The NCHC announced today that a minimum of 18 conference games and the league playoff semifinals and finals will appear on the CBS Sports Network.
My first question: Is that even a real station, or is CBS Sports Network one of those myths like Union being a good hockey team or women's hockey that everybody just believes because they have no evidence to the contrary? If it is in fact real, this seems like a mutually beneficial deal for the two sides. For example, when CBSSSNBYOB decides to rebrand itself again because nobody watches them, the NCHC knows where they can get a new banner to announce it quick and for cheap.
But I guess this is what it was all for. From the beginning, I've said this transition in college hockey is all about weighing what is being gained against what is being lost, and the shiny new TV deal was the keystone of what this new conference was supposed to gain. The venerable institutions of the WCHA and CCHA were destroyed for 18 games--much less if you cancel out the games those teams already have on CBSSNSNSSNABBQ this year--on a television network whose station number you probably couldn't guess if I spotted you 50 stations in either direction. As with every other announcement from the league, the gains are underwhelming at best.