Right now, Washington and Pittsburgh are playing on NBC which is fine because I will never turn down hockey being played on national television. NBC has been scheduling these two teams ever since Crosby and Ovechkin have come into their own. The problem is that both of these players are having horrible years. Crosby has practically been out since last January with a concussion or concussion like symptoms. Ovechkin has been having a down year in the scoring columns. Both are still very skilled. Both still have drawing power. Both suck this year. So who wants to watch Washington and Pittsburgh play if the two biggest names aren't playing or playing well? For NBC, I guess, it doesn't matter because they can try to put a new spin on the rivalry. I know that today there aren't many games being played so they just have to go with their plans, but if there were a slew of games, why would they not find a game between two contenders?
Right now, in the Eastern Conference, two of the top teams are the Rangers and Flyers. They played the Winter Classic game this year. Both are in bigger markets. And it's a great rivalry, both as cities and as sports teams. I know that you are going to see some east coast bias when it comes to sports, that's just how it goes. Bigger cities and bigger markets means bigger returns for the television. I get it. And I think that if you have a choice between a New York/Philadelphia game and something like a Vancouver/San Jose game, obviously a national network would take the New York and Philadelphia game, it just makes sense. But if Vancouver and San Jose are fighting for first place in the conference and New York and Philadelphia are struggling overall to make the playoffs, a true hockey fan would want to see the former game as opposed to the latter. But why doesn't a network see that? In the end, it's all about the money.
And that's too bad.
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