completely.  Especially
 
I can understand ESPN's position on covering college hockey completely.  Especially
after 2 years of watching the ECAC and NCAA tournaments on local TV here in the
Washington, DC area.
 
As some of you know the Washinton area is lucky enough to have a local public TV
station, WNVT, that covers a lot of college sports.  The past few years they have
included the entire ECAC torunament and the first 2 rounds of the NCAA in their
schedule.  They also hold a pledge drive during the tournament coverage.  It was just
about the most depressign pledge drive I've ever seen.  Their goal this year for the
NCAA was $25,000.  By the middle of round II they hadn't even reached $10,000.
The phones were dead.  They announced that they only met their ECAC goal
because some rich RPI alum made a single $2000 pledge.
 
Wahington DC isn't a bad test case for hockey coverage.  It's one of the top 10 media
markets in the US and has it's own NHL franchise.  Based on what I saw this year we
have a long way to go to build awareness of college hockey.
 
I guess the good news is that someone is actually broadcasting the games.  What
we need is some serious marketing.  The surge in professional hockey is finally
creating a base of knowledgable hockey fans.  Now we need to make them aware of
the college game!
 
Kurt Jaeger  ---------- RPI '81 '83