It was going to be a big outdoor party in Boston for the NHL Winter Classic. The City of Boston was planning to have fans watch the traditional New Year’s Day outdoor game to be played in Foxboro, MA on a big screen in Copley Square, free to all. However, it appears that NBC and the NHL have put the kibosh on the idea a week before the idea was to come to fruition.
With the Bruins playing in the game against its traditional rival Montreal Canadiens, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced on Monday that everything had been arranged so fans could watch the game on the big screen. It was going to be part of the city’s First Night/First Day celebration. But on Tuesday, city officials found that NBC had not granted permission to allow the transmission of the game so the viewing party was scrapped.
Both NBC and the NHL issued a terse statement to the Boston Globe stating for the most part that public viewing parties “are not permissible under NHL media-rights policies.”
This isn’t the first time that NBC has put its foot down on viewing parties. Teams have wanted to hold them so fans can have the communal experience of watching the game in an arena setting, but we can go back as far as 2009 for the Pittsburgh-Detroit Stanley Cup Final series when NBC nixed plans by both teams for viewing parties.
It also happened in 2012 when the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils wanted to hold viewing gatherings of their own, but of course NBC said no.
NBC prefers having fans watching the games at home so it can get those coveted ratings points. But if NBC doesn’t want viewing parties here in the States, why does Canada have them? We’ve seen large gatherings in Toronto and Vancouver for not just the NHL Playoffs, but also for the Olympics and there did not seem to be any worries about ratings in the Great White North.
It seems silly that NBC would be so anal about a party where fans would watch on a big screen, but out-of-home viewing in bars and public parks doesn’t count in the ratings, although supposedly the technology to count viewers out-of-home either exists or can be developed, so the Peacock wants those people on the sofa at home.
The whole cancellation is ridiculous, but NBC and its owner Comcast have their reasons and they’re sticking to them.
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About Ken Fang
Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.
He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.
Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.