) and DirecTV, were unable to agree to a deal. Thus, Versus is dropped from its programming catalog. DirecTV released a statement on the situation and it can be found here. Versus then obviously released a statement and a series of advertisements to explain its side of the situation. The channel has also started a nationwide email campaign explaining its side. It is a classic battle of “he said, she said.” Nonetheless, the real losers are the 18 million subscribers of DirecTV, one of whom happens to be Bleacher Fan.
Well, that topic made for interesting conversation during one of our always lively The Sports Debates production meetings. Is the relationship between the NHL and Versus a good thing for the league? Is it good for the overall growth of the league? That is where two hockey fans, Sports Geek and Bleacher Fan, come in.
Sports Geek will argue that the league made the original deal with the NHL out of desperation and that overall, the deal has limited the growth of the NHL. Bleacher Fan, on the other hand, will argue that the original deal with Versus was a good deal and it was something the NHL needed.
The puck has been dropped. It is face-off time!
