NBC sending own American crew to NHL hub cities
American network bringing employees to Toronto for broadcasts of NHL restart
Hockey Night in Canada — brought to you by Americans for the very first time.
NBC will fly upwards of 50 broadcast people to Toronto — producers, directors, camera people, technicians and more — to serve as the world feed for all National Hockey League games played in this hub city while many Canadian broadcast freelancers, out of work since March, are not at all happy about the snub.
“It’s a travesty,” said one longtime Canadian broadcast worker, who asked not to be identified for obvious reasons. “The NHL sold us out. Our own government sold us out. All we want to do is work and this is our job.
“I could understand (NBC) bringing people in if we couldn’t do the job, but it’s proven we can.”
Canadian hockey broadcasters have long been considered the best in the world. Virtually every Winter Olympics world feed in recent memory has been produced and directed by a Canadian. The majority — it not all — of the world feed staff at every Olympic hockey tournament of the past 25 years has been Canadian.
NBC told one Canadian inquiring about a job that it was bringing only its own staff to Toronto to work on the world feed and wouldn’t consider anyone else. Under the strict conditions of COVID-19, only one broadcast crew — known as the world feed — will produce the pictures for all networks around the world televising the games. Those networks include Sportsnet in Canada and NBC, the American rightsholder for NHL games, in the U.S.
Sportsnet will produce the world feed for games played in the western hub city of Edmonton — but the Stanley Cup final, slated to be held in the Alberta city, will have both Canadian and American feeds for the individual rightsholders.
Sources say NBC was not happy with the NHL having two Canadian hub cities for its return to play. Apparently, NBC wanted an American hub city, but clearly the NHL acted in the best and safest interest of the league. But in doing so, it also kowtowed to the rightsholder, NBC, and somehow pulled a fast one of sorts on the Canadian government.
It was one thing for the federal government to allow NHL teams to enter Canadian cities under strict restrictions, breaking its own border laws in the process. But it was another for Ottawa to look the other way while the NHL somehow negotiated a way to enable NBC to allow Americans to take jobs Canadians are clearly qualified to do.
“I think the federal government was sold a bill of goods by the NHL,” said another disgruntled Canadian broadcast worker.
On Monday, at his daily media briefing, I asked Ontario Premier Doug Ford about this snub and clearly he was unsure about the circumstances.
“To be very frank, I don’t know who has the contract for the
NHL or who has the contract for Monday Night Football or Major League Baseball,” said Ford, a lifelong sports fan, clearly caught off guard by the question. Then he found his legs.
“I hear you loud and clear and don’t disagree,” said Ford. “I’ll look into that. I don’t (usually) get involved in the NHL’S business.”
He may be able to ask questions. It’s highly unlikely he’ll be able to change anything.
This is more of a federal matter than a provincial matter, but somehow the working lives of people who would like to get off the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit didn’t seem of interest to our federal government.
Work for freelance broadcast people has been basically non-existent since professional sports was shut down in early March. Normally, at this time of year, many of the same people working NHL games in June might have worked Toronto Raptors games, CFL games or baseball games were they being played in Toronto.
The next NHL or NBA season is not expected to start until December. That would mean eight months without work for the freelancers.
And with the federal government, paying them CERB for now, caught looking the other way.