04/23/24
July 18, 2005
Draft Lottery is none of your business: says the NHL...An unbiased opinion would be dumbfounded by this rejection of much needed media attention. My biased opinion sees this move as a solid assurance Crosby will be a Ranger. [via]
Why does the spoting world need to revolve around NYC. I agree that Crosby will end up in NY, but why does this need to happen. Jordan went to Chicago and that worked out fine for the NBA. This lottery crap stinks of corruption. The teams from New York should form their own league and play only against other teams located in the city or using the name New York. It is not a birth right for their teams to win championships.
posted by seansterps at 01:01 PM on July 18, 2005
that would serve the same purpose, and put a massive smile on my face, but my bias is towards (or against?) Bettman and his bias to please the american market...bias all around.
posted by garfield at 01:02 PM on July 18, 2005
I'm a Rangers fan and I will happily pee all over myself if Crosby comes to town... But I think it would be a terrible thing for the NHL. Yes, NYC is a huge market, but it's a big market anyway and the fans here will watch in abudnace anyway. The best thing for the NHL (for my money, not theirs) would be if he ended up in Nashville or Chicago or Pittsburgh or somewhere like that. He could be the lure that brought people to the buildings. Plus, people have their minds made up and if the luck bounces the ball to the Rangers, people will talk about it for years as the rigging of Sid's selection. As for the NHL's decision not to show the lottery... Par for the course. These people couldn't run an 8th grade fantasy league let alone a major professional sport. Of course, that doesn't matter now because they have a system that prevents failure. Bettman is a marketing wizard afterall... He knows how to succeed without actually having any marketing sense. That takes skill! Give him a raise!
posted by 86 at 01:12 PM on July 18, 2005
This is just another slap in the face for the average fan. I hope everyone remembers all this crap when you are in line to give up your life savings for a ticket. As far as I'm concerned they can fuck off.
posted by volfire at 01:19 PM on July 18, 2005
This is just another slap in the face for the average fan. I hope everyone remembers all this crap when you are in line to give up your life savings for a ticket. As far as I'm concerned they can fuck off. So, from that response we can assume you won't be bothering to add any comments to an NHL thread in the future, right?
posted by grum@work at 01:25 PM on July 18, 2005
Goodness, who runs the NHL? I mean this is a league that has had to practically give away their TV rights to NBC (are they not going to be operating on the same sort of plan as infommercials?) and has a great opportunity to get their product on TV BEFORE they even drop a puck to restart and they pass on it? Mind, the "number of television networks" the article refers to probably are TSN, Sportsnet, The Score (3 Canadian sports channels) and maybe ESPN 5.
posted by gspm at 01:29 PM on July 18, 2005
It's policies like this one that gives trouble to the NHL when it tries to reach out to fans. I'm praying that Crosby will be a Ranger but who the hell knows. The Rangers have sucked for way too long...it's about time it's paid off in some way.
posted by EmpireWF at 02:10 PM on July 18, 2005
The Rangers have sucked for way too long...it's about time it's paid off in some way. Dude! You guys won only 11 years ago! Don't be so greedy. Sincerely, Chicago and Toronto
posted by grum@work at 02:29 PM on July 18, 2005
Wtf? There are people out there who actually want to televise some very boring NHL goings-on, and the NHL won't let them? They should be begging people to cover the draft, like they're soon going to have to beg people to cover the games.
posted by fabulon7 at 02:42 PM on July 18, 2005
The nhl execs don't know the difference between good and bad exposure.
posted by seansterps at 02:44 PM on July 18, 2005
Grapes says Crosby as a Ranger is best for the league. While I can see his point I don't think that most fans that don't need winning over would necessarily agree.
posted by gspm at 02:45 PM on July 18, 2005
grum: I wouldn't have said it as forcefully as volfire, but it is pretty spectacularly stupid PR. Compare and contrast the attention lavished on the NBA and NFL drafts with the... well, with any attention that has been given lately to the NHL.
