Turtle wrestling fans, stand up and be counted!
NHLPA President Paul Kelly had some harsh words for Versus, the network which is broadcasting most of the NHL's playoff games. From the Sports Business Journal:
NHL Players' Association Executive Director Paul Kelly is calling for league TV partners Versus and NBC to do more to promote the NHL and NHL players, citing players' growing frustration over hockey coverage.
"We have to push our two partners to do a better job of covering our sport ... or we have to go in a different direction when that contract comes to an end," Kelly told the Sports Lawyers Association on May 16. Kelly has called in the past for the NHL to return to ESPN.
Kelly said the fact that people in the U.S. could not watch most of the Boston-Carolina playoff Game 7 earlier this month because Versus was airing Anaheim-Detroit Game 7 "is a source of great frustration" to NHL players as well as the union.
Kelly conceded that Versus has improved production and has increased the number of homes and sports bars where it is available. However, he said, "There are still problems."
"It is not ESPN," Kelly said. "It doesn't have a sports highlight show. It doesn't have a lot of properties people want to tune in to, unless you are a hunter or a fisherman or you like turtle wrestling."
About J.P.
J.P. Hoornstra has been covering the Anaheim Ducks since 2007. Eight months after the University of Wisconsin won its third NCAA hockey championship, he was born in a frigid Madison winter. He betrayed his blue-blooded beginnings by graduating from UCLA in 2003, and welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
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