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Jury still out on NHL shunning ESPN

National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman returns to the U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Court after a lunch break in Phoenix, Arizona, September 2, 2009. The NHL and Canadian billionaire James Balsillie battled in court on Wednesday, arguing over whether Balsillie's bid for the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes team should be included in an auction set for next week.

REUTERS/Joshua Lott

It’s still an open question whether NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s gambit of taking his league from ESPN to Outdoor Life Network (later Versus) in 2005 is a success or not. Even as confirmation emerges this week of Versus morphing to NBC Sports Channel come January (a move we signalled last April), it’s an open question whether shunning the World Wide Leader was a plus or a bust in the U.S.

So, for $210-million over three years and the promise of being a whale in a minnow pond, Bettman called Shapiro’s bluff and alighted to OLN, being run by his mentor Ed Snider, owner of the Philly Flyers. The dough was nice, the promotion was nice, and flipping the bird to intractable ESPN was very nice.

That gave Bettman a dedicated partner, one where, unfortunately, the sport was shunned by all but uber-committed hockey fans. Between OLN/Versus and NBC, the NHL became the D.B. Cooper of leagues, hard to find under any circumstance. Even buried on ESPN2 for a pittance, fans would have easily found the new and improved product. At Versus it was Green Party visibility. Players, fans and owners regularly lamented the search for the Versus signal, which was like navigating the Master levels of Doom II.

It was HBO’s 24/7 and the NBC Winter Classic that turned the American public mood back toward hockey. (Okay, a portion of the American public larger than quorum at a bus stop.) The residual good cheer resulted in the 10-year, $2 billion NBC Universal deal this spring, an affiliation that could spread the NHL’s brand across NBC’s many channels.