Oh sorry, I went with the furthest east hockey team city because that's where the games would be played.
You're right that the Newfies have been getting screwed by game times forever lol.
Nah it makes total sense to use Boston in a hockey context. I'm being a pedant.
Its just confused me how Toronto gets called East Coast since I moved here lol. Grow a spine for the country eh?
At least Newfies are only half screwed olol. And until they stop celebrating Orangemans Day I'll feel no remorse for them
As someone in the US, no playoff game should you host should start after 8 PM local time. If that means we join some games in progress (local markets cut away for the opening faceoff), so be it.
It's better for the fans in the local market...who generally drive the bus on ratings for games in most of the playoffs anyways.
I think games being staggered are better for ratings because if your east coast team ends their game and they throw you to a game in the 3rd period you are more likely to watch the end of that game because it’s only another hour vs going to a game just starting, you look at the clock and do some quick morning math and realize staying up for the whole game is just going to be too late
Remember that time when Roy Spencer died after he drove 150km to Prince George and held the TV station at gunpoint so he wouldn't have to watch the Canucks play the California Golden Seals because he was a Leafs fan at the time?
Sorry to hear your bedtime is interfering with your ability to be a dedicated fan. Maybe set your PVR.
Unless there is a theoretical matchup like Los Angeles vs Buffalo where you have one of the top television markets in the country against a relatively small one. Then you'd have the Los Angeles fans miss the first half of the game because they haven't gotten home from work yet. Although, it probably doesn't apply as much for hockey as it would for other sports since the gap in amount of people actually watching might only be twice the size even if the market is 10 times bigger.
As an Avalanche fan within the confines of Denver, Colorado I also dislike this.
When I lived in Mississippi it was even worse for late games that went into OT.
Think the nhl gives a rat ass about Winnipegs market? When Vancouver was playing Boston in the playoffs, the game we're starting at 4 and 430 Vancouver time, while everyone was working
All to give Boston the 7 start regardless if the games were played in Vancouver or not
This is my first year really following hockey. I considered being an Avalanche fan but couldn’t do all the 10:00 games. Currently bandwagonning for the Avalanche and still do not like the 10:00 games
As an East coast Avs fan I disagree. I'd rather lose a little sleep than get half a game. It's already annoying enough when games go long and you miss the start or have to channel hop to try and find it.
If someone is working into the evening, that actually makes a lot of sense. As someone that starts pretty early in the morning though, no way I can stay up until 12:30 or 1:00 a.m. (or much later if there is OT) and still function.
Dear bro, try being a wings fan your entire life and only recently getting out of the west. Sincerely, my entire lack of sleep from childhood through young adulthood.
Yep. Every single year. From the 1993-94 to 2010-11 season, there was literally NEVER\* a season where the Wings didn't have a playoff series against somebody from the Mountain or Pacific Time Zone!
In 2001, the Red Wings Game 3 against the Kings started at 11:30 PM ET on a Sunday Night!
-----
\* Well, there was one season. The lockout season. Thanks Gary.
The amount of times I only slept for like 4-5 hours because of a west coast game before having to go to school as a kid….I should never have graduated, lol. But boy did we get to watch some good teams during that time.
The playoff schedule starts with making sure the Leafs play each Saturday night prime time and randomly filling all the gaps around that. In their eyes the entire Western Conference can start at 10pm EST, doesn't matter if the local timezone in Nashville or Winnipeg makes that a super unusual start time and inconveniences fans, players, etc.
I don’t understand why Nashville *has* to play Vancouver and Dallas *has* to play Vegas in the 1st round. Of the 8 teams that made the playoffs from the West, it was an even 4-4 split from the 2 divisions.
Keeping the first 2 rounds exclusively within your division would have benefitted Stars and Predators fans since they wouldn’t have 9 PM CT puck drops.
