NHL commissioner Gary Bettman mentioned it’s “irritating and really disappointing” to see Altitude TV’s dispute with Comcast carry by means of a 3rd consecutive Avalanche common season and pointed the blame on the cable firm.
“It’s horrible for followers,” Bettman mentioned Tuesday evening earlier than the Avalanche opened its second-round playoff collection towards St. Louis. “It’s frankly unfathomable on some stage that the cable or satellite tv for pc firm could be chopping off this a lot of its clients who’re clearly followers, notably when the Avalanche is making such a terrific run.”
Altitude, a part of Avalanche proprietor Stan Kroenke’s sports activities empire, has not been accessible on Comcast or Dish TV since September 2019. Comcast is the state’s largest cable supplier.
5 months in the past, Altitude introduced it will make a revised provide to Comcast upfront of mediation to settle the regional sports activities community’s ongoing antitrust lawsuit towards the provider. A late February session between the edges was unsuccessful and the subsequent assembly of June 2 was pushed again to July 12 as a consequence of a battle on the court docket’s calendar.
Requested if he sees a light-weight on the finish of the tunnel, Bettman mentioned: “I hope there’s a decision to it. I believe it’s gone on far too lengthy.”
Bettman additionally addressed a number of different subjects throughout a information convention that lasted 16 minutes:
Playoff format. Bettman mentioned he likes the present bracket-style playoff format through which groups aren’t re-seeded after every spherical. Beneath a re-seeding construction, the Avalanche would have hosted Edmonton within the second spherical.
“We expect what we now have now’s working terribly effectively,” he mentioned.
Tv rankings. The primary spherical of the playoffs delivered strong rankings for the NHL’s new broadcast companions. Video games lined by ESPN, ESPN2, TNT and TBS averaged 768,000 viewers, a 58% enhance from final yr on NBCSN, CNBC and USA Community.
“It’s what we hoped for and anticipated,” Bettman mentioned. “They’ve nice platforms, they’re doing a terrific job of selling, they’re doing a terrific job in manufacturing and even on scheduling; it was sensational how we had 4 video games each evening firstly (of the primary spherical). On each metric we are able to take into consideration by way of cooperation, enthusiasm, vitality and the investments they’ve made, we couldn’t be extra happy with the therapy we’re getting from these companions.”
Full arenas. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are being performed earlier than full-capacity arenas for the primary time since 2019.
“The joy is being again in full buildings, seeing the vitality across the sport and an actual normalcy returning to our sport,” Bettman mentioned. “Our sport and our gamers draw an amazing quantity of vitality from the followers and atmosphere.”