ESPN’s choice to air the last inning of an insignificant Sunday Night Baseball telecast instead of a crucial elimination Stanley Cup Playoff game has angered sports fans.
With the Boston Red Sox losing 9-1 at home to the St. Louis Cardinals at the end of the eighth inning, hockey fans were tuned in and hoping to see Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinal matchup between the Edmonton Oilers and the Vegas Golden . Knights.
Instead, viewers were disappointed when the network chose to “double-box” or “split-screen” the two broadcasts — with St. Louis closer on the left screen Chris Stratton warming up while the puck in Edmonton appeared on the right screen. fell.
Karl Ravech, ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball commentator, had to decide the action in the hockey game when Vegas forward Reilly Smith scored the opening goal 24 seconds into the game. About 30 seconds later, Ravech called Oilers captain Connor McDavid and scored the tying goal.
In the end, ESPN went ahead to broadcast the baseball game on its main channel – between two teams that are last in their respective divisions – which ended with the same score. But by the time it was over, another goal had been scored in the hockey game and the Oilers were leading 2-1.
Here’s how ESPN broadcasted the opening goal in Vegas-Edmonton Game 6. Featuring Karl Ravech making a split-screen call during a 9-1 baseball game. pic.twitter.com/TEaiDaW0Fi
— Terrible Announcement (@awfulannouncing) May 15, 2023
ESPN chose to air an otherwise inconsequential baseball game over an NHL playoff game
The network opted to split the game between the Red Sox and Cardinals, with St. Louis already winning 9-1 handily by the end of the eighth inning. By this time, the NHL game began
Despite early goals from both Vegas and Edmonton, ESPN returned to the game of baseball
By the time the baseball game ended, the Oilers scored again – three missed goals
Rumors within the company suggest that the NHL was trying to get ESPN to change the broadcast
The Golden Knights eventually won the game and eliminated Edmonton from the playoffs
ESPN ultimately opted to air the hockey game on ESPN2, but fans on social media said they didn’t tell viewers they could watch the game there.
It mirrored ESPN’s highly criticized choice last fall to suspend college football games every time New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge had an at bat in his attempt to break the American League record for home runs.
Vegas eventually won the game, knocking out Edmonton and advancing to the Western Conference Finals.
With fans wondering why ESPN chose a pointless baseball game in May over a playoff hockey game, a Pittsburgh hockey writer, Dan Kingerski, made a rumor he heard from insiders at ESPN.
On Twitter, Kingerski wrote,” NHL requested that the Vegas-EDM game be moved to 8 p.m. ET. NHL hearing asked ESPN to move baseball to ESPN2, but ESPN declined. The same rumor has it that ESPN also refused to trade games with (fellow NHL rightsholder) TNT.”
Hockey fans and players took to social media to express their frustrations with ESPN’s choice
Reaction on social media has been critical of the network – with fans of both sports outraged by the network’s decision-making.
Even active hockey players expressed their displeasure – with Calgary Flames defenseman Troy Stecher tweet ‘[clap emoji] ESPN. Missed three goals in the first three minutes of an elimination NHL playoff game because we had to pull off a 9-1 MLB blowout #GrowTheGame.”
Former Vancouver Canucks analyst Rachel Doerrie tweetedESPN’s choice of a May game between the Red Sox/Cardinals over a second-round NHL playoff game says something about how the league is viewed relative to its peers. Yuck. There’s a lot of work to be done.’
Podcast host Greg Kaplan wroteESPN could possibly say “actually a really bad Cardinals team facing a Red Sox team in last place will get better numbers than a playoff game with Connor McDavid” is so much [levels] from wild. It’s almost wild enough where I don’t believe it happened.”
USA Today writer Matt Zemek tweeted that the network’s decision, “OUTRAGEOUS malpractice” while another fan wrote‘It’s freaking 2-1 three minutes in and this is on the backup broadcast lol everyone involved with the ESPN [NHL broadcast rights] deal must be subpoenaed’.
Meanwhile, baseball fans were upset about the choice to also play the game in split screen
Even baseball fans were outraged by the network’s decision to run the game in split screen.
“If I wanted to watch hockey, I would turn on ESPN2,” said baseball podcaster Kelsey Burd said.
Baseball writer Sara Sanchez wrote, “Baseball has never looked worse than when the ninth inning of a first-class game was split-screened alongside back-to-back Stanley Cup Hockey goals and someone at ESPN did that on purpose and let Karl Ravech play regular hockey for 5 minutes. name instead of baseball. + minutes. I can not.’
Another baseball writer, Jesse Spector, summed up the feelings of everyone who commented on the matter: proverb“Incredible work by espn tonight to piss off baseball fans, hockey fans, baseball/hockey fans, absolutely everyone.”
Currently, the NHL is in its second year of a seven-year agreement with ESPN and Turner Sports to broadcast their games. The Stanley Cup finals alternate, with this year’s finals being broadcast on Turner.
DailyMail.com has reached out to both ESPN and the NHL for comment.