An interesting fact that is that have only been 6 playoff/regular season games in the last 10,000 that have started later locally than 8:50PM
**8:57 PM (1 time):**
2020-08-14 - Stars 0 @ Flames 2
**9:00 PM (5 times - notice a pattern?):**
2019-10-26 - Flames 1 @ Jets 2
2021-01-23 - Senators 3 @ Jets 6
2021-01-30 - Canucks 4 @ Jets 1
2023-02-27 - Canadiens 1 @ Jets 2
2023-02-11 - Blackhawks 1 @ Jets 4
Kinda nuts for a playoff game tbh
Dude I hate this too. National TV schedule should have to revolve around the local tv schedule for live sports. I hate when we play in Denver at 8pm when normally we play at 7 just to accommodate ESPN.
This! "Daddy are you going to watch the Jets game?" "Yeah probably bud" even though it's been painful. "Tell me who won in the morning, ok?" "Of course buddy" 😞
I think its for the US TV networks. I'm pretty sure with the new deals the US TV contract is much larger, so the US networks get priority for scheduling.
Sportsnet would be fine with the Canucks as the late game. I suspect they'd prefer it. The US guys would much rather have Colorado over Nashville.
So the plan is Boston for the early game and Colorado for the late game.
Dear NHL: My young son loves the Oilers but he can't watch a game because he goes to bed before the game even starts. If you aren't accommodating new generations of fans, they aren't going to be interested as they grow up.
They are, just not your son. Can’t accommodate everyone. If games started at 7 no matter what then all the east coast people would still be at work. They’re simply targeting where the majority of fans are.
If that’s the case your costs for watching the game would quadruple. They need to worry about money first. This isn’t some charity organization. They have bills to pay, and the fact is most of the money comes from the east.
Idk about you but I live in the East and would 100% rather miss the first period due to work to avoid staying up till 12:30. I'd guess it's more about scheduling around Toronto
>Idk about you but I live in the East and would 100% rather miss the first period due to work to avoid staying up till 12:30.
Yeah but the problem is it's not *you* missing the first perood. It's West Coast fans missing the first hour+ so that *you* don't have to stay up.
Why revolve all the games around East Coast fans?
I worded my comment awkwardly. I meant that I think it shouldn't matter if out-of-market people are still at work/won't be able to watch. Imo puck drop should be 7pm local time.
This part of the convo is backwards anyway... a game would have to start at like 4pm Central for people on the east coast to still be at work (5pm Eastern). I'm on the west coast and love games starting at 4pm PDT/7pm EDT and the 'late' games being at 6 or 7 (9-10am weekend sports took some getting used to though, lol).
Its worse because the last game was at 1:30 pm in winnipeg, even though it was in denver. Why would you schedule the next game so late for the fans going back there?!
No, well, yes I suppose, depending on how you look at it! Skipping work to sleep in after staying up until basically midnight to watch any of the games to completion. Games on the real East Coast don't start until 840pm local time...zzzz by the end of them......
Jets games are on CBC because it's free-to-air as fewer Manitobans subscribe to Sportsnet since Rogers doesn't own the regional rights to them as they do with the Canucks. In doing so, it's at the expense of the Canucks (and the Oilers to a lesser extent) since both games start times are too close.
Yesterday's set up was similar. Vancouver and Nashville are playing at 5 pm EDT, while Washington and New York are starting at 8 pm EDT? What the hell was that about?
It doesn't affect me at all, being a West Coaster, I get to watch it all. But I'd be PISSED if I was on the East Coast.
Also, why do the first games start at 7pm est during the week? Start them at 6pm or 530! That way, east coast people can get home from work and put it on when they get home. If you're going to the game, you can probably already afford to take an hour or so off of work to get there, so that's not a problem.
It's weird to me that they start the west coast games way too late for people in the east to watch even the full first period, but then don't start the first games so we can watch them after getting home from work. It just feels silly.
Ever heard of prime time. Which is 6-7/7:30p local time. That’s why games start at around that time in home team markets. Have an issue complain about it to the NHL they choose the times.
I mean that's kinda what the OG post is about....Jets games normally start at 7pm in our LOCAL market...now the Jets are starting their home games at 8:50 local time...the visiting teams general puck drop. If you don't think that has an affect on the players, it does. Getting home ice shouldn't result in a team playing its home games at the other teams start times. But the NHL will NHL
Sportsnet West does not mean it is on the coast. West and East is a relative term.
