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7:00 or 7:30 local start time?

Bleed orange

Registered User
Mar 28, 2013
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I've always wondered why some teams home games start at the top of the hour, and why other teams home games start at 30 past. It seems like approximately 2/3 of the teams in the league start at 7:00 local, but off the top of my head the ones that usually start at 30 past are sharks, Hawks, lightning, senators, and a few others I'm surely forgetting

What factors contribute to whether or not a specific teams home games start at 7:00 or 7:30 local time?
 
Bleed orange said:
I've always wondered why some teams home games start at the top of the hour, and why other teams home games start at 30 past. It seems like approximately 2/3 of the teams in the league start at 7:00 local, but off the top of my head the ones that usually start at 30 past are sharks, Hawks, lightning, senators, and a few others I'm surely forgetting

What factors contribute to whether or not a specific teams home games start at 7:00 or 7:30 local time?
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Main reason is a balance between wanting to end the game as early as possible (so young kids can attend) and leaving enough time for those going to the game to be able to leave work and get to the arena. Teams with the 7:30 start time usually have heavy traffic issues and want the extra 30 minutes to give everyone more time.
 
Imo it depends on access to stadium/how far stadium is away. If stadium is easy to get to with traffic then 7 as most get off on average around 5:30. A lot of the big cities have trains that go to the arena. Not sure on every city.
 
Beezeral said:
Main reason is a balance between wanting to end the game as early as possible (so young kids can attend) and leaving enough time for those going to the game to be able to leave work and get to the arena. Teams with the 7:30 start time usually have heavy traffic issues and want the extra 30 minutes to give everyone more time.
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I wonder if there's a correlation between cities with good public transit and cities without.

For instance, I can't imagine Tampa Bay has worse traffic than DC, but at least with DC you can just take the metro from pretty much anywhere to Gallery Place, even during rush hour.
 
In Ottawa it's been 7:30 for weeknight games and 7:00 for Weekend games.

and as others have said, it was done because of the traffic.
 
Dustin Peener said:
They never start at the actual time it says anyway, it's a farce
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The games start at 7:05 and 7:35 pretty much on the dot all the time. The reason for the extra 5 minutes is to give the TV and Radio a few minutes to set the stage for the game
 
hockeykicker said:
Imo it depends on access to stadium/how far stadium is away. If stadium is easy to get to with traffic then 7 as most get off on average around 5:30. A lot of the big cities have trains that go to the arena. Not sure on every city.
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Devils switched from 7:30 to 7:00 start times several years back when they moved to Newark. Assuming it has to do with having mass transportation available now, allowing NYC commuters to come straight from work - and having more frequent train service during rush hour for those taking the train in from elsewhere, whereas at their previous arena you had to drive in and traffic was usually pretty bad in the area (traffic is still bad in Newark, but far fewer fans actually drive in).

I prefer the earlier start time - luckily I have the flexibility with my job that I can get to the arena early on games I go see. Also gives my kids more of a chance to watch the games, plus I often just DVR the games anyway and start them around 8 or 8:30 once the kids are in bed and I can just skip over commercials and intermission.
 
Bleed orange said:
I've always wondered why some teams home games start at the top of the hour, and why other teams home games start at 30 past. It seems like approximately 2/3 of the teams in the league start at 7:00 local, but off the top of my head the ones that usually start at 30 past are sharks, Hawks, lightning, senators, and a few others I'm surely forgetting

What factors contribute to whether or not a specific teams home games start at 7:00 or 7:30 local time?
Click to expand...

As somebody who hasn't a team in the NHL and follows a lot of games of his fellow countrymen I can tell you that half an hour is as good a fit as you can get to watch two games at the same time so the intermisssion overlaps the other game's period. I can't comment on the reasons for those startng times, but I do like them.
 
hawks moved them up to 7 from 7:30 and then back because they said people driving in from the suburbs or other parts of the city wanted/needed more time to get there after work. they probably sell more beer/concessions this way
 
Smash88 said:
In Ottawa it's been 7:30 for weeknight games and 7:00 for Weekend games.

and as others have said, it was done because of the traffic.
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Funny - the Islanders have it swapped in their new stadium. 7:30 on weekends, 7pm on weeknights. The feedback they got was that people commuting would rather get home earlier on weeknights.
 
Bleed orange said:
I've always wondered why some teams home games start at the top of the hour, and why other teams home games start at 30 past. It seems like approximately 2/3 of the teams in the league start at 7:00 local, but off the top of my head the ones that usually start at 30 past are sharks, Hawks, lightning, senators, and a few others I'm surely forgetting

What factors contribute to whether or not a specific teams home games start at 7:00 or 7:30 local time?
Click to expand...

Traffic blows in Los Angeles thus the 7:30 start time.
 
Smash88 said:
In Ottawa it's been 7:30 for weeknight games and 7:00 for Weekend games.

and as others have said, it was done because of the traffic.
Click to expand...

They seem to change it every couple of years. When they do 7:30 starts on weekdays, people complain that they get home too late. Then they switch it to 7:00, and people complain that they don't have enough time to get there from work. Then they switch it to 7:30....
 
The Macho Man said:
I wonder if there's a correlation between cities with good public transit and cities without.

For instance, I can't imagine Tampa Bay has worse traffic than DC, but at least with DC you can just take the metro from pretty much anywhere to Gallery Place, even during rush hour.
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Exactly. Tampa has no kind of mass transit whatsoever. And while the volume of traffic isn't as heavy as some of the bigger cities, we suffer from some serious sprawl. And those fricking bridges.
 
The Pens switched from 7:30 to 7PM a few years back and I have no idea why. It can't be better transportation/less traffic because Consol is literally right across the street from where Mellon was. I'm not complaining, though, I prefer the earlier start time.
 
ThunderAlleyNomad said:
Exactly. Tampa has no kind of mass transit whatsoever. And while the volume of traffic isn't as heavy as some of the bigger cities, we suffer from some serious sprawl. And those fricking bridges.
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At least you car is guaranteed to start without the help of jumper cables after a game in February ;)
 
Beezeral said:
The games start at 7:05 and 7:35 pretty much on the dot all the time. The reason for the extra 5 minutes is to give the TV and Radio a few minutes to set the stage for the game
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It's more like 7:08/7:38, and by "setting the stage" you surely mean showing some extra commercials.
 
Beezeral said:
The games start at 7:05 and 7:35 pretty much on the dot all the time. The reason for the extra 5 minutes is to give the TV and Radio a few minutes to set the stage for the game
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They really don't, whenever I watch it seems to vary any time between 5-10 minutes after advertised faceoff time, sometimes longer if they're military worshiping or any other event, the banner raising ceremony in Chicago last night took more than half an hour

It's a con to get people to tune in before the game starts so they will see all the ads, if you can't predict when the game will actually start you have to tune in when it says on the OFFICIAL WEBSITE to make sure you don't miss anything

English soccer and rugby don't require an extra 5 minutes to give the TV guys time, they do all that nonsense BEFORE the advertised time, and hardly ever fail to start the game at the advertised time. Why can't the NHL do the same?
 
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