On Thu, 28 Sep 1995, Ryan R Bowman wrote:
 
> MSC doesn't claim to not be biased.  They consider themselves the Golden
> Gopher hockey  connection.. No matter what people say, more people will
> tune into MSC to watch the Gophers than any other team they might put on
> there.
 
I can't help but contrast this with the way NESN handles Hockey East
telecasts.  NESN, like MSC, is a regional sports network whose coverage
area is the six New England States.  Although all of the Hockey East
schools fall within this area I'm quite sure that BC (when they have a
good team at least) and BU would get better ratings than any other team,
including Maine in those years when they finish first.  I'm not comparing
quality of teams here, just the fact that there are many more people in
Boston than elsewhere, plus the size of the schools lends itself to a
larger fan base.  Yet, the NESN schedule is well balanced, with
flexibility built into the end of the season's schedule so that the
crucial games can be televised.
 
Most people who pay to get NESN do so to receive Bruins and/or Red Sox
games.  It would be easy for the people who make programming decisions to
focus on the Boston teams in college hockey.  By the way, this balanced
programming existed even when (sadly) there was no WABU to broadcast
virtually all BU games not selected by NESN.
 
Another aside, I mean no slight to Northeastern but they tend to have a
small but loyal group of fans and seem not to generate the level of
interest which BU, BC, and Harvard do in the Boston area.
 
Aside #2--I was privately flamed last year off the list when I
inadvertantly referred to MSC as Minnesota Sports Channel, but the slip
came as a result of watching it.
 
Arthur Berman [log in to unmask]
GO BU!!! NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!
 
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