Adam Wodon <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>
> Mike Machnik has been harping for years to ensure Merrimack gets
> included in enough HEA Games of the Week.  He knows as much as anyone
> how these things happen and why -- and that's still on a very small
> scale.
 
Actually, it was only last year -- when HE's deal with FoxNE resulted in
all but two teams making tv appearances in the regular season (UMass and
Merrimack).  I understood why it happened in the first year of the
agreement, but I didn't think it was in the long term interest of the
league to have that continue.  Before that, everyone always made at least a
few tv appearances a year.
 
Sure there are going to be pressures on both sides to go either way on
something like this.  (the league may want to put everyone on, the station
may want to just put the big name teams on.)  But if you raise the issue
and make people aware of it and they speak up too, then chances get a
little better that maybe it will work out -- if for no other reason than
that they may learn more people are interested than they thought.
 
Ironically as it turned out, Merrimack wound up on FoxNE for their last
three games of the year -- the second and third games of the BU series and
the semifinal against BC -- and our feeling is, that had a tremendously
positive effect on the program, the school and people's perceptions of
both.  Naturally it helped that they won the series with BU and hung tough
with BC for nearly two periods.  But people got to see it and the way they
carried themselves.  Of course we'll have to see what happens in the long
term, but at least in the short term, there was a *lot* of positive
feedback.
 
I think tv actually matters more to the "little guys" than the big schools.
I don't know the exact ratings for the HE semifinal but I believe it worked
out that somewhere in the neighborhood of 200,000 homes were tuned to that
game.  That is staggering -- and it was one of the lowest rated tv sports
programs of the week.  How else can a tiny school like Merrimack reach
200,000 people?
 
You just can't underestimate the effect of tv.  That's why I believe the
league has to do all it can to get everyone on, like the CCHA has.  I
should add that I am satisfied that Joe Bertagna is doing that.  And I
certainly give him the majority of the credit for making the deal happen in
the first place.
 
Finally, on the topic of why some teams get more exposure than
others...before Adam or DaveH jump all over me (given that they have had
this conversation with me before), I will reiterate that I understand why
it happens and that to a large extent it is up to the schools themselves.
If Merrimack was doing better on the ice before this season, if they had
worked to increase their following, etc. then perhaps they would have been
on tv.  But I still believe that in a league wide tv deal, everyone should
get to take part.  And it needs to be a priority for the league to make
that happen.  Again, fortunately I believe that is the case with Joe and HE.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                [log in to unmask]               *HMM* 11/13/93
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