| NHL on CBS | |
|---|---|
| Genre | NHL hockey telecasts |
| Directed by | Bob Dailey[1] Sandy Grossman |
| Presented by | Bud Palmer Fred Cusick Brian McFarlane Jim Gordon Stu Nahan Dan Kelly Bill Mazer Phil Esposito Harry Howell Dick Stockton Tim Ryan Lou Nanne |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons |
|
| Production | |
| Producers | Bill Creasy Charles H. Milton III[2] |
| Production locations | Various NHL venues |
| Cinematography |
|
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 180 minutes or until the game ends |
| Production company | CBS Sports |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | January 5, 1957 (1957-01-05) – March 19, 1960 (1960-03-19) |
| Release | December 30, 1967 (1967-12-30) – May 11, 1972 (1972-05-11) |
| Release | February 10, 1979 (1979-02-10) – May 24, 1980 (1980-05-24) |
| Related | |
TheNHL on CBS is the branding used for broadcasts ofNational Hockey League (NHL) games produced byCBS Sports and televised onCBS in theUnited States.
CBS' affiliation with the National Hockey League technically goes as far back as the1945–46 season, when itsflagship station,New York'sWCBW (later WCBS)televisedNew York Rangers games through the1947–48 season.Bob Edge provided the commentary during the first two seasons andWin Elliot for the final season, when WCBW officially became WCBS.[3][4][5][6] The hockey telecasts from this era only used two cameras.
Thecommercial spots for Knox Hats were done and aired live from a small studio elsewhere in Madison Square Garden. They required a considerable amount of rehearsal with a four-wayhook-up connecting the live commercial, Win Elliot's cage, the CBS studio, and the Garden's control room. All of this necessitated instantaneouscueing by director Herbert Bayard Swope Jr.[7] The commercials from the Garden's other two sponsors,Ford andMaxwell House were decidedly less complicated to produce. For instance, the Ford commercials were exclusively done by film from the CBS studio.
CBS broadcast its Saturday afternoon National Hockey League "Game of the Week" program starting in the1956–57 season to1959–60 season.[8][9]Bud Palmer served as the play-by-play announcer,[10][11] whileFred Cusick did color commentary and interviews for the first three seasons.[12] In1959–60, Cusick moved over to play-by-play whileBrian McFarlane came in to do the color commentary and interviews.[13] McFarlane was banned by American Unions in early January 1960 from working the telecasts, as they revoked his card.[14] The pregame and intermission interviews were done on the ice, with the interviewer on skates. No playoff games were televised during this period, and all broadcasts took place in one of the four American arenas at the time.[15]
During the1956–57 season, CBS broadcast 10 games on Saturday afternoons, starting on January 5, 1957.[16][17] The ratings were deemed good enough that the following season saw the slate expanded to 21 games, and 20 games for the1958–59 season.[18] The network continued airing games on Saturday afternoons through March 19, 1960. CBS ceased telecasting the NHL nationally, when it cancelled its contract on July 22, 1960.[9]
CBS was generally happy with viewer ratings for itsNHL Game of the Week.[19] However, only showing the same four American teams, without theToronto Maple Leafs orMontreal Canadiens willing to play Saturday afternoons in the United States, caused viewership to drop by 1960 and was the reason the network did not renew its TV contract.[20] The four American franchises–at the time consisting of theBoston Bruins, theChicago Black Hawks, theDetroit Red Wings, and theNew York Rangers–each receivedUS$7,000 per game.[18] This new revenue stream was not shared with the players as they received absolutely no money from the television deal.[16][21] In October 1957, the nascentNHL Players Association filed a lawsuit against the league's ownership and won an out-of-court settlement wherebyJames Norris, Jr. andArthur Wirtz agreed to pay money into the players’ pension fund.[21]
In1963–64, CBS offered to broadcast an NHLGame of the Week on Saturdays during theNational Football League season. By the winter, CBS would move theGame of the Week to Sundays in the same time slot. Ultimately, the NHL rejected the idea, saying it would cause too many scheduling and travel problems. The league was especially worried about a game fromMontreal orToronto being played on a Saturday afternoon (and not on Saturday night to accommodateCBC Television), and teams having to play an early afternoon game on Sunday after playing a game the previous night.