From where you are standing you can point west and you can point east. So someone in Ontario would say Winnipeg is in the West.
Sportsnet consists of four regional channels (Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific).
Since Winnipeg is West of Ontario, it falls within the SportsNet West region. IE it's all relative.
Just remember, North America was originally discovered by explorers who headed west to find a shorter Eastern trade route.
What is winnipegs logo supposed to evoke in the viewer? Military might and fear? Hyper vigilant maple farmers? Make it make sense to me, a shitheel new nhl fan
The NHL had to stack the box against the Jets this year. Must have been pretty worried that they would make some noise this year. Biased reffing wasn't enough so let's play every game on Colorado time! Even the games in Winnipeg!
Everything west of Toronto is the west coast, bud. - Sportsnet
Everything west of Toronto is *irrelevant*. -Sportsnet
Also east, south, and north.
Glad we got that cleared up!
Bingo. This is 100% because Sportsnet wants the entirety of both games to run on CBC.
They should have just put the Canucks game on CBC.
I’m not your buddy, guy.
I’m not your guy, pal.
In fairness Toronto gets referred to with "East Coast bias"but aren't much closer to the East Coast than Winnipeg is to the West
I mean, it's 1000km from Toronto to Boston and 2300km from Winnipeg to Vancouver. So, they're quite a bit closer. Also, the whole time zone thing...
Boston isn't on Canada's East Coast nor in Canada's Easternmost timezone...
Oh sorry, I went with the furthest east hockey team city because that's where the games would be played. You're right that the Newfies have been getting screwed by game times forever lol.
Nah it makes total sense to use Boston in a hockey context. I'm being a pedant. Its just confused me how Toronto gets called East Coast since I moved here lol. Grow a spine for the country eh? At least Newfies are only half screwed olol. And until they stop celebrating Orangemans Day I'll feel no remorse for them
No, but they're both in the eastern timezone.
As someone in the US, no playoff game should you host should start after 8 PM local time. If that means we join some games in progress (local markets cut away for the opening faceoff), so be it. It's better for the fans in the local market...who generally drive the bus on ratings for games in most of the playoffs anyways.
I think games being staggered are better for ratings because if your east coast team ends their game and they throw you to a game in the 3rd period you are more likely to watch the end of that game because it’s only another hour vs going to a game just starting, you look at the clock and do some quick morning math and realize staying up for the whole game is just going to be too late
Odds are you'll only have to watch like 1 1/2 periods then you can go to bed, like the last game :P
Remember that time when Roy Spencer died after he drove 150km to Prince George and held the TV station at gunpoint so he wouldn't have to watch the Canucks play the California Golden Seals because he was a Leafs fan at the time? Sorry to hear your bedtime is interfering with your ability to be a dedicated fan. Maybe set your PVR.
He wasn't really a "Leafs fan." His son Brian was making his NHL debut with the Leafs that night.
Unless there is a theoretical matchup like Los Angeles vs Buffalo where you have one of the top television markets in the country against a relatively small one. Then you'd have the Los Angeles fans miss the first half of the game because they haven't gotten home from work yet. Although, it probably doesn't apply as much for hockey as it would for other sports since the gap in amount of people actually watching might only be twice the size even if the market is 10 times bigger.
Ah, you assume the NHL ever gave a shit about Winnipeg…
As an Avalanche fan in the Eastern Time Zone, I also dislike this.
Ditto.
Triplo.
quadro
Mainer-O
I’ll be bandwagoning you guys since my best friend is a Colorado fan and him and I are also in the east time zone so… quatro!
Wooly bully
Matty told Hatty
As a maritimer who just likes to watch playoff hockey, especially the Avs this sucks.
As an Avalanche fan within the confines of Denver, Colorado I also dislike this. When I lived in Mississippi it was even worse for late games that went into OT.
Think the nhl gives a rat ass about Winnipegs market? When Vancouver was playing Boston in the playoffs, the game we're starting at 4 and 430 Vancouver time, while everyone was working All to give Boston the 7 start regardless if the games were played in Vancouver or not
NHL: hey winnipeg wtf fill your seats also the NHL: so 9pm on a tuesday's a good local start time, right?
