Versus/NBC Sports Network To Broadcast Boston College-Vermont Game, Hockey East Tournament

Nope, just getting national broadcast:

http://www.uscho.com/2011/11/03/boston-university-massachusetts-find-frustration-from-same-series/

Peacocks and pucks

Hockey East announced on Wednesday a two-year deal with NBC and NBC Sports to provide national exposure for the conference.

NBC Sports Network, which will be the renamed Versus network come Jan. 2, 2012, will broadcast a 16-game college hockey schedule this year that includes three regular season Hockey East tilts, one game from the Hockey East quarterfinals and the entire Hockey East championship tournament from the TD Garden.

While most will look at this and figure it is directly tied to Notre Dame’s decision to join Hockey East for the 2013–14 season (NBC has an all-sports contract with Notre Dame), according to commissioner Joe Bertagna this deal was well in the works prior to the Fighting Irish’s decision.

"We actually had this agreed to before that," said Bertagna, noting that the two-year terms of the deal were partially agreed to because, at the time, no one knew Notre Dame’s hockey future. "The timing [to release the news] now is that Versus wanted to announce everything they are doing [across college hockey] first before individual leagues would announce theirs."

Reading the announcement, it seemed as though NBC and Versus trumped regional cable sports network NESN. That, though, is hardly the case, Bertagna said.

"We’re not breaking away from NESN," said Bertagna. "NESN will still have New England [for the Hockey East tournament]. Versus will have it nationally."

Thus, for residents inside of NESN’s service area, the NBC Sports Network/Versus broadcast of the Hockey East tournament will be blacked out. Bertagna said he is not sure whether NBC will use the NESN feed along with NESN announcers for the games, noting that is an option as is bringing their own talent as well.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Bertagna did address a number of rumors that have intimated that Hockey East or any other league would stand to make substantial money because of a TV deal with a national television network.

"It’s very rare, whether it’s local or national that any [network] is paying any fees to the conference," said Bertagna. "The money [networks] are spending is the production money.

"Hockey is not like basketball or football. I have to laugh when I read some things online from fans that we’re going it for money. People don’t make money on college hockey. It’s a very rare program that makes money on college hockey."

What the NBC deal will do for Hockey East is further increase exposure for the league’s brand and its member teams, something that Bertagna sees continually as having an impact.

"The biggest thing is the branding of the league and the recruiting," Bertagna said. "One of the things that is starting to increase is the number of players from warm-weather states. That number has been going up every year.

"The ability to have these kids in non-traditional areas see our games is important. People are able to see these games who wouldn’t be able to be exposed otherwise."

The NESN cameras were so bad…