For six seasons, from1966–67 through1971–72, CBS aired a game each week between mid-January until early-mid May in every season, mainly on a Sunday afternoon, including playoffs.,[22][23] Each American based franchise was paid US$100,000 annually for the first two years of the initial contract and $150,000 for the third.[24] From 1968–69 through 1971–72, the intermission studio was called "CBS Control," just like with itsNFL coverage.[25][26][27]
Due to prior programming commitments, CBS did not broadcast regular season games during the 1966-67 season, so that portion of the package was subleased toRKO General, which syndicated eight regular-season games to some cities, including the four U.S. cities that then had NHL clubs and the six U.S. cities that would gain new teams in the 1967 expansion. During the1967 playoffs,[28] CBS was scheduled to broadcast the April 8 game between theNew York Rangers andMontreal Canadiens. However, anAFTRAstrike forced the cancellation of the telecast.[29] The strike itself ultimately ended two days later.
CBS started its weekly 1967–68 coverage[30] with the opening game (thePhiladelphia Flyers vs.Los Angeles Kings) atThe Forum inInglewood, California on December 30.[31] Then after three more Saturday afternoons, CBS switched to covering Sunday afternoon games beginning on January 28 for the next 10 weeks.[32] On March 10, 1968, CBS broadcast a game atChicago Stadium betweenToronto andChicago.[33][34] In a precursor to the "Heidi fiasco" onNBC a few months later, CBS decided that the game was over, the Hawks leading 3–0 with 50 seconds left, and went to achildren's movie calledThe Goalkeeper Also Lives on Our Street.
Due to another strike by AFTRA (which resulted in the cancellation of a New York Rangers-Montreal broadcast last year), CBS started its playoff coverage with aCBC tape of the previous night'sBoston-Montreal game. On April 13, CBS started its three-week-long weekend afternoon Stanley Cup coverage, ending with theSt. Louis-Montreal game 4 on May 11. For the playoffs,Jim Gordon worked play-by-play, andStu Nahan worked color commentary. During the regular season, the pair[35] alternated roles each week. For instance, Gordon worked play-by-play on December 30 while Nahan worked play-by-play the next week.
In1968–69,[36][37] CBS broadcast 13 regular season Sunday afternoon games and five Stanley Cup playoff games.[38][39]Dan Kelly did play-by-play whileBill Mazer did color commentary and intermission interviews.[40][41]
In1970,Pat Summerall and thenBoston Bruins' television announcerDon Earle did a short post-game segment from inside the team's dressing room at the end of CBS' coverage of the fourth (and what turned out to be the final game) of the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals.WSBK-TV, which was the Bruins' television flagship at the time, simulcast the CBS coverage and did a longer post-game locker-room segment after CBS' coverage ended. AfterBobby Orr scored the championship-winning goal after just 40 seconds, so the story went, Summerall turned to Bobby's father, Doug Orr (who was reportedly, too nervous to go back to his seat from the Bruins' dressing room for the start ofovertime) and yelled over the crowd in the stands above "Mr. Orr, your son has scored and Boston has won the Stanley Cup!" Doug Orr is said to have told Summerall, "I know Boston scored, but we didn't see it! What makes you think my son scored?" Summerall supposedly replied, "Because they wouldn't be yelling this loudly ifEsposito had scored!"
On January 31, 1971, CBS was scheduled to carry a game between theBoston Bruins andSt. Louis Blues, a rematch of the 1970 Finals. The game was to begin at 2 p.m.Eastern Time, butNASA announced that theApollo 14 lunar-landing mission would be launched that afternoon at 3:23 p.m. Eastern Time. CBS decided to air the first period of the game live, then switch to news coverage once the first period ended (at approximately 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time). At about 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, after the launch coverage was due to end, CBS would show the second and third periods of the game ontape delay. But the launch was delayed for over a half-hour, and after the launch took place, CBS had no time to show the rest of the game on tape. The theme music that CBS employed during this period bore similarities to the song "Sounds"[42] byHot Butter.
