Start Times...Too Late?

[Tage2Tuch]

I understand the league is trying to avoid games overlapping. Yet, something needs to be done about these late starts. 10:35 e.t. puck drop in Anaheim/SJ & Vgk/LA? Bit much.

What can the league do to avoid this? The obvious answer is earlier starts. But, how difficult would it be to do this?

You realize they do this so LOCAL time the game starts at 7 or 7:30 right?

THere not going to put all the games at once, or at 4:30 Pacific just to make fans in the East happy.

It's always been like this too.....lol

 

[Tage2Tuch]

Then the western games can start at 830 eastern.

But why?

Then there's no double headers games over-lap and it's still not enough time for the average person to get home, eat, change and leave for the game in most cases.

 

[Hynh]

Watching the Oilers might have sucked this year, but being a hockey fan in the mountain timezone is the best, 5pm early start and 8pm late start is perfect

Truth. I get home from work in time for the Eastern games and only double OT Western games go past midnight. The only rough ones are matinees but f*** afternoon hockey.

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

Then the western games can start at 830 eastern.

How about you ship your ass to the west coast then so you could get favourable times to watch every game.

 

[Tweaky]

It’s completely understandable for games to be at 7:30 PST on weekdays, but it’d be nice for the EST fans to at least get the weekend games at a reasonable time. I mean Pitt/Philly played at 3 EST today, why not switch those two? Have Philly-Pitt play at 7:30 EST/4:30 PST and have Vegas/LA play at 3:00 EST/noon PST. That way your latest game ends at 10:30 for any time zone instead of 1:30.

Because then the western teams have a 7 hour swing in start times, which can play havoc with game prep and rhythm, whereas the east coast teams get to play at a set time for every game.

Of course, Detriot and Columbus should be CST, but that is another discussion.

And try being 12 hours ahead of EST and 15 hours ahead of PST. I get to watch east coast teams with breakfast, and most pacific games are done around lunch time. Thankfully, I have no job, so it works well for me Afternoon games suck though, regardless of coast.

 

[JoVel]

As a European I always find it funny when someone complains about a 10 PM start. To us that's a blessing not having to set up an alarm in the middle of the night.

 

[Drewcifer]

West coast fans should have their team's games start at times that are convenient for them. There are four time zones in the NHL. It would be silly to structure the league around what east coast fans want. The east coast isn't the center of the universe.

 

[Freaky Styley]

After the Golden Rule, the next lesson of life is (and I'm paraphrasing), 'don't blame others for your own problems'. Unlike you, the NHL realizes that not all of North America lives in EST, and plans accordingly. There are a few relatively simple solutions to your problem: 1. Stay up later than you're usual bedtime for a few weeks of the year and cope with getting less sleep 2. Purchase/get a Gamecentre account and avoid news outlets/hearing about the outcome and watch the game on your own schedule. 3. Move to a more favorable time zone.

If none of these seem good options, then watching these games isn't a huge priority for you.

 

[coolboarder]

Here is what I think about game starting time? I think that the league should not worry about the National TV because we have multi-channels TV around where they can show fans games at the same time. If the league insists showcase the National TV games separately. Once they have 32 teams in the NHL, they should scrap the Wild Card and go with the Divisional playoff format for first 2 rounds. If all Central division teams season end on a Friday then their first round playoff would begin on a Wednesday and all Pacific division teams' season end on a Saturday then their playoff start would be on a Thursday and stick to the format on an annual basis. Giving Central division a full attention to the playoff that starts at their normal starting time at 7pm CDT as the only game of the day. If NHL insists on doubleheader every day then Pacific teams can always start at 8pm PDT. right after a Central division playoff game ends. I remember in old days, Canadian Eastern NHL teams would start their home games at 8pm EST every Saturdays, even in the playoffs. If they sticks to this format every year, the fans will know which division start on a certain day and time for a specific days ahead of the schedule early in the season so that the fans can plan around the game day. Formal schedule announcement would be made at the end of the season according to their fixed schedule beforehand.

If Winnipeg Jets starts their home games at 6 or 6:30 then the NHL can have their Eastern teams starting time at 6pm EDT then Central divisions teams having their game start at 7:30 CDT right after the conclusion of Eastern teams then Pacific teams can start their games at 8pm PDT for a tripleheader during a normal weekday/weeknight. Just for Round 1. For Round 2, Eastern teams start at 6pm EDT then Central teams start at 8 pm CDT then one of those Eastern series can start at 7pm EDT then Pacific starts at 7pm PDT on an alternative days for Divisional Finals.

 

[Faterson]

As a European Kings fan I appreciate the 4:30 am game starts at Staples Center. Yup, 4:30 am. Quite handy. Keep it that way.

