[hwy19man]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

A lot of preemptive complaining about SN coverage, but close to a lock is after the regional broadcasts are complete every single frigin Flames game this season will be on TV. Not sure what more people want? Flames have the lowest number of National games right now for two reasons: one, small market (just like all the other Canadian teams not Tor, MTL, or Van), and two everyone is expecting us not not be in the hunt at the end, so they are hedging their schedule for national coverage on the teams that they think will be chasing at the end. Seems completely fair to me, I'd do the same thing if I were a programming director.

First of all, part of the pre-emptive complaining of Sportsnet's coverage was due to ambiguous advertising of the new schedule. Sportsnet was gloating with the fanfare that came with the new schedule and that had many fans thinking that all Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday games would be televised nation wide.

Second of all, the small market reason is not satisfactory. Calgary and Ottawa are very close in population, yet the Senators would get five to eight more national games. Vancouver is the larger than either of the two cities mentioned, but, the Canucks would have approximately the same number of national games as the Flames. The Senators are also not perennial playoff contenders.