NHL/MLB markets where hockey and baseball share special links
By Al Daniel
Shared NHL and MLB market: Boston
The New England Sports Network is co-owned by the Red Sox (80 percent) and Bruins (20 percent) parent companies. Since its 1984 inception, it has been the cable abode for those teams, and those teams alone.
The NBA’s Celtics have always resided on the rival NBC Sports Boston (formerly Comcast Sportsnet New England, formerly Fox Sports New England, formerly Sportschannel New England, and initially Prism New England). Incidentally, the Celtics own 20 percent of that channel.
For a time, all three teams were also on WSBK 38, primarily for road games. But early in this century, cable took sole custody, thereby furthering the divide between hoops on one network and hardball and hockey on the other.
Through other Red Sox and Bruins connections, NESN has deepened its hockey- and baseball-heavy menu beyond the big leagues. Hockey East — the region’s premier college conference, which coincidentally also launched in 1984 — has made the network its TV home for the majority of its existence.
NESN’s annual slate of select Hockey East telecasts includes the nonconference men’s Beanpot at the Garden, and culminates in the women’s and men’s conference championship. Since 1987, the men’s final has also been held in the Bruins den. In addition, starting a week after the 2010 NHL Winter Classic, the league and the network have frequented the Red Sox yard as the core attraction of Frozen Fenway.
The dual Sox-B’s imprint on NESN has also accentuated their grip elsewhere in the region, particularly Rhode Island. From the network’s establishment to the team’s imminent relocation next season, NESN has periodically televised the Pawtucket Red Sox. And for roughly 10 seasons, it broadcast the Providence Bruins and sometimes other New England AHL teams.
In all, Boston’s Triple-A baseball and hockey farm bases will have overlapped in the Ocean State for 28 years.