The network showed weekend afternoon playoff games; the same pattern continued through the1971–72 season. CBS did manage to televise the1971 Stanley Cup Finals clincher on a Tuesday night and the1972 Stanley Cup Finals clincher[43] on a Thursday night. In 1971, CBS was not scheduled to broadcast Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals but showed theprime time contest (the first ever occurrence of an NHL game being nationally televised in prime time in the United States) between theMontreal Canadiens andChicago Black Hawks[44] after fans reportedly swamped switchboards atnetwork headquarters inNew York City asking that the seventh game be televised. Ironically, the game was not telecast by CBS' Chicagoowned-and-operated stationWBBM-TV, nor on CBSaffiliates in most ofIllinois, and parts ofIndiana,Wisconsin andIowa, due to Blackhawks' ownerArthur M. Wirtz policy of not telecasting home games. While Dan Kelly once again handled all play-by-play work, Jim Gordon replaced Bill Mazer[45] on the role Mazer previously did in1970–71. For the CBS' Stanley Cup Finals coverage during this period, a third voice was added to the booth (Phil Esposito in 1971 andHarry Howell in 1972).
One trivial note however, on January 23, 1972, Jim Gordon was not inBoston for theBuffalo-Boston game. Therefore,Dick Stockton filled in and did the game with Dan Kelly. Stockton, who did some work forThe NFL on CBS, was also at the time a sports anchor forWBZ-TV inBoston, which ironically was at the time anNBC affiliate (WBZ-TV switched from NBC to CBS on January 2, 1995, after its parent companyWestinghouse invested in and later purchased CBS, making WBZ an owned-and-operated station of the network in September 1995 which it has remained as since).
During the1972 Stanley Cup Finals between theBoston Bruins andNew York Rangers, CBS took a rather calculated risk in not televising the Game 5 match on May 9 (CBS aired regular programming, including the originalHawaii Five-O in that period on that Tuesday night). This was even though Game 5 was a potential clincher with the Bruins up 3–1 on the Rangers. CBS ultimately lucked out (since the Rangers won Game 5 3–2), and televised the clincher (Game 6) on Thursday night, May 11.
After CBS lost the American television rights toNBC following the1971-72 season (CBS was paying less than $2 million a year and NBC jumped to $5.3 million[46]), thenetwork covered theinaugural season of theWorld Hockey Association.[47] The WHA's TV deal[48] permitted it to sell week‐night games to other networks (CBS meanwhile, would show games on Sunday afternoons in addition theall-star game and playoffs[49]). In addition, the WHA also sold a$3‐million package to Canada. On January 7, 1973, CBS aired its first WHA game between theMinnesota Fighting Saints andWinnipeg Jets live from the newSt. Paul Civic Center withRon Oakes,Gerry Cheevers, andDick Stockton announcing.
CBS' second go-around with the NHL came at just about the time when the NHL'sOriginal Six franchises were to be joined by the league's firstexpansion class of1967–68.[50] Although theSan Francisco Bay Area was not considered a particularly good hockey market, the terms of a new television agreement with a U.S. network (ultimately CBS) called for two of the expansion teams to be located inCalifornia. Hence, theCalifornia Seals andLos Angeles Kings joined the National Hockey League in an attempt to get a better TV deal, given that two large West Coast television markets would have NHL clubs (the Seals were renamed theOakland Seals during their first season and then were rechristened theCalifornia Golden Seals when purchased byCharlie O. Finley in1970–71).[51] CBS was hoping that they would grow with the NHL by persuading them to go coast-to-coast (Montreal toLos Angeles) in a similar fashion for which they had grown with theNational Football League (beginning in1956). In 1967,Bill Schonely did West Coast National Hockey League coverage for CBS.