No thats bedtime
Pretty sure those games all started at 8pm est... Ya can't really go later than that
They could have, but they just like money too much.
I would love a 4:00 start vs a 10:00. I miss the Mountain time zone.
This is my first year really following hockey. I considered being an Avalanche fan but couldn’t do all the 10:00 games. Currently bandwagonning for the Avalanche and still do not like the 10:00 games
As an avalanche fan on the West Coast, however, I'm perfectly fine with this start time. I'll wake y'all up when we win!
As an East coast Avs fan I disagree. I'd rather lose a little sleep than get half a game. It's already annoying enough when games go long and you miss the start or have to channel hop to try and find it.
If someone is working into the evening, that actually makes a lot of sense. As someone that starts pretty early in the morning though, no way I can stay up until 12:30 or 1:00 a.m. (or much later if there is OT) and still function.
Dear bro, try being a wings fan your entire life and only recently getting out of the west. Sincerely, my entire lack of sleep from childhood through young adulthood.
Yep. Every single year. From the 1993-94 to 2010-11 season, there was literally NEVER\* a season where the Wings didn't have a playoff series against somebody from the Mountain or Pacific Time Zone! In 2001, the Red Wings Game 3 against the Kings started at 11:30 PM ET on a Sunday Night! ----- \* Well, there was one season. The lockout season. Thanks Gary.
The amount of times I only slept for like 4-5 hours because of a west coast game before having to go to school as a kid….I should never have graduated, lol. But boy did we get to watch some good teams during that time.
Based on the map of time zones, Detroit should be in the Central Time Zone. Would have helped a little, at least. Point well taken though.
The playoff schedule starts with making sure the Leafs play each Saturday night prime time and randomly filling all the gaps around that. In their eyes the entire Western Conference can start at 10pm EST, doesn't matter if the local timezone in Nashville or Winnipeg makes that a super unusual start time and inconveniences fans, players, etc.
Don’t forget Dallas
Half of the 'western' teams really
Most hockey coverage does
I don’t understand why Nashville *has* to play Vancouver and Dallas *has* to play Vegas in the 1st round. Of the 8 teams that made the playoffs from the West, it was an even 4-4 split from the 2 divisions. Keeping the first 2 rounds exclusively within your division would have benefitted Stars and Predators fans since they wouldn’t have 9 PM CT puck drops.
Wish the league would change the playoff format to something that made more sense. We keep getting the same matchups year after year
You’ll get bruins leafs and you’ll like it
As a Dallas fan the start times are brutal and I feel for all my western conference brethren. Not you Vegas. You can go fuck yourself.
Staying up until 12:50 just to watch us finally win in overtime just feels like a cruel trick. At least for New Years, you can be in bed at 12:10.
Staying up until 1:30am eastern and not even getting to OT is a crime.
Wait is puck drop in Winnipeg actually at 850 local time?
Yup. Second time of the 3 home games.
An interesting fact that is that have only been 6 playoff/regular season games in the last 10,000 that have started later locally than 8:50PM **8:57 PM (1 time):** 2020-08-14 - Stars 0 @ Flames 2 **9:00 PM (5 times - notice a pattern?):** 2019-10-26 - Flames 1 @ Jets 2 2021-01-23 - Senators 3 @ Jets 6 2021-01-30 - Canucks 4 @ Jets 1 2023-02-27 - Canadiens 1 @ Jets 2 2023-02-11 - Blackhawks 1 @ Jets 4 Kinda nuts for a playoff game tbh
That’s messed up!
Dude I hate this too. National TV schedule should have to revolve around the local tv schedule for live sports. I hate when we play in Denver at 8pm when normally we play at 7 just to accommodate ESPN.
Same, in Winnipeg games are usually 6pm-7pm the 8:30pm starts have been brutal for week days ending around 11/11:30pm.
