Arizona Coyotes To Be Featured Just Once In NHL On NBC Broadcasts
By Alex Temes
The national broadcast schedule came out for 2016-17 NHL season and the Arizona Coyotes only got one NBC broadcast.
I wouldn’t go so far as saying the Arizona Coyotes got snubbed by the NHL on NBC national broadcast schedule for the coming season, but they certainly didn’t get a fair amount of games.
While teams such as the New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins got more than 15 games added to their national broadcast resume, Sunbelt teams like the Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, Anaheim Ducks, and the Dallas Stars all got hosed.
All of those teams will be taking part in less than 5 national broadcasts each.
The Arizona Coyotes’ lone nationally televised game is scheduled at home on November 1st against the San Jose Sharks.
The full list of national broadcasts can be found here.
There are good reasons why a team like Arizona isn’t getting a ton of national airtime.
Arizona has a smaller fan base with a comparatively lower overall viewership than the traditional, longer established teams.
Merchandise sales (and viewership) trend in favor of Original Six teams and teams with a recent history of winning Stanley Cups, and Coyotes haven’t been close in several years.
Personally, my theory is that NBC and my university are conspiring to deprive me of my ability to my favorite hockey team through a combination of terrible collegiate wi-fi and a sketchy NHL.com live stream. Thanks NBC.
On the contrary, however, there are many reasons why Arizona should get more featured airtime on national broadcasts.
The Arizona Coyotes aren’t going to be a lottery team this year.
They have a strong veteran core based around Shane Doan and Martin Hanzal, in addition to a significantly improved defense and a talented youth movement.
Should Mike Smith put the pieces together, the Coyotes’ have the potential to make a playoff push this year.
In summation, the Arizona’s bite will be worse than their bark and because of these improvements, the team deserves more than just a single game on national TV.
But they aren’t and that doesn’t seem right.
More importantly, Arizona isn’t the only Sunbelt team being stiffed on national TV time.
Florida is a stacked squad and Tampa is just as dangerous.
Carolina continues to rebuild, while Dallas and Nashville are more potent than their other Central division competitors. Meanwhile, the California teams should yet again not be taken lightly.
Yet none of these teams are getting much of Doc Emrick and the NBC telecasts.
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In the end, Arizona isn’t only on team getting hosed on national television, but the Coyotes are certainly shunted to the side further than many teams in terms of airtime.
The league and it’s broadcasting partners care about money over growing a sport and that just tells us all as fans that the buck doesn’t stop for the puck.