Quote:
Originally Posted by PeteMoss
Was a terrible move by management to sign a 10 year deal back then. Canadiens deal comes up every few years and I'm sure keeps going up and up. Meanwhile the Flames (and Oilers) are back getting paid 2010 dollars. Will be a double whammy if the rights bubble pops before the deals end and the Flames get the short stick on the deal again.
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I believe they did so because the writing was on the wall about Winnipeg getting a team back the next season and they both wanted to get locked in with Sportsnet rather than being the odd-man out fighting for a rights deal with the Jets too. It would be virtually impossible for SNW to handle covering all three of the Oilers, Flames, and Jets.
Remember, at the time, TSN didn't have all the extra channels they have now, so they weren't really involved in the regional-rights game. Heck, even for the first three years, people in the Jets region had to pay an extra fee to get the TSN-Jets channel.
At the time, no one could have anticipated that TSN would lose the national rights and go hard after the regional rights as a result.