TV Party.

As you all know, hockey on TV in America is kind of bland. There's regional coverage in every market, as there is for every sport, but national coverage is somewhat laughable. What some of you may not know is that the leagues current deal TV is set to expire after this season, and they are in a great place to do one or more of the following things.

Negotiate a deal that brings more revenue into the league. Coming off the lockout, the NHL basically had to pay to get games back on TV with national carriers (in the US it was NBC and Versus). The league is actually splitting revenue with NBC for their coverage. That's pretty pucking ridiculous. However, ratings have steadily gone up and are back to pre-lockout levels. This is giving the league tremendous bargaining power when they finally step back up to table to negotiate new deals with their broadcasting partners...if they don't look to other options (ie: ESPN). Now with more money going back into the league the salary cap should increase and thus help some teams struggling with cap constraints right now. That however is speculation at best, given the economy and such.

As I mentioned above they could always go to other carriers looking to get in on the action. Most of us in the states will remember the ESPN coverage in the late 90's and all those classic games we saw. Even ESPN is talked to and set up, they can still use Versus and NBC. Despite my personal loathing of some of Versus on air commentators, their coverage isn't that bad. They also have more than one game a week and other sports shows that still talk about hockey. Coverage in the media today is so paltry that most of us look to international sources to get our hockey news. Current "coverage" on ESPN might as well be during the credits of sportscenter. It's laughable at best. Although, I think I am naive in the fact that if ESPN does pick up hockey as part of it's broadcasting schedule, then MAYBE they will actually talk about it, instead of being nonchalant in its coverage. "oh yeah...he's a crosby goal. or something"

Bring in more fans: The more hockey is on TV, the more people will watch it. If you don't believe my theory, just look at reality television. People will watch what you put on. While a part of me enjoys being in a sports minority, it certainly can't hurt to have more fans involved in the game. It's a win-win if the viewership grows. More fans equal more revenue. More revenue means the league grows. A growing league is a good league, at least financially. I won't get into the pros and cons of expansion, because I think the opposite has to happen, but if revenue can reach cash strapped teams, then maybe that expansion/reduction wouldn't be an issue.

At the end of the day this is all speculation, because no one knows what will happen when the NHL and their partners discuss new deals. personally i would love to the league take a hard stance and tell these networks that they know they're getting a good product and if you're not willing to pay for it, they'll go to someone who will. Now obviously you have to be careful not to be too firm in your stance, but have faith in your product. The on ice product is better than it ever has been (although some recent performances by certain teams suggest otherwise), and the league needs to capitalize on this. I know we will almost certainly never reach a point of Hockey Night in Canada type of coverage, but it would be nice to see hockey actually in the mix of things here in the states. So to the NHL front office...or whoever handles these things, don't puck this up.