The Chicago Blackhawks announced today that they will televise their entire 82 game regular season as well as all playoff games in '08-09. WGN Television signed a 3-year contract to televise games along with Comcast Sportsnet Chicago, Versus and NBC. WGN will televise 20 games next season, all in HD, with Comcast Sportsnet picking up the rest of the games, except for the ones televised on Versus or NBC. An interesting little tidbit of info, is that WGN actually was the home to the Blackhawks in the '60's and early '70s. They actually ended up televising the last Stanley Cup game for the 'Hawks back on April 16, 1961!
This is a huge deal for the Chicago Blackhawks. Finally their fans will be able to catch all their games, and connect to their team in the way they want. The biggest result of this though, is finally the bad blood caused by the late Bill Wirtz's decision to not televise home games has run its course. It seems the last year has been almost all about healing of the organization's wounds. Now the Blackhawks will be better able to move forward with their exciting, young team, into the future.
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Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Chicago Blackhaws Add TV Presence for '08-09
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4 comments:
Please don't say April Fool.
Please?
Nice blog!
LOL. I'm not kidding around! I know it sounds like a stretch to many hockey fans, who only hear negative things about the popularity of the sport in the media. But if you look at regional TV ratings or attendance you'll realize that hockey has almost as many fans as the NBA and is not that far off from other sports. I think the NHL said that it has about 50 million fans in the US (or maybe in North America i'll have to check it up). It's just about getting people to watch when their team gets eliminated or is not playing. The 'Hawks have usually been able to do that (when they were good) 'cause they're an original 6 team and they are from Chicago. With national exposure from this TV contract they could convert a lot of fans from other teams or non-hockey fans.
Anyways, I'm a huge fan of your blog, you always seem to write every post in a dangerously entertaining way! I hope to have more conversations with you in the future!
Sorry to burst your bubble, but the Blackhawks will NOT be on the Superstation. The games will just be on local WGN--per the press conference. FYI--the programming for the Superstation is vastly different for Chicago viewers.
I checked it out and you were right. It looks like I jumped the gun with faulty info. I sincerely apologize to all my readers for that. I pride myself on bringing analysis that is smart, unique and thorough, so we can add something of value to the hockey community. As a first time blogger who just recently started this blog, I committed the inexcusable cardinal sin of not checking through all sources for all the proper facts, I just got excited and jumped the gun. So for what its worth, I promise it won't happen again. Though I am tempted to delete your post ;), I thank you for bringing this to my attention and getting the facts straight.
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