The NCAA Tournament is still going, but let’s be frank: the best part is done. The first two days of the Tournament, which take place on the third Thursday and Friday of March every year, feature 32 games in a 36-hour span from noon on Thursday to midnight on Friday. Many sports fans consider those two days to be the best days on the sports calendar. As much as I love hockey, I’m hard-pressed to disagree. Those two days never disappoint.
The first two days of the Tournament provide a perfect excuse to skip class or to “call in sick” at work. And those who have to show up to class or work watch online. Every year, we hear how much the NCAA Tournament costs employers in “lost productivity.” But the thing is, you never hear anyone bemoaning that lost productivity. Instead, it’s celebrated. Bosses understand that not much is going to get done on the third Thursday and Friday of March. Co-workers and classmates give each other a knowing wink or head nod while they pretend to take notes at meetings. The “Boss Button” feature, a link on the NCAA Tournament video player to use when your boss or teacher walks past, is met with a sincere grin. Every now and then, it’s good to blow off work and school, and everyone—from CEOs to Account Managers to employees, from teachers to students—knows it.
I’ve always wondered why the NHL doesn’t try something similar during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and last Thursday, Greg Wyshynski had the same idea. He received a variety of responses, most of them emphatic “NOs,” but some enthusiastic “YESes.”
Some examples:
@wyshynski Canada would be all for it. Not sure how it'd play stateside.
— Andy Sorensen (@SORENSEN_ANDY) March 19, 2015
Do they want me to lose my job??? “@wyshynski: Weekday daytime Stanley Cup Playoff first-round games. Discuss.”
— David Plain (@DavidPlain) March 19, 2015
@wyshynski God that would be horrible. But also so much day drinking.
— p – #1 adam fox fan boy (@quinnnothughes) March 19, 2015
Spreading out first round games over the course of days–afternoon and evening–would be an interesting experiment. @wyshynski
— Denis P. Gorman (@DenisGorman) March 19, 2015
The main qualm with weekday daytime playoff games was that people have jobs. Certainly an understandable complaint. But, again—there’s no such thing as a bad excuse to leave work early or to skip class. It’s healthy to just drop everything and do something you love, like watching hockey. And plenty of college basketball fans remain employed despite watching basketball during work. Major League Baseball fans get by as well—Thursdays are often travel “getaway” days for baseball teams, and they often play afternoon games on Thursdays. Ditching school or work to go to a ballgame is a time-honored tradition.
The key for hockey, likewise, would be to establish a tradition. Basketball fans know not to schedule any important meetings on the third Thursday or Friday of March for the rest of eternity. The NCAA Tournament provides more than enough advance notice, and the NHL would have to do the same. If the league said, “From now on, your favorite hockey team could play during the day on the third Tuesday and Wednesday in April,” hockey fans would adjust quickly.
Other concerns included whether the NHL is popular enough to pull it off. Wouldn’t a half-empty arena for a playoff game be a terrible embarrassment for the league?
I’d say playoff fever sweeps through NHL cities pretty strongly, and that the arenas would be full, and possibly even more raucous than usual. It might not have the national appeal of the NCAA Tournament, but in the 16 NHL cities in the playoffs, it’d be popular.
However, we know what the most important factor in this discussion is: TV contracts. TV money is so important to sports leagues, and if an idea can help the NHL can garner better ratings, it’ll happen. Currently, playoff games on TV overlap during the first round. NBC does its best to avoid it, by staggering start times, but when you’re trying to cram four or five games into the six hour span of 7 ET to 1:00 a.m. ET, it’s nearly impossible. And for obsessive fans who want to watch every second of every playoff game, it actually is impossible.
But weekday daytime playoff games would solve that problem—at least for the first two days of the playoffs. This idea would have to start on a small scale, serving only as an emphatic “kickoff” to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and then if successful, expanding to go deeper into the first round. On the first two days of the playoffs, the third Tuesday and Wednesday of every year, the league could start all eight first round series. Start games at 1:00 ET, at 4:00 ET, at 7:00 ET, and a West Coast game at 10:00 ET. Two straight days of nothing but hockey. Count me in.
