Welcome back to what we all hope will be a much better NHL season for our New Jersey Devils. We at NJDevsBlog.com are excited about the upcoming season — and it’s our hope, as usual, to deliver unique Devils’ and NHL content — via parody, commentary, video and audio.
What you won’t find here — again — are game recaps, or, for that matter, anything you’d find elsewhere.
We’ll also continue with our popular Attendance Watch series, a look around the league, each day, at which games did and didn’t sell out.
We start this season off with a complaint, I suppose, of sorts.
So often, I’m asked, “Why aren’t the Devils on SNY?” And each time I’m asked, it makes me sick, really, because as much as I’d love to see the team on SNY, it’ll be a long time before that’s even possible.
The Devils’ current contract with MSG doesn’t expire until after the 2023-24 season. A few years ago, the Devils signed a massive deal with the network to continue to televise the team’s games.
The money, though not announced, was believed to be astronomical and more than any other networks offered.
Here’s the problem though.
The Devils are always going to be second- or third-class on this network. Take this pre-season for example.
Every single Rangers pre-season game is to be televised.
One Devils pre-season game will be — and shocker — it’s against the Rangers.
Perhaps the most disturbing is the game on Sept. 21 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn against the Islanders isn’t on TV.
A friend of mine with inside knowledge of the reasoning tells me the suits at MSG say televising that game would have caused “significant losses.”
And that’s nonsense.
And precisely why, to this day, I still cannot believe Lou would have signed such a long-term deal with MSG when the Devils could have been a major focus of SNY’s winter programming. (Let’s face it, there’s only so much “Beer Money” one can take in the cold-weather months, right)?
Instead, they continue to play step-child on the MSG network. And that, my friends, is a shame.
We can only hope that in 10 years, when it’s time to re-up, Lou (or whomever the GM or decider is) realizes it’s time to go elsewhere for better coverage.
Odds and ends
• The Devils will be on WFAN again this season. What’s not clear is what will happen if there’s a conflict. Will one game go on 660 AM and another on 101.9 FM?
Chances of a split are slim since WFAN is a complete simulcast — which means no deviation from programming or advertising from AM to FM.
• Be sure to check back regularly now — we’re back and we hope you are, too!
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