FOX NHL Saturday
FOX NHL Saturday (or The NHL on FOX) is a former TV show that televised National Hockey League games on the Fox Broadcasting Company and produced by Fox Sports. FOX NHL Saturday ran from the 1994-1995 NHL season until the 1998-1999 NHL season. FOX paid $31 million a year to televise the NHL.
FOX televised between five and eleven regionally distributed games on Saturday afternoons during the regular season, where anywhere from three to six games ran concurrently. The only regular season game FOX televised nationally during the duration of its contract was Wayne Gretzky's farewell game on April 18, 1999 between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers from Madison Square Garden. In the first three rounds of the playoffs, two games were televised each round. The main broadcast team was Mike Emrick and John Davidson, while regionally distributed games were handled by a variety of announcers. In the first four years of the deal, James Brown and Dave Maloney hosted the show from the FOX studio. In the final year, it was Suzy Kolber and Terry Crisp. For the All-Star Game, Conference Finals, and Stanley Cup Finals, the games (which were national telecasts) were hosted from the arena. The 1996 and 1997 All-Star Games were televised in prime time.
Things ended badly between FOX and the league when the NHL announced a new TV deal with ESPN that also called for ABC to become the new network TV partner. FOX challenged that it had not been given a chance to match the network component of the deal, but ABC ultimately prevailed. As a result, it is widely rumored that FOX will not bid for NHL rights again under either side's current management (perhaps barring a large NHL ratings increase).
- See also: ESPN National Hockey Night and The NHL on ABC
Personalities
- See also: NHL on FOX commentator pairings
- Kenny Albert: Play-by-Play
- James Brown: Studio Host (1994-1998)
- Terry Crisp: Color Commentary, Studio Analyst (1998-1999)
- John Davidson: Color Commentary
- Mike Emrick: Play-by-Play
- Mike Eruzione: Color Commentary
- Pat Foley: Play-by-Play
- Gary Green: Color Commentary
- Randy Hahn: Play-by-Play
- Rick Jeanneret: Play-by-Play
- John Kelly: Play-by-Play
- Suzy Kolber: Studio Host (1998-1999)
- Mike Lange: Play-by-Play
- Josh Lewin: Play-by-Play
- Dave Maloney: Studio Analyst(1994-1998)
- Jiggs McDonald: Play-by-Play
- Peter McNab: Color Commentary
- Joe Micheletti: Color Commentary
- Greg Millen: Color Commentary
- Denis Potvin: Color Commentary
- Daryl Reaugh: Color Commentary
- Mickey Redmond: Color Commentary
- Howie Rose: Play-by-Play
- Sam Rosen: Play-by-Play
- Craig Simpson: Color Commentary
- Paul Steigerwald: Color Commentary
- Pete Stemkowski: Color Commentary
- Dick Stockton: Play-by-Play
- Dave Strader: Play-by-Play
- Dale Tallon: Color Commentary
FoxTrax
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For more details on this topic, see FoxTrax.
FoxTrax (colloquially called the glow puck, smart puck, or super puck) was a specialized ice hockey puck with internal electronics that allow its position to be tracked that was designed for NHL telecasts on FOX. Primarily, it was used to visually highlight the puck on-screen and display a trail when the puck was moving rapidly.
Stanley Cup Finals
FOX split coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals with ESPN. Game 1 of the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals was the first Finals game shown on network television since 1980 and the first in prime time since 1973. Games 1, 5, and 7 were usually scheduled to be televised by FOX; Games 2, 3, 4, and 6 by ESPN. However from 1995 to 1998, the Finals were all four game sweeps; 1999 ended in six games. The consequence was that - except for 1995, when FOX did televise Game 4 - the decisive game was never on network television. Perhaps in recognition of this, Games 3-7 were always televised by ABC in the succeeding broadcast agreement between the NHL and ABC Sports/ESPN. Also, the NHL's current broadcast agreement calls for Games 1 and 2 to be televised by Versus (formerly OLN) and Games 3-7 by NBC.
Stanley Cup Finals Broadcast Schedules
- 1995 - Games 1, 4, 5, 7 on FOX, Games 2, 3, 6 on ESPN
- 1996 - Games 1, 3, 5, 7 on FOX, Games 2, 4, 6 on ESPN
- 1997 - Games 1, 5, 6, 7 on FOX, Games 2, 3, 4 on ESPN
- 1998 - Games 1, 5, 7 on FOX, Games 2, 3, 4, 6 on ESPN
- 1999 - Games 1, 2, 5, 7 on FOX, Games 3, 4, 6 on ESPN
Ratings
Stanley Cup Finals
| Year | Teams | Games Carried | Rating |
| 1995 | New Jersey-Detroit | 1, 4 | 3.4 |
| 1996 | Colorado-Florida | 1, 3 | 3.6 |
| 1997 | Detroit-Philadelphia | 1 | 4.0 |
| 1998 | Detroit-Washington | 1 | 3.3 |
| 1999 | Dallas-Buffalo | 1, 2, 5 | 3.4 |
Regular Season
| Season | Number of Dates | Rating |
| 1994-95 | 5 | 2.0 |
| 1995-96 | 6 | 2.1 |
| 1996-97 | 6 | 1.9 |
| 1997-98 | 11 | 1.4 |
| 1998-99 | 11 | 1.4 |
All-Star Game
| Year | Rating |
| 1995 | No Game Due To Lockout |
| 1996 | 4.1 |
| 1997 | 2.8 |
| 1998 | 2.7 |
| 1999 | 2.2 |
See also
- Hockey broadcasting
- The NHL on ABC
- ESPN National Hockey Night
- The NHL on NBC
- The NHL on Versus
- Hockey Night in Canada
- List of Stanley Cup Finals broadcasters
External links
| Preceded by ABC and ESPN |
NHL network broadcast partner (with ESPN) in the United States 1994 - 1999 |
Succeeded by ABC and ESPN |
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