Doohicksie

Cool: A team with a worse anthem singer than the Sabres.

Apparently because what you say makes no sense to me. You say "there should be no reason" but there are lots of reasons.

It's not so much of the new generation of viewers coming on line, it's a matter of the old generation literally dying off. My mom (in her 80s) doesn't have any kind of internet connection to her house, other than her cell phone (which she still uses pretty much just to make calls). I'm 60 and while I have streaming I still subscribe to a local cable provider. It seems expensive until I start looking à la carte plans for streaming providers and then suddenly I'm paying just as much for the streaming services as I am for cable. Welcome to capitalism. Don't think that's going to change for the better any time soon.

Yes there is: If the NHL cuts out local providers, they don't get revenues from those providers. If they cut off the local providers, the lose all the viewers (and attendant advertising revenue) who are still watching on cable. Not everyone has moved to the streaming-only model. Just because you have doesn't mean everyone else has (or should, for that matter).

The regional blackouts give revenue to the local cable networks/broadcast stations. Perhaps that will be a thing of the past at some point, but it isn't that there is "no reason" why they exist. There are lots of reasons: Existing contracts with local providers that grant them the franchise for their markets. As long as local providers are significant players in major league sports markets, there is a valid reason for the blackouts. You may not like or agree with the reason, but it's a valid reason. You *could* very well see every NHL game. But you've cut yourself off from your local content provider. Too bad, so sad for you.

I can see every game. I have ESPN+ so I get most of the NHL games there. I have Spectrum cable with TNT, ESPN and local RSNs, plus the sports pack add-on which gives me the NHL Network, which gives me everything else. The "blackouts" on ESPN+ is to force people watch on their local RSNs so that they don't lose revenue to ESPN+ (which makes perfect sense to me). ******************* Bally is the RSN for the Dallas market so if they stop producing game coverage and no one else picks them up, I'm SOL on the local RSN coverage I guess. But if NHL games are not being shown on the Dallas RSN, there's no reason for ESPN+ to black them out here so I would expect to see the MSG coverage. I think in the case of a true meltdown, the broadcast rights would revert to the leagues/teams and they would either start in-house broadcasts, probably hiring the laid off Bally workers, or more likely a larger entity or entities (NBCSN, ESPN, Paramount, etc.) would do that en masse and replace Bally. I think if Bally defaults on their agreements it will likely happen after the regular NHL season. The NHL and NBA would probably be okay but MLB would have to deal with the default during season play. I expect that contingency/replacement plans could be rolled out by the start of the next NHL and NBA seasons.

But not without the Sabres going bankrupt. Can the league survive 12 teams going bankrupt at once?

It's a question of board philosophy and admin preference. I'm on another forum that, if an off-topic conversation wedges its way into a thread, a mod will split the thread and put all the posts that are off topic into a new thread with an appropriate name. That's just not in this forum's DNA, and this forum has been around a long time. It just is.

Nothing like prescripting what will be discussed in a thread to throw it off the rails.

We will miss you, Mr. Wieland. Godspeed.

Yes it was mentioned. Apparently the streak has its fans.

There's a difference between getting into fights and playing a physical game, and... playing against a physical team. The physical team doesn't always win out (if it did goonism would still be rampant in the league). The Sabres need to learn how to play physical teams. Playing a more physical game themselves may be a part of that. The fights are more extraneous, almost irrelevant. (even if they are entertaining for the fans) Okay, bye. Don't kid yourself; you have no magic superpower over the team's performance. Besides, I think it's Huck.

I guess I was wrong.

Sorry, it was Punch.

But the Sabres are gonna do it!

Oh no.....a Jersey Shore gif? I may have to block you sir. Never seen the show so I have no idea.

But it should be.

I just picture Tuch body-slamming the other guy in a fight.

He's a brainless goofball, but he's our brainless goofball, dammit!

Clague's night is done but he played a good game tonight. Really good.

So is Jost!