How much coverage does your team get on your local news channels?
Include, of course, what team and where you live…
Curiosity and the first preseason Steelers game sparked this question, because it reminded me of Steelers coverage VS Penguins coverage here in Pittsburgh.
For example: The Penguins are in Round 1 of the frickin’ Stanley Cup playoffs last season and are mentioned on the news only AFTER random tidbits about the Steelers, who were obviously not playing anymore. It’s frustrating. I mean, I’m a Steelers fan… but I’m not like the Pittsburghers who are notoriously gay for the Steelers.
Starting this summer though, I do see a ray of hope with Pittsburgh’s two biggest newspapers putting the Penguins before the Pirates, (who always suck) FINALLY:
http://www.post-gazette.com/
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/
Here in Philly, we have 4 maybe 5 local channels with complete news broadcasts and the Flyers get equal treatment from them all.
The Flyers also have a broadcast studio at Wachovia Center that has several programs that cater to all kinds of Philadelphia area sports. All our pro teams get more exposure that way.
Whenever one of our teams are in the playoffs there is no such thing as casual reporting. They get top exposure.
Philly is a good sports town, it’s too bad the Phillies aren’t a historically good franchise. The Eagles aren’t exactly the Yankees of the NFL but have a huge and devout following. The Sixers aren’t much better than the Phillies, but the Flyers are perennial winners.
Edmonton oilers – alot of coverage
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San Jose Sharks, but i live in San Francisco.
The Sharks managed the spotlight when they were in the playoffs, but they were short. Otherwise, they are usually last and even then, the interviews are far and few.
To be honest, i actually don’t even go to the local news for the highlights and news on the Sharks. With the internet and the wealth of information at various sites, i usually get more from them than the local news.
I will point out that the local newspapers are really good with the Sharks when they are in the playoffs or in the near final weeks fighting for a spot.
Usually the 49ers get the spotlight, even when it is useless news. The Warriors (our NBA team) and SF Giants (cuz of Bonds) also gets priority billing over the Sharks.
While i’m at it….the local stores around SF also don’t carry enough Shark memoribilia or apparel. I remember trying to find a Shark souvenir for my cousin when i was flying out to Boston and had the hardest time finding one. San Jose is only about 40 minutes away so its not like they shoudn’t carry the one hockey team within radius here. Oh well, i can only dream one day the Sharks will have the recognition as the other bay area teams around here………
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In Detroit the Wings are huge, but so are the Tigers, U of M football, Pistons, and the Lions. Overall though its whoever doingthe best gets the most coverage so the Wings are normally on top.
GO WINGS!
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I’m with you, Erica.
I’m a Pittsburgh-area resident who hates hearing about the Steelers.
But the Penguins are always going to be a distant number 2 to the Steelers — the local news is in the business of making money, and the Steelers are the biggest money makers out there.
Just look around, all the mullet-having drunken yinzers don’t care about anything but their precious Steelers.
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its pathetic how little attention hockey gets both on a national as well as local level….im a devils fan and all we get are new york stations so not only are we last because we are hockey but last in hockey because we are Jersey
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I live in New York. Yeah there are a lot of sports here all year round, but unfortunately, hockey is 4th on the list.
When the Rangers look good, they’ll get a good share of the press come playoff time. The Knicks, who have been a laughing stock for quite some time, still get a higher billing in the media during the regular season.
The Islanders will get their score mentioned, but thats about it.
No one cares about the Devils, so their lack of coverage doesn’t anger anyone.
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Boston is arguably the top sports city in the nation, as far as fans and media coverage goes. With the Bruins, they get their air time during games and the week night shows (the Buzz) in the off-season. However, this is when the Sox aren’t on, the Patriots are not covered as much by NESN, and the Celtics sucked. Now that the Celtics are relevant again, the Bruins will be on the back burner in Boston.
*Red Sox are in first place in the AL East (and are the best team in baseball with a .613 winning %) and have a great chance for a World Series this season.
