NBC Scheduled to Air Six Hours of Coverage Celebrating Hockey Day in America
January 11, 2011 3 Comments
So NBC sent out it’s weekly listings release, which you can check out for yourself through their media site, and their plans for February 20th, long planned to be “Hockey Day in America”, have me excited with a mere timeslot. Here’s what I mean:
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20
12 p.m. – 6 p.m.
HOCKEY DAY IN AMERICA (TBD) (live)
Commentators: TBD
Site: TBD
This could all change before we actually make it to the day, but that’s six hours of planned hockey coverage on network television, which may be a record (New Year’s Day technically doesn’t count since it arose out of a postponement).
Does this mean a doubleheader? Does it mean one game (with a regional split, as NBC and the league have promised) which a ton of features and footage of America “celebrating hockey” surrounding it? A regional doubleheader? NBC has told me that they haven’t made official plans yet, but one would have to think we’ll know more details soon. The network did promote Millenium Park in Chicago as the event’s main site during the Winter Classic.
I can’t wait to get to the bottom of NBC’s plans for this day. Regardless, I’m excited for six hours of hockey on network television, and you should be excited too.
About stevelepore
This is interesting for a couple reasons:
1. There are no games scheduled at noon that day.
2. The Heritage Classic is 6:00pm that day on Versus, giving us 9 hours of hockey on tv!
Here is the NHL schedule for Feb 20.
WASHINGTON at BUFFALO 3:00 PM ET
PHILADELPHIA at NY RANGERS 3:00 PM ET
PITTSBURGH at CHICAGO 4:00 PM ET
DETROIT at MINNESOTA 6:00 PM ET
Heritage Classic MONTREAL at CALGARY 6:00pm
Also, the NHL website lists all four of the non-Heritage Classic games as being televised on NBC.
I think it’s just regional coverage for NBC. Many areas are getting the Action Sports Tour thing before or after their game within that 12-6 window.