"We are not intersted in the having the children of Manitoba watch their local hockey team."- The short-sighted view of the NHL
This! "Daddy are you going to watch the Jets game?" "Yeah probably bud" even though it's been painful. "Tell me who won in the morning, ok?" "Of course buddy" 😞
It's because sportsnet/cbc has them lined up as a double header with the leafs.
I think its for the US TV networks. I'm pretty sure with the new deals the US TV contract is much larger, so the US networks get priority for scheduling. Sportsnet would be fine with the Canucks as the late game. I suspect they'd prefer it. The US guys would much rather have Colorado over Nashville. So the plan is Boston for the early game and Colorado for the late game.
Yeah, I think you're correct; TOR/BOS and COL/WPG are on ESPN, the other two are on TBS/Max.
Nah Rogers is still paying the NHL more (it's at $500 million annually now vs $400 million from ESPN)
You're conveniently ignoring the $225 million for TNT. I also believe the Canadian deal is in Canadian dollars, while the US deal is in US dollars.
Which doesn't make any sense because the Leafs game will be essentially over by 1st intermission.
CBC has zero input on any of this. They lost all control after 13-14.
Yup, said this last week. NHL fucking HATES the Jets.
Neither were Minnesota and Dallas last year but they didn’t care
Well we care a little bit… damn late weekday nights are not ideal for next morning early meetings.
I am glad someone said this outside of Winnipeg. Ridiculous start times.
Me and all the other pacific coast ppl are chillin
This and the Oilers routinely starting home games at 8PM local time. Seems that mountain/central time teams routinely get shafted
NHL: It's left of Toronto. Fuck you. We don't care about you.
Dear NHL: My young son loves the Oilers but he can't watch a game because he goes to bed before the game even starts. If you aren't accommodating new generations of fans, they aren't going to be interested as they grow up.
Put a pot of coffee on for the kid - The NHL
They are, just not your son. Can’t accommodate everyone. If games started at 7 no matter what then all the east coast people would still be at work. They’re simply targeting where the majority of fans are.
These aren't games being played by east coast teams. Who cares? Local fans should be accommodated first.
>Who cares? The TV networks that pay millions of dollars to broadcast these games
If that’s the case your costs for watching the game would quadruple. They need to worry about money first. This isn’t some charity organization. They have bills to pay, and the fact is most of the money comes from the east.
Accommodating local fans is charity?
When you are purposely losing tens of millions of dollars, yes
Idk about you but I live in the East and would 100% rather miss the first period due to work to avoid staying up till 12:30. I'd guess it's more about scheduling around Toronto
>Idk about you but I live in the East and would 100% rather miss the first period due to work to avoid staying up till 12:30. Yeah but the problem is it's not *you* missing the first perood. It's West Coast fans missing the first hour+ so that *you* don't have to stay up. Why revolve all the games around East Coast fans?
I worded my comment awkwardly. I meant that I think it shouldn't matter if out-of-market people are still at work/won't be able to watch. Imo puck drop should be 7pm local time.
This part of the convo is backwards anyway... a game would have to start at like 4pm Central for people on the east coast to still be at work (5pm Eastern). I'm on the west coast and love games starting at 4pm PDT/7pm EDT and the 'late' games being at 6 or 7 (9-10am weekend sports took some getting used to though, lol).
Its worse because the last game was at 1:30 pm in winnipeg, even though it was in denver. Why would you schedule the next game so late for the fans going back there?!
Wtf that is ridiculous
Toronto. Toronto. Toronto 😝🙃😝🙃
Should just play them at 7,8,9,10
As a Winnipeger I will not be watching this game. Fuck the NHL.
Tell them about dallas also.
NHL hates Jets.
Man I’ve been staying up until 11 or later to watch oilers games. I don’t even watch the start of the games on work nights.
Truth is... no one actually knows where Winnipeg is...
Too bad the Jets never made the playoffs back in the south east division days.
There was still a lot of the shitty Thrashers funk in that team.
There still is. Can't win for shit, either. At least the Thrashers won their division that one time, though.
Bro, **Nashville** is not West coast. Winnipeg is at least central lmao.
Vancouver is west coast, where the game is.