*Patriots are looking like their best squad in a while, especially with the recieving core added (Moss, Stallworth, Welker) and the defensive addition of Adalius Thomas Brady will be able to hit reliable receivers on deep routes all day and open up short passes by sending Moss and Stallworth’s speed down field as decoys. Anything less than an AFC Championship game is a let down for this team and I personally think they should win a Superbowl.
*Celtics added Ray Allen (U-C-O-N-N) and the Big Ticket, Kevin Garnett, to help bring back a buzz to Boston Celtics basketball. With Pierce, Allen, and Garnett on the floor at the same time, the once die-hard Celts fan who bleed green and white will be back at the Garden and will have a chance to see another title here in Boston.
So overall this season the Bruins will be overlooked and it is mainly their own fault. They are the only team in town that will not have a legit chance at a championship and quite frankly I can’t see them making it past the first round in the playoffs– if they even make it that far.
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Here in Philly, we have 4 maybe 5 local channels with complete news broadcasts and the Flyers get equal treatment from them all.
The Flyers also have a broadcast studio at Wachovia Center that has several programs that cater to all kinds of Philadelphia area sports. All our pro teams get more exposure that way.
Whenever one of our teams are in the playoffs there is no such thing as casual reporting. They get top exposure.
Philly is a good sports town, it’s too bad the Phillies aren’t a historically good franchise. The Eagles aren’t exactly the Yankees of the NFL but have a huge and devout following. The Sixers aren’t much better than the Phillies, but the Flyers are perennial winners.
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In Buffalo For the Sabres any time something happens with them or a player does someting in the community you hear about it and to be quit honest people are still writing into the Buffalo news with their opinions about what they think of the Sabres Personally i think they get alot of coverage because Buffalo doesnt really have major sports except for the Buffalo Bills and theBuffalo Sabres then we have a minor league baseball team which is the Buffalo Bisons so the Buffalo Sabres get tons of coverage
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I’m in Canada. It’s wall to wall even in the off-season with the Canucks. It kind of sucks as the media do not cover the WHL Giants all that well so that’s not great. There is also a narrow viewpoint on the entire NHL as it’s just Nux, Nux, Nux. No one dares seems to criticize how brutal our playing style is under Vigneault. If we changed our name to the Devils and moved to NJ, you’d hear no end of how boring the Nux are.
Anyway, that’s the take from here.
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In NY the Rangers will get minor press coverage on the local news – perhaps 30 seconds on the sports report – but only if they played that day. The sports news magazines on the local networks practically ignore them. Last year when they won a double OT game in the Second Round it did not even make the plays of the day on Chris Wragge’s weekend sports show (CBS 2 on Sunday Nights).
But as hockey fans we learn to live with it.
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I’m in Connecticut, and the Rangers receive the most coverage of any hockey team, but the Red Sox and Yankees get a little more. The Bruins fall 4th on the list. Surprisingly, Islanders coverage is confined to small sections in newspapers, and it’s usually only a box score. I think pro hockey is more popular in CT than pro basketball or football because of the Whalers, and most former Whalers fans follow the Rangers, as the Blueshirts’ minor league affiliate plays in Hartford.
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I live near Nashville and the Predators gets covered after the major sports but only got top headlines when they tried to sell the team and move.
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Buffalo is through and through a hockey town. When Danny Briere left for Philly, it was the top story on all 3 local channels. Prospects, training camp, open skates, pre-season, AHL affiliate Rochester Americans, it’s all covered and covered well. I thank God every day that Western New York is so close to Canada. Football takes a back seat to superior sports in the Queen City!
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Sabres fan, of course!
The local news here in NC does highlights of canes games at least once a week when they dedicate a half hour to sports. other then that it’s the score and big news from each game no matter what sport. There is also a general lack of news on those stations, so I don’t ever watch them anymore…. I don’t care about an old Lady’s Cats!
