Mr. L4G you make some fine points.. but the difference is some fans already stay up in Europe till the wee hours to catch their favourite players play.. or DVR it.. being a euro football fan.. I watch lots of games during the afternoon.. sneaking a stream in with some headphones when it is tight.. real fans do that...
and that is what we are talking about here REAL fans.. the difference is in the south the weather is too good to waste indoors watching a hockey game.

You will never score a huge US TV the way the NHL is going about it.. there is no demand for it nationally.. regionally there definitely is.
why should all the Canadian teams be supporting teams in the south through the profit sharing plan.

If you want to add some excitement and meaning to the game.. take it to Europe.. because they actually love the product in northern Europe.

As for travel it is 5 hrs 37 mins to go from Miami to Vancouver 4 hrs and 11 minutes from Toronto and it is only 6 hrs 30 mins from Montreal or new York to London once inside Europe it is short trips.. so road trips would be a little longer to economize but Berlin to Moscow is only a 2 hr flight.

I think in the long run true fans support their teams and will still watch games.. no matter which times they are on. Maybe we can get a siesta type deal where during game times we can all coral in the workplace around a tv on break and résumé work after the game is over.

Anyways I am tired of Bettman's league..
- DoctorNHL

sooo... the 10 yr $2 billion deal NBC and NHL signed last year is not what you would consider a big tv deal?

new blog up so this doesn't likely get seen