I’m going to do a jump break after this paragraph because of the length of this the transcript of the conference call involving NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins, and HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg who all took part discussing Thursday’s announcement of the new edition of 24/7 Penguins/Capitals: Road To The Winter Classic.
This is very long so rather taking up space on the front page of the blog, I’ll do a jump here and you can read further if you wish.
This is interesting reading so let’s provide the conference call transcript.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, NHL COO John Collins and HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg Conference Call TranscriptsAn interview with:COMMISSIONER GARY BETTMANJOHN COLLINSROSS GREENBURGJAMEY HORAN: I want to welcome everyone to the NHL/HBO conference call. As everyone knows today we proudly announced, along with HBO, our 24/7 Penguins/Capitals Road to the NHL Winter Classic Series. It will be a four-episode, all-access series leading up to New Year’s days, the showdown between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals in the NHL Winter Classic. The first episode debuts December 15th exclusively on HBO.Today here in New York we have Commissioner Gary Bettman, chief operating officer John Collins, and president the HBO Sports Ross Greenburg. I’ll ask each to make an opening statement and we’ll open it up for questions.I’ll turn it over to the Commissioner of the National Hockey League, Gary Bettman.COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Thank you for joining us. The National Hockey League is delighted to be partnering with HBO Sports with the creation of the 24/7 Penguins/Capitals Road to the Winter Classic. This is a blending, if you will, of great brands, great storytelling. The fact that HBO Sports is going to use it’s Emmy-winning 24/7 to chronicle a month in the regular season of the NHL leading up to the Winter Classic in Pittsburgh between the Capitals and Penguins to us is an absolutely fantastic opportunities to bring hockey fans and, in fact, all sports fans an opportunity to see our players and see our game in ways that they’ve never been able to do it before and in ways that perhaps no fans of any sport have ever been able to do it before.We’re excited about the opportunity. We know that having built the Winter Classic into such a strong property in only three years, the future is only brighter when you couple the fact that HBO is working with us to, in fact, make this an even bigger event than it’s been.I want to thank Ross Greenburg for his confidence, his friendship and his support, and most of all his vision.I’d like to turn things over now to John Collins, who is both the architect of the Winter Classic as an event and the person from the NHL side who is responsible for working with Ross to get this project to where it is.JOHN COLLINS: Thank you, Commissioner.We’re just incredibly excited about the opportunity. I’m mostly excited about what the opportunity is for fans. You so often hear about the quality not only of the game but the quality of the players. To be able to work with HBO to provide such a premiere entertainment platform to tell the great stories of the game, of these two really model franchises, of the players, the really good guys, the great talents, the great players on these two teams, I think is really a special opportunity and something that, quite frankly, hockey fans deserve. I think they’re really going to flock to it.But I think the appeal of HBO on this project is that we’re reaching far beyond just the world of hockey fans and even sports fans. HBO is a premiere entertainment platform and they’ve proven their ability to tell fantastic stories and get those stories out to the world, quite frankly.Before I turn it over to Ross, we’re appreciative of his vision for taking this project on and seeing the potential in it. I also want to really acknowledge and thank the clubs who are giving us, giving HBO, really unprecedented access. The idea that we’re going to be in there for four weeks during the regular season, to be able to have the kind of access that this series is known for, is just phenomenal. We’re just incredibly appreciative and we think it’s a huge opportunity for all of us.With that, I want to turn it over to Ross.ROSS GREENBURG: I want to thank these two gentlemen, Gary Bettman and John Collins, for allowing us in during the regular season, which is unprecedented for this series and our franchises of reality television at HBO. This is an important step for the 24/7 franchise. To be embedded with two teams during the regular season in a four-week run with two games against each other, the first being in Washington on December 23rd after our second episode and ending with the Winter Classic on January 1, which will be incorporated heavily into our fourth episode on January 5th, we feel as if we’re going to be able to bring sports fans unprecedented access to the behind-the-scenes of what goes on in a professional sports league and with two teams as they head into battle on numerous occasions against a variety of opponents as we’ll be showcasing a lot of regular-season games throughout this four-week spread.The other thing we obviously will always do is bring you into the team meeting rooms, into the locker rooms, the planes on chartered flights, at home, everywhere these players, coaches, assistant coaches go during this four-week stretch. That is at the heart what this 24/7 series is all about, to bring you, the viewer, access you’ve never been given before so you understand what it takes to be a professional athlete and compete at this high level.At the end of the day this is going to be an exciting four weeks of