At 8:51 PM 9/28/95, Arthur Berman wrote:
>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.
 
I got to see the Mariucci Classic games last year that were picked up by
Boston's WABU from MSC.  I found the MSC crew to have done a superb job,
and that includes the announcing.  Frank Mazzocco in particular impressed
me with his play by play work and relative knowledge of the other teams,
especially BU.  Now, it's possible that they tailored their broadcast a bit
to the BU fans, knowing who was watching (a lot of people in Boston).  I
don't know.  I haven't seen any other MSC games.
 
>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.
 
Another school that should be mentioned here is UMass (Amherst).  Being a
huge school, UMass has many alumni within NESN's viewing area and is
considered one of the bigger draws on NESN.  UNH is not far behind,
likewise Maine.  UNH and Maine have quite a lot of alumni in New England
and I believe their fans may watch more religiously than some others.
 
In fact, when you add up all of the alumni of the 9 HE schools in New
England, you get a pretty large potential viewing audience.  I can't recall
the exact figures from last year that were put together by HE to
demonstrate their potential audience, but it was impressive.  That's
because the HE schools are located so close to each other.
 
>Most people who pay to get NESN do so to receive Bruins and/or Red Sox
>games.
 
True...I am, however, one of those crazy people who actually gets NESN for
the college hockey.  The Bruins are a nice addition. :-)  And the Red
Sox...who?  I'm still in an anti-MLB frame of mind and have yet to watch a
game this season.
 
>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.
 
NESN used to do even more HE games than they do now - formerly, upwards of
30 games a year.  They've cut back a bit with the arrival of the Providence
Bruins (AHL).  I do recall several years ago that NESN concentrated a bit
more on the big boys, but even the smaller schools like Providence and
Merrimack would still make 4-5 appearances a season (to 7 or 8 for BC/BU).
 
>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.
 
"Small but loyal" is a good way of putting it. :-)  NU has traditionally
had trouble drawing fans despite the size of the school, to the extent that
Merrimack fans perhaps outnumbered NU fans when NU hosted the teams' 1988
NCAA series.  I would also have to doubt that NU is one of the bigger draws
on NESN.  But still, they'll make 3 appearances this year, same as everyone
but BC (2).
 
Again, I think NESN and HE have the luxury of having all of their teams and
many alumni located within the entire area that NESN covers.  I wouldn't
expect MSC to air, say, a Wisconsin-CC game instead of a Gopher game since
MSC covers mainly Gopher country.  This is a big reason why HE is still the
only conference with a real league-wide contract.  They know people will
watch no matter who is on.  Similarly, I find that HE fans seem to be more
knowledgeable about the league as a whole than fans of other conferences.
This is because of the NESN deal and because the teams are close enough
that it is easy to drive to almost any away game.  Not everyone in the
country reads HOCKEY-L. :-)
 
I think it is a real plus that NESN has announcers who are as good as they
are and relatively unbiased - I'll take the two Bobs over anyone I've heard
yet.  Kurtz (thanks, Minnesota) is at worst one of the two or three best
play-by-play men out there, and some consider him the best.  And while
Norton has a well-known allegiance to UNH, I don't believe it enters
heavily into his ability to analyze a game, and from having talked to him,
it is clear that he is really nothing more than a die-hard supporter of
college hockey and this comes across well on tv.  These guys know HE, not
just one or two teams, and it makes every game enjoyable to watch and
listen to.
 
I know Norton has his detractors, but as a fellow color man (well, sometime
color man, with no Merrimack radio contract again this year), I have yet to
hear a better one than him.  I appreciate all he does for the game.
 
Having mentioned his name, I am sure we'll now hear from all the
anti-Norton people out there. :-)
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                   [log in to unmask]            *HMM* 11/13/93
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