posted by tieguy at 02:48 PM on July 18, 2005
haven't been been able to find the league's logic for this decision, but even if I could locate an official statement, it would still be idiocy. What possible rationale could you come up with to keep this under wraps? Crosby has a big pimple? Gary Bettman thinks the camera makes him look fat? This could be a wonderful windfall of goodwill, a legitimate hypefest for a league which should be considering every possible option of putting on a good face. I suspect the reason given will be that the hotel in Ottawa where the draft is being held is too small to be overrun with talking heads and cameras. Of course, the Senators and the rest of the local folks wanted to have the festivities at the Corel Centre -- a sort of "Welcome Back" bash for the city and the league. Instead, only a small management group from each team and the elite prospects will be on hand. With the lottery ball drawing being held during the NHL board of governor's meeting this week (and I can't find any information that it won't be held behind closed doors), this gives lots of ammunition to the conspiracy theorists should Crosby end up in New York. I guess we shouldn't expect any more from a league which is getting rid of ties and allowing games to be decided by shootout. At least one thing is certain -- the hotel where they'll hold the draft? It's definitely not a Holiday Inn Express.
posted by wfrazerjr at 03:00 PM on July 18, 2005
wfrazerjr, if I'm reading this right, the draft itself is definitely being televised: TSN's NHL page says so in bold letters in that draft-special box down on the right-hand side. What they're not televising is the draft order lottery.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 03:36 PM on July 18, 2005
grum: I wouldn't have said it as forcefully as volfire, but it is pretty spectacularly stupid PR. Compare and contrast the attention lavished on the NBA and NFL drafts with the... well, with any attention that has been given lately to the NHL. I agree that it's a dumbass decision by the NHL. I was just asking that if he's that negative about the NHL ("...they can fuck off.") that he avoid any future discussions about the NHL. It's one thing to have a negative point of view about a discussion in a thread, but I don't think it contributes to the discussion to say things like "...they can fuck off." I'm hoping to avoid people who always seem to pop up in discussions about other sports (NHL, NASCAR, soccer, MLB, pretty much everything) and make some assinine comment ("This sport sucks and everyone who watches it are idiots.") just for the sake of shock and troll. It's a hopeless dream, but still...
posted by grum@work at 03:46 PM on July 18, 2005
So what sport do you wish to discuss GRUM? Or do you know everything about anything? I was always of the mind that one can come away from any discussion with something. Or are you above us all?
posted by volfire at 04:07 PM on July 18, 2005
AND I happen to be a hockey fan. I just wish I could afford to take 3 boys to a game. At 75$ a ticket for lame seats, parking, 4.50 for hot dogs, ect., ect., who can afford to see a professional sport? THAT was my point. After a year of nothing, you would think that the NHL would take every opportunity for good exposure. I apologize to everyone for my earlier comment,if you were offended.
posted by volfire at 04:23 PM on July 18, 2005
wasn't necessarily an offensive comment (to me) but it was in the same territory as "drive by" comments from people that want to poop on threads and really have nothing to contribute and only make a comment of a trolling nature. That said, if it is coming from the place of a real hockey fan who is frustrated... i guess context is everything.
posted by gspm at 04:51 PM on July 18, 2005
Blackhawks, my friend, Blackhawks.
posted by volfire at 05:14 PM on July 18, 2005
Or are you above us all? Where the heck did you get that idea from?
posted by grum@work at 06:48 PM on July 18, 2005
Maybe from your condescending tone of comment. As I stated earlier I, as a fan, feel like they owe us for our LOYALTY. We are not the ones who screwed the pooch. But we pay alot to see it.
posted by volfire at 06:58 PM on July 18, 2005
In Tiajuana maybe.
posted by yerfatma at 08:10 PM on July 18, 2005
As I stated earlier I, as a fan, feel like they owe us for our LOYALTY. As far as I'm concerned they can fuck off. Well, which is it? Do they "fuck off" or pay you for your loyalty? And just as a reminder, the NHL is a business, not your friend. They don't owe you anything, same as you don't owe them anything. Unless it's season ticket money. Just for the record, now I'm being condescending.
posted by grum@work at 09:16 PM on July 18, 2005
I guess some perspective here - the NBA draft lottery is held behind closed doors but they do make a production of revealing the results. I guess with the NHL their results will be revealed in a press release.