Perhaps, the most memorable moment came onMother's Day of1969–70 (May 10), when Bobby Orr's[52] winning goal in overtime of Game 4 of theStanley Cup Finals gave hisBoston Bruins their first Stanley Cup Championship since1941, as they swept theSt. Louis Blues at the oldBoston Garden. Immediately upon scoring, Orr was sent flying by St. Louis defencemanNoel Picard. The "flight" was captured by a news photographer and is one of the iconic images in the history of sports. In 1999, that goal was voted the greatest moment in NHL history by a panel of sportswriters who cover the league's clubs regularly.
The most commonly seen video clip of Bobby Orr's "flight" is the American version of the broadcast on CBS as called byDan Kelly. This archival clip can be considered a rarity, since about 98% of the time, any survivingkinescopes or videotapes of the actual telecasts of hockey games from this era usually emanate from CBC's coverage. According toDick Irvin Jr.'s bookMy 26 Stanley Cups (Irvin was in the CBC booth withDanny Gallivan during the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals), he was always curious why even the CBC typically uses the CBS replay of the Bobby Orr goal (with Dan Kelly's commentary) instead of Gallivan's call. The explanation that Irvin received was that the CBC'smaster tape of the game (along with others) was thrown away to clear shelf space at the network.
The clip exists because WSBK-TV in Boston, then anindependent station, was the television flagship of theBoston Bruins. WSBK had a weekly program during the season showing highlights of the previous week's games. WSBK got permission from CBS to simulcast the game to tape the network's telecast and use highlights from that for next week's show. WSBK decided to show the entire (however brief) overtime session in the final 1969-70 edition (aired on May 17, 1970) ofBruins Highlights, as well as inBoston Bruins: World Champions, an hour-long documentary featuring highlights of the team's 1969-70 season and Stanley Cup win. Coincidentally, WSBK is now owned byCBS, run as a sister station to WBZ-TV (formerly owned byWestinghouse Broadcasting as anNBC affiliate).
On May 24, 1980, in Game 6 of theStanley Cup Finals between theNew York Islanders andPhiladelphia Flyers,Bobby Nystrom scored the game-winner at 7:11 of overtime on national television throughout the United States to secure the first Stanley Cup in Islanders' history. Nystrom was part of the first NHL team (1979-80 New York Islanders) to win a Stanley Cup with Europeans on its roster.[53]
On January 4, 1976, CBS decided to televise theSoviet Wings/Buffalo SabresSuper Series game nationally.[54] They likely did not expect very many viewers (except those in and near Buffalo and "rink rats" elsewhere) to watch as the game went head to head with theAFC Championship Game onNBC. The game also had to be over by 3:30 p.m.EST so that CBS is ready to broadcast thepregame for theNFC Championship Game. So to save two minutes, they cut "O Canada" much to the dismay of those attending atBuffalo Memorial Auditorium.[55]
The game did extend past 3:30 p.m. Eastern time, so CBS ended the telecast seconds after the final buzzer went off, allowing CBS to air as much of an abbreviatedNFL Today pregame show before the NFC Championship game as possible.
1978–79'sChallenge Cup replaced theAll-Star Game. It was a best-of-three series between the NHL All-Stars against theSoviet Union national squad. In the United States, Game 2, which was held on a Saturday afternoon, was shown on CBS as part ofCBS Sports Spectacular.[56][57][58] The network refused to expandCBS Sports Spectacular to carry the game in full so instead, the show came on during the first intermission, showed taped highlights of the first period and then showed the second period live, then showed the third period on tape later.[59] The lead-in toSports Spectacular wasThe World's Strongest Man.[60][61]
The network, the show, and their sponsors had a problem with the rink board advertising[62] that the NHL sold atMadison Square Garden, and refused to allow them to be shown on television. As a result, CBS viewers were unable to see the far boards above the yellow kickplate, and could only see players' skates when the play moved to that side of the ice. Games 1 and 3 were shown on theNHL Network,[59][63] where the advertising was no problem.
Dan Kelly andLou Nanne were thecommentators whileDick Stockton served as the host.
