I need to get these up quickly as the NBC/NHL conference call will occur at 1 p.m. today. I won’t be able to monitor it, but I do hope to provide details as they become available. Lots of links to get to.
The major news of the day thus far is NBC’s renewal of its agreement with the NHL. It means NBC and Versus will keep the rights to the league and it’s for 10 years/$200 million. Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy tells us what it all means.
Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand who has been tremendous in reporting this story has the full details of the new agreement between NBC/Comcast and the NHL.
Anthony Crupi says NBC/Comcast has won its first battle in what should be many against Disney/ESPN.
Barry Pachesky of Deadspin puts the NBC/Comcast contract with the NHL into perspective.
Keara Dowd of Aerys Sports says ESPN really wanted to get the NHL back.
Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says NBC/Comcast will have increased rights to the NHL with the new 10 year deal.
And in a related note, PBS’ Nightly Business Report had a segment on Comcast’s purchase of NBC and wanting to gain a big foothold in sports.
Back to Wyshynski, he gives us the best of NESN’s Jack Edwards from last night’s Game 3 of the Boston Bruins-Montreal Canadiens series. Jack was more over the top than usual.
Michael Hiestand of USA Today says for Generation Y, sports is about getting together, not necessarily competing against each other.
Also from USA Today, Sean Leahy notes that despite the lockout, the NFL is pressing ahead with plans to release its 2011 regular season schedule tonight.
Sean speculates on some of the NFL’s marquee games for this season.
Sean says Joe Theismann has tweeted (since removed) that he is indeed out of the NFL Network Thursday Night Football booth.
Back to the Sports Business Journal and Terry Lefton who notes that the NFL continues with its Draft even as the lockout continues.
John Ourand and David Broughton of Sports Business Journal report that San Antonio reigns over the local TV ratings for the league.
Over at Multichannel News, Mike Reynolds says the NBA on TNT’s opening Sunday NBA Playoff tripleheader drew 36% more viewers than the year before.
Anthony Crupi from Adweek says the big TV ratings for the opening weekend of the NBA Playoffs means more revenue for ESPN and Turner Sports.
Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life writes that the NBA’s postseason ratings could set a record.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with someone in the know about the Feds’ crackdown on offshore poker websites.
Sports Business Daily looks at ESPN’s decision to drop all poker advisertising.
Cam Martin from SportsNewser says ESPN is going to be dropping all poker advertising and related programming for the foreseeable future.
Ben Koo of Awful Announcing tells us what ESPN’s decision on poker advertising and programming means to the niche sport.
Russell Scibetti from the Business of Sports shares his thoughts on the Feds’ crackdown on poker websites and what it means for the networks that air poker.
Emmett Jones of Sports Business Digest notes that Pittsburgh is on top of the local NHL TV ratings heap.
The great Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball says MLB’s TV partners are bullish about ad revenue for this season.
The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir writes about ESPN posting the endorsement deals made its announcers and analysts.
ESPN has announced that the extremely insufferable Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News will host a one hour daily show for ESPN Radio in New York. I refuse to link to any stories about this. You’ll thank me later.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes the early postseason ratings for both the NBA and NHL.
Dejan Kovacevic at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette talks about the Penguins being number one in the local NHL TV ratings.
John Steigerwald of the Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter who wrote the incendiary column last week about Giants fan Bryan Stow who is still in a coma after being beat up by two Los Angeles Dodgers fans, tries to explain himself this week and claims everyone across the country is to blame for misunderstanding his original incendiary column.
To Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner who says the NBC Sports Group outdueled three other networks for the NHL.
Jerry Ratcliffe of the Charlottesville (VA) Daily Progress writes about the bond between Fox NFL Sunday co-horts and odd couple Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long.
Rick Bozich from the Louisville Courier-Journal feels ESPN owes the University of Kentucky an apology.
Ryan Clark of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that ESPN’s Bob Knight should be fired for remarks he made about the Kentucky basketball program.
Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman previews one segment on tonight’s HBO Real Sports program.
Mark Dawidziak of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer says a local man will get a shot at his dream to work for ESPN.
Diane Pucin from the Los Angeles Times looks at the new NBC/NHL deal.
TV Sports Jobs looks at 10 Worst Acting Performances in sports movies.
The great Bob’s Blitz blog has the ratings for WFAN and ESPN Radio New York for last month.
Pressdog notes the ratings for ESPN2’s airing of last weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide race.
The Canadian Sports Media blog feels CBC’s curling coverage ain’t what it used to be.
Sports Media Watch says TNT is off to its best start ever for an NBA postseason.
SMW says ESPN had good numbers for its NBA Playoffs opening tripleheader.
And SMW notes ABC had really good numbers for its opening two games of the NBA Playoffs.
Another post from Russell Scibetti, this time in the Business Insider Sports Page, where he noticed that MLB.com has stopped its free streaming of a game a night on Facebook.
Joe Favorito says in addition to promoting team pride, NBA and NHL Playoff teams might want to attach a worthy cause as well. I like this idea.
OK, lots of links and lots of stories. I think we’ll end it there.