posted by gspm at 06:56 AM on July 19, 2005
OK. Here's a good one: Fuck the New York Rangers. Fuck them up their bad-management-no results-League-propped-up-asses. They already have every advantage known to pro-sportsdom, stop helping them. And yes, I am a Leafs fan.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 09:29 AM on July 19, 2005
if it wasn't for the internet i would have no idea that so many people really despise the teams i root for.
posted by goddam at 10:27 AM on July 19, 2005
ain't technology swell?
posted by garfield at 11:00 AM on July 19, 2005
The draft will be covered live by TSN for those of you North of the Border. Nothing for those of us in the States, but this is better than nothing. So at least the NHL figured that out.
posted by Samsonov14 at 06:26 PM on July 19, 2005
you mean the lottery "event" (whether that means live draw or a live reveal of the order (like the NBA does) is not clear from that article).
posted by gspm at 09:11 PM on July 19, 2005
From the article: TSN, which is the rightsholder for the 2005 NHL entry draft in Ottawa on July 30, will carry the lottery event live from New York, where the NHL board of governors will be meeting to ratify the new collective bargaining agreement, approve rule changes for the 2005-06 season and conduct the lottery to determine the order of selection for the entire draft. Okay, you got me there, gspm. Hopefully they're stationed inside the meeting itself, and will broadcast live.
posted by Samsonov14 at 09:40 PM on July 19, 2005
Well, i was more pointing out that the "draft" (ie team 1 takes crobsy, team 2 takes whomever, team 3 and so on) is probably not what you meant since we're more concerned here with squeezing some attention out of the lottery draw. i guess i was drawing a distinction beween the draft and the lottery draw. "Lottery event" seems kind of vague but holds promise that the lottery results won't be going out in a press release.
posted by gspm at 07:20 AM on July 20, 2005
There seems to be some confusion, so here's a handy distinction guide. The draft lottery is being held on July 22nd in an office somewhere. It will establish the order of the actual draft. It was originally not going to be televised, but the NHL changed their mind. This is what this thread was about. The 2005 NHL Draft is being held on July 30th in Ottawa. It will be televised, and there has never been any indication otherwise.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 08:45 AM on July 20, 2005
you Canadian spofites can be the independent auditors, if you will.
posted by garfield at 10:27 AM on July 20, 2005
According to TSN, the "results of the draft lottery" will be shown live on TV. I don't see any indication (and this may be a semantic argument) that we will actually see balls being drawn from a ball mixer thing. Like I've pointed out, the NBA draft lottery happens behind closed doors but the results are revealed live. What I hope this all means is that the first that anybody hears of the results (besides the parties that are doing and auditing the draw itself) is indeed at the "draft lottery event" on TV. I think they should count backwards from 30 (well, in the NBA they count backwards but there is only 11 teams in the lottery) to eventually have two GMs at centre stage, nervously holding hands like at a beauty pageant, as Gary Bettman reads out the name of the runner up team.
posted by gspm at 12:41 PM on July 20, 2005
gspm is right, according to the Star article (bugmenot required): TSN confirmed yesterday that the NHL draft lottery in New York will be televised Friday. But like the NBA, only the results of the draw will be shown. The actual drawing will take place away from the cameras. The original plan had been to hold the entire lottery behind closed doors during Friday's board of governors meeting, with commissioner Gary Bettman subsequently announcing the results at a news conference. Now hockey fans will get to see how it unfolds. The order of the draft will be unveiled, starting with the 30th pick and ending with the prized first selection.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:59 PM on July 20, 2005
If they do the draft lottery behind closed doors, I'm hoping that representatives from all teams (plus an accounting firm) will be there. If so, then I think the fear of "fixing" should disappear. I can't see where the Toronto Maple Leafs representative would go along with letting the Rangers get the Crosby pick automatically...
posted by grum@work at 02:43 PM on July 20, 2005
My biased opinion sees this move as a solid assurance Crosby will be a Ranger. You mean, he will be a Toronto Maple Leaf. pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease