As I type, Altitude television announcers Mike Haynes and Peter McNab have just finished briefing Pepsi Center fans on the scoreboard screens, providing preview information about the Avalanche-Minnesota Wild matchup.
At the end of the segment, Haynes reminded fans that if they can’t make it to the arena, they could always catch the games on Altitude.
We take this for granted: The Avalanche and Nuggets are on television virtually every game, home and away.
Absolutely, that’s progress.
When I was a young(er) beat writer, covering the separately owned Colorado Rockies of the NHL and then the Nuggets, club executives and ownerships were united in at least one stand.
They weren’t going to sabotage their box office by televising home games in Denver and the Rocky Mountain region.
Nuggets president and general manager Carl Scheer’s ahead-of-his- time vision on the basketball and business fronts were instrumental in turning the franchise from a mild ABA draw into an NBA hot ticket, and his impact in Denver and the sports world is felt to this day. But even he was averse to televising home games on anything other than an occasional basis.
Cable television’s pervasive reach has changed the picture since. It’s wrong to say the Avalanche and Nuggets, both owned by Stan Kroenke, are on “free” TV. They’re not, as we’re reminded whenever the cable bill arrives. Kroenke also owns Altitude, which provides a “just a bit outside” perspective that comes with in-house broadcasts. So if Altitude is ever a license to print money, it will be going directly to Kroenke.
In the long run, televising home games creates interest, educates a fan base, and if done right, can at least be a financial complement to gate receipts. Everyone wins.
But . . .
When some of my brethren, and even many fans, seem prone to make attendance at home games some sort of moral litmus test, they rarely take into consideration how much the big picture has changed in the past 30 years.
And the recent economic slide adds to the temptation to stay home. Ticket prices are astronomical. You can get a good 37-inch HDTV for the price of about a night for two at an NHL or NBA game — and stay home and watch the games, all the games, as part of a cable bill you would probably pay, anyway.
I’m not saying the old-school hardliners were right.
I’m saying that under the circumstances, I’m amazed the live gates have held up as well as they have.