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As someone before me said, if you want the other end of the spectrum from some of the markets in the U.S., just move to any NHL city in Canada. It is wall to wall coverage of every move the team makes even in July and August. I love hockey but i also like the NFL and MLB, and when those sports are in season it would be nice to hear SOMETHING about them rather than hearing the favorite meal of the new minor leaguer the Canucks just signed.
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The Colorado Avalanche are on Altitude Sports and Entertainment unless there is a Nuggets game then they or on Versus. Sometime they are not in ether in which case you have to listen to the game on the radio
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Leafs are huge here and any where that’s near here. Including thousands of miles off.
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I split my time between Chicago and Toronto.
In Toronto, a 9th round prospect from 15 years ago getting toe gout is front page news for a week.
In Chicago, the coverage is decent. Although the resurgence of the Bears and Bulls last season moved us down somewhat. We still get more coverage than the White Sox and they were the city’s most recent Champions
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To paraphrase a line from John Lennon:
"The Leafs are more popular than Jesus."
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I live near Lansing Michigan and the Wings get great coverage. The newspapers, during season, will have them on the front page somewhere every week. Off season if there is news you will see the wings on the front of the paper…….articles in the sports section too. The TV news comenatators on the local news will have good things to say each week(in season) about the wings…..guess they don’t want the sports guy to have all the say…..LOL
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Minnesota Wild
I live SE of St. Paul, MN.
The team gets a lot of coverage all over the state, but that’s because we’re the State of Hockey. The Wild are proof that you don’t need a big market to have a financially successful team…you just need the right market.
The Star Tribune was one a hand-full of news papers who sent a reporter to cover the Stanley Cup finals even though the Wild had already been eliminated.
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I live in Toronto so we have three channels just devoted to sports, plus all the local stations, and CBC. So in order to get ratings from our (cesspool of a) city, they show tons of Leafs coverage. Also, there’s a digital (I think digital) channel devoted entirely to the Leafs (and Raptors, and NHL).
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The Avs always get a lot of attention, the local papers always put a photo of some Avs player on the cover of the sports section whenever they win a game. Unless the Broncos played on that day. Because the Rockies never make the playoffs, whenever the Avs season starts, the Rockies’ is already over. So I’d say the Broncos are #1, and then the Avs and Nuggets are tied for #2 as far as media coverage goes.
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I’m a Red Wings fan but I live in the suburbs of DC so I get nothing on the Wings locally.
The most the Caps get is maybe a quick clip every now and then on the local news channel when the sports guy has the top 5 sports clips of the day. And when Ovechkin scored the sliding/rolling/all contorted goal that was talked about for like 10 seconds.
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not much only when my beloved sens beat the leafs…..lol i live in toronto….sens r my team!
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When you live in Buffalo, the Bills aren’t as big as a deal as the Sabres. The whole town has turned into fans. It’s crazy how much support and coverage they are getting… even in the off season
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erica..lol i live in bedford which is like an hour and 45 minutes away from pitts so we both get the same channel coverage..and yeah i hate when football and hockey is on because football will always be first over hockey. I love football, but i love hockey more!!!! oh and i hate the steelers so it really sux for me
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hey so yeah the Bears get the most coverage out of any of the sports teams in the chicago area.. the Bulls come in a close second tho.. yeah with all the coverage the daily harold gives … it all goes towards the bears which im not really angry about because i like the bears .. but the least coverage out of any of the teams is the blackhawks. i dont blame chicago news for not covering them.. they havent made the playoffs in gosh knows how long… i just wish i had a chicago hockey team to root for.. besides the AHL Wolves.. hope u liked my Chicago review!
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I know how you feel as a fellow girl from da burgh. I’m a steelers fan, but the Pens take precedent in my mind over the steelers anyday. I actually fell over laughing when the news about "steely mcbeam" being named was mentioned on the news and the fact that Jordan Staal had his day in court was not. The Pittsburgh news is a joke for getting information on the Pens. I mean even the Pirates get more coverage and they have sucked for the past 10 years or more. I don’t watch the news… I read Empty Netters on the Post Gazette web site to get all the relevant Pens information that I need…plus some awesome videos and pics from around the league.
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