The worst are the regular East Coast game starts at 1 am. Stanley Cup finals with game starts at 2 am are brutal as well.

 

[Hennessy]

I'm used to Pacific games starting at 4-4:30AM (my time). But I just noticed that the games in Colorado are starting at 4. That's an hour later than most games start there in the season. And it sucks for me. I might be a night person, but that's making me question my life choices.

 

[Instant]

As a European Kings fan I appreciate the 4:30 am game starts at Staples Center. Yup, 4:30 am. Quite handy. Keep it that way.

The worst are the regular East Coast game starts at 1 am. Stanley Cup finals with game starts at 2 am are brutal as well.

What I would give for a 4:30 am game start After the whole season of 1 am game start I would kill for 4:30 am, so much sleep!

I think the NHL should do something about it, so that the schedule isn't that bad on fans living in Europe

 

[Osprey]

Just be glad that you can watch every game, even if the times aren't convenient. As recently as 15 years ago, you couldn't simply watch any series or any game that you wanted. You had to watch whatever series that the national/cable network decided to show and, often, you couldn't even follow a single series game to game, since the network might show you only every other game, alternating with the games in another series.

 

[JoVel]

As a European Kings fan I appreciate the 4:30 am game starts at Staples Center. Yup, 4:30 am. Quite handy. Keep it that way.

The worst are the regular East Coast game starts at 1 am. Stanley Cup finals with game starts at 2 am are brutal as well.

I've gotten used to the 2-3 am starts over the years and actually prefer them to the West Coast starting times. More often than not I end up missing the end of those games when Tampa makes their trip there because I have to leave before the game is finished.

 

[triggrman]

In Nashville we've had 8:30 starts which means kids don't get to see much of the game.

 

[helax]

I thought the start time was perfect, woke up and had breakfast while watching the 2nd and 3rd period =)

 

[tucker3434]

I’m a bit annoyed that Colorado-Nashville’s local start times have been 8 and 8:30. I get they’re trying to make it so they don’t overlap, but 8:30 local start is really late.

 

[67 others]

I understand the league is trying to avoid games overlapping. Yet, something needs to be done about these late starts. 10:35 e.t. puck drop in Anaheim/SJ & Vgk/LA? Bit much.

What can the league do to avoid this? The obvious answer is earlier starts. But, how difficult would it be to do this?

It is not that simple.

A 10:30ET start time in California is 7:30 to them. Yeah the game is late for you on the east Coast, but if you start games 2-3 hours earlier, a lot of people will not even have gotten home for supper from work yet in those areas.

They could easily complain they want your East coast games to start later so they can watch them at their leisure at the same time as the Sharks/Ducks game is on and I suspect you would raise a gripe over not being able to sleep if you want to catch the game

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

The times are fine. I’m more concerned about what idiot decided to schedule two games at the same time Saturday.

Yup

This was easily avoidable

But the NHL is gonna NHL

 

[TheTotalPackage]

I love the late start times as an Easterner. I have a better chance of sitting down and watching the games uninterrupted at that time as opposed to earlier when there is stuff to do around the house and kids to tend to.

I've never understood how those on the West Coast can enjoy watching sports when they start during work hours.

 

[Predatorbill]

In Nashville the night home games have been starting at 8:30 central time. That is quite a difference from 7 PM.

 

[Unspecified]

You know Time Zones and such

 

[ChiHawks10]

The central starts have always sucked. It's typically 8:30pm or 9pm starts in central time zones... Hawks and Preds fans(and anyone in the central division or time zone) have had to deal with it for a long time, and I'm sorry, it's stupid. A single OT game would typically keep me up until 1am+. Double OT games... I might as well not go to bed. And having to get up for work at 5:15-5:30 after that is terrible. No central game should start later than 7:30pm.

 

[awfulwaffle]

It’s completely understandable for games to be at 7:30 PST on weekdays, but it’d be nice for the EST fans to at least get the weekend games at a reasonable time. I mean Pitt/Philly played at 3 EST today, why not switch those two? Have Philly-Pitt play at 7:30 EST/4:30 PST and have Vegas/LA play at 3:00 EST/noon PST. That way your latest game ends at 10:30 for any time zone instead of 1:30.

What? I'm not sure if you're serious with this suggestion..

 

[fsanford]

Wait til Seattle gets added..

Look the NHL is catering to the local market, which is what they should do.
Now for a Sunday, given the day off I suppose they could have done a 6PM start on the West Coast.


Start 1 east coast game at noon local time, another at 3 Local time, Wild/Jets start at 6PM EST and Kings start at 9PM EST.

Other thing to keep in mind you have no idea what was going on in the building on the off day, if there was a concert or something, you probably need that extra time to tear it down and get ready for hockey.