NHL

Devils In The Details: NBC, NHL Prepare Stanley Cup Final Coverage

Published May 30, 2012

NBC’s pre- and postgame shows for the Stanley Cup Final “will originate from the site of the games,” either Prudential Center in Newark of Staples Center in L.A., according to Botta & Ourand of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. “NHL Live” will air “a half-hour before the start of each game -- all start at 8 p.m. ET -- on NBC Sports Network.” When NBC’s game coverage “is over, the ‘Bud Light Post Game Report’ will air immediately on NBC Sports Network.” On the “marketing side, the ‘Every Game. Every Night. Because It’s The Cup.’ campaign will continue to run across NBCUniversal outlets.” Television ad inventory for the Final “is sold out.” Since NBC, “like most networks, sells only for the first five games of a final series, new inventory would open up for a potential sixth or seventh game.” NBC has “sold virtual advertising for the Final in the past but is not doing so this year, satisfied with having key sponsors on the dasherboards” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/28 issue).

PRAISE FOR EMRICK: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick wrote if there were "ever a play-by-player who should be encouraged to speak as much as often as possible," it is NBC's Mike Emrick, as his “televised ‘radio call’ provides the very best of both worlds.” He was “magnificent throughout the Rangers-Devils series, but no more so than during the series before, the series before that and throughout the regular season.” If he is “wordy, he’s also concise." Mushnick: "Last week, over frantic, both-ends play, he said two words: ‘fire wagon,’ an abridged reference to an antiquated expression for such action.” Mushnick added NBC “had a good night in the truck on Friday" during Devils-Rangers Game Six, especially the "replay reel of the Devils shooting high” on Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist. And while the net “just missed catching the live shot of season-long antagonists” Devils coach Pete DeBoer and Rangers coach John Tortorella shaking hands, it "soon showed it on tape” (N.Y. POST, 5/29). SI.com’s Richard Deitsch wrote “with NBC airing every NHL playoff game nationally since the second round, Emrick has been a welcome visitor in homes for weeks.” He has “never been better at his craft.” Deitsch: “Sometimes we don’t give the best of the profession enough due because their daily excellence becomes expected" (SI.com, 5/29). Meanwhile, in N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote NBC’s Pierre McGuire “has absolutely no right to dictate what fans can or cannot hear” after McGuire last week said some things he hears while stationed between the benches is off limits. He is “paid to analyze a hockey game, not to engage in censorship.” McGuire was “too busy making decisions for the rest of us ... to consider the hypocrisy of his decision to play censor” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/27).

KINGS OF PAIN: In N.Y., Klein & Hackel wrote while interest in the Kings “has ballooned in the last month as a result of their playoff success,” some in the L.A. news media “have been a bit slow to catch on as to who the Kings are and what they do.” When KNBC-NBC did “a report about the Lakers, the Clippers and the Kings being in the playoffs, the graphic accompanying the report included the logo” of the NBA Kings. A few days later, a KTTV-Fox newscaster “said at one point, that the Kings ‘have the ball,’ and misidentified a couple of Kings players.” KCBS-CBS also “committed a gaffe a few days later, prefacing a report on Game 4 of the Kings-Coyotes series with a shot of the Sacramento Kings’ lion mascot” (N.Y. TIMES, 5/27).

CONFERENCE FINALS RATINGS: NBC Sports Network finished with an average of 1.2 million viewers for its coverage of the NHL Stanley Cup Conference Finals this year, down 11% from 1.4 million viewers last year, and down 14% from coverage in '10 (THE DAILY).