CBS only aired one other NHL game following Game 2 of the 1979 Challenge Cup. That would take place on May 24, 1980,[64] with Game 6[65] of theStanley Cup Finals between thePhiladelphia Flyers and theNew York Islanders.[66][67] CBS was mainly influenced by theUnited States men's Olympic hockey team's surprisegold medal victory (dubbed "The Miracle on Ice") inLake Placid several months prior.[68] CBS agreed to pay$37 million to broadcast the sixth game. In return, the NHL happily moved[69] the starting time fromprime time to the afternoon.[70] The Saturday afternoon game was the first fullAmerican network telecast of an NHL game since Game 5 of the1975 Stanley Cup Finals aired on NBC. As previously mentioned, when CBS broadcast Game 2 of the 1979 Challenge Cup, it was only seen on CBS for the third period.
Game 6 was won in overtime by the host Islanders,[71] which captured the first of their four consecutiveStanley Cups. By this time, Dan Kelly, didplay-by-play for the first and third periods as well as overtime,[72][73] was joined by formerNHL on NBC commentator,Tim Ryan.,[74] who did play-by-play only for the second period. In addition,Minnesota North Stars general managerLou Nanne[75] was the color commentator throughout the game.
Game 6 pulled a 4.4 rating on CBS.[76][77] After the game ended, except for itsowned-and-operated stations inNew York City andPhiladelphia, CBS discontinued the telecast and went to a previously scheduledgolf telecast.[78] New York and Philadelphia viewers saw apost-game show before the network joined the very end of the golf broadcast. Given that the game went into overtime, CBS cut away from hockey during the intermission between the end of regulation and the start of overtime to present ten minutes of livegolf coverage, with the golf announcers repeatedly mentioning that the network would return to hockey in time for the start of sudden-death.
As previously mentioned, Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup Finals turned out to be the last NHL game (to date) to be televised on CBS. It was also the last NHL game on American network television until NBC televised the1990 All-Star Game.[79][80][81]
| Year | Teams | Games | Play-by-play | Color commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Philadelphia-New York Islanders | Game 6 | Dan Kelly (1st, 3rd, and OT periods) Tim Ryan (2nd period) | Lou Nanne |
AfterFox outbid CBS for the rights to the package ofNational Football League (NFL) games it had held for decades (and losingMajor League Baseball after the league opted to launch its ill-fatedThe Baseball Network effort), CBS entered the bidding to regain the NHL rights beginning in the1994–95 season, only to again be outbid byFox,[82] which agreed to pay US$155 million for the five-year broadcast contract.[83]
Incidentally, during the 1990s,CBS had the American broadcast television rights to the Winter Olympics (1992,1994 and1998). The network usedMike Emrick[84] (1992 and1994) andSean McDonough (1998) on play-by-play for the ice hockey coverage,John Davidson (all three Olympics) andMike Eruzione (1992 and 1998) on color commentary, andDarren Pang as the ice-level reporter (1998). Emrick would however, serve as the play-by-play announcer[85] for the women's hockey coverage in1998 (the first time that women competed in Olympic hockey) alongside color commentatorsJoe Micheletti andDigit Murphy and ice-level reporterEllen Weinberg.[86]
In 2010, CBS Sports presidentSean McManus said regarding the prospects of the NHL returning to CBS in the foreseeable future[87] "It's a great property, but with our commitment togolf andcollege basketball, there just isn't room on our schedule." As a result, CBS did not place a bid for the broadcast rights when negotiations went underway before the pending2011 expiration of NBCUniversal's contract with the league, being the only major network not to place a bid. TheComcast-owned networks (NBC andVersus, laterNBCSN) renewed their existing deals through2021. Likewise, when Comcast opted not to renew its contract with the NHL in 2021, CBS did not make a serious effort to acquire the rights.
| Team | Stations | Years |
|---|---|---|
| New York Rangers | WCBW 2 (laterWCBS-TV) | 1946–1948 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | KDKA-TV 2 | 1990–1997 |
| Preceded by None | NHL network broadcast partner in the United States 1956–1960 | Succeeded by None |
| Preceded by | NHL network broadcast partner in the United States 1966–1972 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | NHL network broadcast partner in the United States (withHughes) 1980 | Succeeded by |
