As usual, the Panthers will only get one game nationally televised by Versus.
This time, however, it won't even be from Sunrise.
Versus announced its national broadcast schedule today, the lone Florida game (every team has to be televised once) will come to you live from Montreal as the Cats take on the host Habs on Oct. 20 -- making it the second Monday night game of the season.
Sure a lot of folks will be watching. ESPN will have the very-TV friendly New England Patriots playing host to Denver that night as well.
Of course, the Panthers could still be included in NBC's coverage come spring, but what are the odds of that happening?
-- More TV stuff. The Panthers won't be seen much in the States (although I'm sure a good number of games will be picked up by the NHL Network), but they will be in Canada. Florida isn't scheduled for a Hockey Night in Canada date, but will be shown on TSN three times (at Ott, Oct. 22; at Tor, Jan. 6; vs. Mon, Jan 29).
French network RDS will also broadcast Florida's four games against the Habs.
-- More TV stuff II: This, friends, could be bad. Word on the street is that FSN may be cutting their local coverage of the Cats, going from 70 games down to 65. If you thought people complained about last year's games not on local TV, wait until five more go down the chute.
Fire up the e-mails, folks.
i think these are more than just rumors GR. TSN rarely posts "rumors" and is reporting it as a done deal. it sounds pretty cut-and-dry.
Posted by: alex | August 14, 2008 at 04:01 PM
I f***ing hate FSN....
Posted by: FSN Hater | August 14, 2008 at 04:05 PM
It's werid how Canada loves the Panthers. There is alot of interest in this team up there..for some reason. I personally know SEVERAL women who just love the cats..Well, because they ARE named after "cats" and they also love the logo.
Hey, whatever floats your boat.
Too bad not enough women HERE love them!
Posted by: Mr Obvious | August 14, 2008 at 04:22 PM
Dropped to 65 games? That's horrible if it's true. :(
Posted by: devin | August 14, 2008 at 05:57 PM
The best way to deal with this is to just go out and win... If this team starts winning, some interest will start being generated and TV coverage will naturally follow.
I think the reason there is so much coverage of the Panthers in Canada is the same reason you always schedule your homecoming game against a loser: You want to insure that the hometown fans see a victory. Lately in the NHL, unfortunately, the Panthers have been as close to sure-thing as you can get...
Posted by: VanMurph | August 16, 2008 at 06:47 AM