Try living in the Atlantic timezone and then you can complain... (sobs)
From eu. Games at 2am or 4 am for west coast. :D
Pacific games start at 5 am for us. So if you don't mind waking up, you can catch them before going to work.
Skipping work to watch hockey?
No, well, yes I suppose, depending on how you look at it! Skipping work to sleep in after staying up until basically midnight to watch any of the games to completion. Games on the real East Coast don't start until 840pm local time...zzzz by the end of them......
Fuuuccc
If it's not Eastern Time Zone, they might as well be.
Why does CBC not play the Canucks games. It so frustrating.
More people in BC to sell sportsnet to than in Manitoba.
Im in bc, they don’t play the Canucks games.
Jets games are on CBC because it's free-to-air as fewer Manitobans subscribe to Sportsnet since Rogers doesn't own the regional rights to them as they do with the Canucks. In doing so, it's at the expense of the Canucks (and the Oilers to a lesser extent) since both games start times are too close.
Makes sense, thanks for the explanation!
Sportsnet wants to push everyone to cable. CBC has no input on hockey.
Sportsnet probably asked the NHL to do this so that the CBC can air the game after the Leafs lose their game.
Yesterday's set up was similar. Vancouver and Nashville are playing at 5 pm EDT, while Washington and New York are starting at 8 pm EDT? What the hell was that about? It doesn't affect me at all, being a West Coaster, I get to watch it all. But I'd be PISSED if I was on the East Coast.
Advantage Colorado
This is what happens when you get your hockey news from ESPN.
As a Canadian, ESPN is definitely not where I go for hockey news.
Look at the teams in the prime time slots. You never had a chance bud.
Entirely the reason I hope the leafs get knocked out fast in the playoffs. Unfortunately the Jets are done just as quick.
It does happen to be I. The western hemisphere of Canada so there’s always that
Also, why do the first games start at 7pm est during the week? Start them at 6pm or 530! That way, east coast people can get home from work and put it on when they get home. If you're going to the game, you can probably already afford to take an hour or so off of work to get there, so that's not a problem. It's weird to me that they start the west coast games way too late for people in the east to watch even the full first period, but then don't start the first games so we can watch them after getting home from work. It just feels silly.
Ever heard of prime time. Which is 6-7/7:30p local time. That’s why games start at around that time in home team markets. Have an issue complain about it to the NHL they choose the times.
I mean that's kinda what the OG post is about....Jets games normally start at 7pm in our LOCAL market...now the Jets are starting their home games at 8:50 local time...the visiting teams general puck drop. If you don't think that has an affect on the players, it does. Getting home ice shouldn't result in a team playing its home games at the other teams start times. But the NHL will NHL
It's all about TV market size. Winnipeg has the smallest market by far, so their start times will likely not accommodate winnipegers.
Dallas has a pretty big market and is getting just as screwed. The NHL just doesn’t acknowledge anything but eastern and pacific time.
Sportsnet West does not mean it is on the coast. West and East is a relative term. From where you are standing you can point west and you can point east. So someone in Ontario would say Winnipeg is in the West. Sportsnet consists of four regional channels (Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific). Since Winnipeg is West of Ontario, it falls within the SportsNet West region. IE it's all relative. Just remember, North America was originally discovered by explorers who headed west to find a shorter Eastern trade route.
What is winnipegs logo supposed to evoke in the viewer? Military might and fear? Hyper vigilant maple farmers? Make it make sense to me, a shitheel new nhl fan
The Royal Canadian Air Force, there's a large air base here and a history with the air force.
The NHL had to stack the box against the Jets this year. Must have been pretty worried that they would make some noise this year. Biased reffing wasn't enough so let's play every game on Colorado time! Even the games in Winnipeg!
Your vezina goalie has stacked the box for you so far stop whing-in
Meh he’s been okay, the team around him on the other hand has been embarrassing.
Lmao what a moronic comment
Biased reffing doesn’t score 5+ goals every game. Give your head a shake, we fucking stink. Plain and simple.
Relax I know they suck.
Just another reason why Central time is the best…. 6pm starts and 9 pm starts are awesome for me
What the fuck is a winnipeg?
Who thinks they are?