programming. And, yes, every once in a while you might hear a little salty language with a little Canadian or Russian flair to it. At the end of the day, this is all about showcasing NHL hockey in its grandest form, ending up at that Winter Classic on Heinz Field.JAMEY HORAN: We’ll take questions from the media for Ross, John or the Commissioner.Q. Gary, this gives you some great exposure to HBO, the pay cable universe. Looking forward for the basic cable universe, the Versus contract ends this upcoming season. Where does that look as opposed to going back to ESPN?COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Everyone on this call knows we’ve been pleased in the United States with our relationships with ESPN and Versus. We’ll be in discussions in the probably not-too-distant future, certainly in the course of the season. We’ll deal with the next contracts in the ordinary course.In terms of who we may or may not talk to, what it is we may or may not be looking for, that’s something we believe is best done privately and not in a public forum.Q. Discussions for that next contract have not begun yet?COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Not on a formal basis. We’re in a regular dialogue with our partners on an ongoing basis.I know, because I’ve been getting lots of questions today about it, there’s a lot of hype and focus on it. We’re not at this stage viewing it with the same level of scrutiny that it’s getting. It doesn’t mean that it’s not important; it’s extraordinarily important. But we’ll get there in due course doing it the right way.Q. I’m wondering if this will be available in Canada or what update you can provide for viewers north of the border?ROSS GREENBURG: We will have this showcased in Canada. We have not sold it yet. We have every intention of making sure every Canadian has a chance to watch this four-week series. Believe me, it will be in Canada.
Q. I know Ross alluded to this earlier. Gary, what are your thoughts in terms of your level of concern about how the teams may come off, if there is some naughty language that gets into the shows?COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Well, first of all, when you’re dealing with cable, especially pay cable, the standards are different than broadcast. Although I believe that when people get an inside look at what goes on in and about our game, overwhelmingly they’re going to see something that’s very positive.If this is going to be authentic, it needs to be authentic and guys aren’t going to be scripted. As you see at any sporting events in the stands, among fans, as you see around the playing surfaces, there is occasionally language that’s a little more mature than you might want to put on Saturday morning programming for children.We’ll see what develops. My guess is, before we air the first show, we see what we have, there will be the appropriate reviewing and critiquing and warnings of who should be watching it.Q. Ross, how much control does the league have or the teams have over what’s going to go out there? Is it the same basic situation at Hard Knocks?ROSS GREENBURG: It’s the same basic situation in that any strategic pieces or meetings that take place that the teams do not want us in for competitive reasons, we’ll abide by their wishes and not shoot.But for the most part in terms of editorial control, obviously HBO will maintain editorial control. Once we get beyond that competitive, strategic issue, we will decide what goes on the air.The other thing I would say is, in the American public people curse in their daily lives. I know certain people don’t and I respect that. But there will always be some. If we are going to be reality television, we’re going to have to show some of that.We do not do it ever for shock value and it will only be in if it’s part of the fabric of the goings on during the shooting of the series.COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I want to make clear that the clubs, from ownership down, have been spectacular in their support for this project. Quite frankly, if everyone wasn’t comfortable with HBO, their judgment, their reputation, their expertise, their professionalism, they wouldn’t and we wouldn’t be comfortable in trusting HBO with this project.But both the Capitals and Penguins from the top down, ownership, president, managers, players, coaching staffs, have been across the board excited and supportive of this project.Q. Gary, can you talk about how it wasn’t that long ago that the Penguins were a club that was in bankruptcy, up for sale, talk of being relocated, and how the ping-pong ball bounced in their favor with Sidney Crosby, what kind of impact that’s had on this team, getting a new arena and being on a show like this?COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Well, you have just laid out Exhibit A as to why we don’t run out on cities when there are problems. Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Ottawa back 8, 10 years ago went through times where there were challenges, not unlike the challenge we’ve been facing in Phoenix. You only give up as an absolute last resort. From our standpoint, you don’t give up unless you have to.As we stuck by Pittsburgh, you see the results. The difference that ownership makes, the support that the city makes, having great players makes. It culminates, as you pointed out, with a team that not only is competitive, has won the Stanley Cup, has a bright future, brand-new arena, is the object of great attention, not just in North America but around the world.So things are pretty good in Pittsburgh. That’s why we do what we do when we have franchise issues.Q. Can you talk about Sidney Crosby being in Pittsburgh, a city needing that boost, as opposed to him going to a team that had more of a healthy financial