New Jersey Devils Deal With MSG Network About Money, Not Fans
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils played its first preseason game of the season Monday. Unfortunately, local fans weren’t able to watch it.
Nico Hischier scored his first goal in an official NHL game when he made a beautiful takeaway against the Washington Capitals on Monday night. It was the first chance Devils fans got to see their brand new star in action. Unfortunately, only the fans in the Prudential Center were able to see it.
Instead of playing the Devils game, the MSG Network played the New York Rangers game against the New York Islanders on four channels. That’s right, the network played the same game four times instead of giving the Devils one place on its bevy of channels.
That forced Devils fans to find a way to see their favorite team play its first hockey since April. Some are lucky enough to have the NHL package which plays all the games. That gave fans the chance to watch the game with the Capitals broadcast team. Others may be forced to find more illegal means to watch the game, running to seedy websites out of desperation.
It’s hard to say the Devils deal with MSG Network is a bad one. The Devils signed a 20-year deal worth $500 million for the airing rights to the team’s games. That’s currently in the top ten for richest TV deals for an NHL team.
Back in 2004 when the deal was signed, then-GM Lou Lamoriello said this deal was to give accessibility to as many fans as possible. 13 years into that deal, it seems that’s not necessarily the case anymore.
"“In this agreement we were able to look at all areas to help the franchise. We wanted to ensure accessibility for all of our games to all our fans and we have a commitment to work that out.” -Lou Lamoriello, 2004"
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Here we are, 13 years after the deal was signed. The Devils were clearly paid a premium because they were a yearly Stanley Cup contender. Now that the team has been in the basement more often than the playoffs, they play fourth fiddle to the Rangers, Islanders and New York Knicks.
This won’t be the last game the Devils are forced to play without a broadcast team. It happens a few times a year when all three other teams play on the network. There’s not much the team can do until their deal is up in 2024. Then, the team can negotiate with the Yes Network or SNY. Until that happens, Devils’ fans will be forced to get creative to watch the team’s games.