situation?COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: You know, that’s the luck of the draw. Nobody can overstate the impact that Sid has for his teammates, franchise and city and league. But as everybody knows, this isn’t an individual sport. This is a team sport. Obviously it was the luck of the draw that placed him in Pittsburgh. But he would have been a huge success wherever he was.I always believed in Pittsburgh, and with the right ownership and right support from the town that the Penguins would be successful. There are some who I suppose might speculate it wouldn’t have happened without Sid. Obviously Sid made a huge difference, but I’ve always believed in Pittsburgh, as well.Q. There seems to be some backlash that began when the Penguins and Capitals were announced for the Winter Classic, the Ovechkin/Crosby rivalry being overexposed. Might that be approached from a narrative approach to the show?COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I think you actually wrote that today. I’m not a big fan of self-fulfilling prophecies.I don’t think it’s been overdone. I think it’s a fascinating, interesting story. People wrote when they got eliminated from the playoffs last year we were done, then went on to have the most successful Stanley Cup final we’ve ever had.Everybody is entitled to their opinion. I happen not to share yours.ROSS GREENBURG: This show will not be the Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby Show. When we do 24/7 or any of our other reality-based shows, we don’t focus on two players, on an entire franchise or team. We’ll be all over the coaches, assistant coaches, all their teammates. We’ll look for the most compelling characters.They’re going to be as big a part of this series as is warranted. We certainly are not going to focus the content of this four?show series around two players. That would be moronic. I can guarantee you you’ll be introduced to many wonderful characters throughout the four hours of programming that we’re going to put on HBO.Q. To put it bluntly, money makes the world go round. How much is the NHL paying HBO for this or conversely how much is HBO paying NHL for this?ROSS GREENBURG: We really don’t get into financial issues, much like I wouldn’t tell you how much I’d pay for the Stanley Cup final. We’re going to keep that at bay.Let’s put it this way. The production costs will be nice and healthy and you can expect the same kind of quality from us that you’ve been given for the other 24/7 series that we’ve produced in the past.Q. Commissioner, can you comment on the timing of this partnership with the HBO at a time when the NHL is coming off record television ratings?COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: That certainly didn’t hurt in terms of the discussion we had. We got some of these questions earlier.When we selected Washington and Pittsburgh for the Winter Classic, we didn’t know we would be doing this. This collaboration was actually an outgrowth of the screening that Ross did for John Collins and Bill Daly and Brendan Shanahan on the Broad Street Bullies. We were all, meaning HBO and the NHL, very pleased with how that went. The Flyers went on to the Stanley Cup finals.But the strength of last season, the strength of the matchup for the Winter Classic, the strength of the Winter Classic as a property developed in only three short years I think, and I’ll let Ross chime in, all went into the thinking from HBO’s standpoint that this would be a really good thing to do.ROSS GREENBURG: John Collins and Gary and I started talking about how we program this. We came up with the idea that we could culminate this series during a regular?season run with the Winter Classic. So all the pieces of the puzzle fit. We seized on the opportunity and here we are today announcing this four-week series.COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I’ll use this a little euphemistically. There’s a third team involved as we go to the run-up in the Winter Classic, that’s going to be the NHL crew that’s in the process of converting Heinz Field into a hockey rink. There probably will be some footage of the Steelers coming off the field and the crew immediately going on to begin the conversion that has to be done in record time to get A-quality ice ready for a regular-season game.ROSS GREENBURG: Yes, you will see that.Q. I wanted to ask how this came about. Was there ever a thought of not doing it without the Winter Classic, but doing it with maybe the Rangers, Bruins or Blackhawks or another high-profile team?ROSS GREENBURG: We wanted to capture the legacy of 24/7. I knew the same producers would be assigned to the series. So we think we built a franchise. We ventured into NASCAR after we did so many boxing 24/7’s. We’re looking to expand the franchise. This was a perfect fit.As far as a larger market, I think it’s all about storytelling. To be able to take these two franchises and follow them for four solid weeks, with Ovechkin, Crosby, this lineup of superstars that surround them, with charismatic coaches and owners, this was the perfect spot for us, inclusive of being able to add the Winter Classic.I don’t think I could have figured out a better way to showcase the series.COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: For those of you who aren’t hockey fans on a daily basis on this call, these are two teams that don’t love each other. The rivalry aspect will play very nicely, as well.ROSS GREENBURG: Right. And their fans don’t like each other.JAMEY HORAN: I want to thank Ross and John and the Commissioner for their time. We will speak to you soon. I want to thank everyone for joining us today.
That concludes this post. Been quite the whirlwind day on Fang’s Bites starting very early this morning. Time to actually sleep. See you Friday.
