The Blackhawks have finished last in their division for three consecutive seasons. Since losing in the first round of the 2017 playoffs, they haven\u2019t finished higher than sixth. Their one postseason appearance during that span came in COVID-ravaged 2020, when the NHL expanded the playoffs just enough for the Hawks to qualify.<\/p>\n
Yet when the Stanley Cup champion Panthers raise their banner in the first game of the regular season Tuesday on ESPN, the Hawks will provide the opposition. And when Utah played its historic first home game last season, the Hawks were the opponent and ESPN the broadcaster. And when the Avalanche raised their Cup banner in 2022, the Hawks were the opponent and TNT the broadcaster. In 2023, ESPN carried the Hawks\u2019 first game of the season and TNT their second. That had a lot to do with Connor Bedard\u2019s arrival, but the trend held.<\/p>\n
So why on earth do the NHL and TV networks keep putting a losing team in prime slots? Is it to give the celebrating team an easy victory? It\u2019s actually closer to what comedian Jerry Seinfeld joked about years ago when he said fans merely root for laundry. At least that\u2019s how Steve Levy, ESPN\u2019s NHL studio host, sees it. \u2018\u2018It\u2019s the logo,\u2019\u2019 Levy said. \u2018\u2018You feel like it should be more. It should be who\u2019s wearing the logo. Obviously, with Bedard, there\u2019s a lot of attraction there to see him take the next maybe giant step. But it\u2019s the sweater. It just is. It\u2019s the Original Six.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Like Seinfeld said: \u2018\u2018The players are always changing. .\u2009.\u2009. You\u2019re actually rooting for the clothes when you get right down to it.\u2019\u2019 The Hawks always have had really nice clothes. Being an Original Six team plays into it, too. No league reveres its founding members more than the NHL, even though the Hawks, who are celebrating their centennial this season, have had little to revere for almost a decade. \u2018\u2018Original Six teams have built that national brand, that history, that equity that fans care about, even when they have their ebbs and flows,\u2019\u2019 said Emily Kaplan, ESPN\u2019s NHL insider.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018You\u2019ll see us program a lot of Original Six teams based in the United States. When you see our schedule, you\u2019ll see the Red Wings, who are in the longest playoff drought in their history, featured prominently because they are that brand, the same way that the Blackhawks are.\u2019\u2019 Kaplan said ESPN also is featuring the Hawks to document their rebuild and to see whether it\u2019s working. Ten years removed from the Hawks\u2019 third Cup winner in five seasons, the network says hockey fans remain interested in the team.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018They\u2019re a huge market. They\u2019re a team that fans outside of Chicago care about,\u2019\u2019 ESPN NHL analyst Ray Ferraro said. \u2018\u2018They\u2019re at that bounce part of a rebuild, where they\u2019ve bottomed out and now it\u2019s just adding these young players and waiting for them to mature. They\u2019re one of the teams in the league, good or bad, people are interested outside of their market.\u2019\u2019 The Hawks will appear twice on ESPN, seven times on ESPN+ and six times on TNT this season. Remove the streaming-only games, and the Hawks\u2019 eight national-TV games are only four fewer than the champion Panthers have.<\/p>\n
The Bulls named Cam Smith the new host of their pregame and postgame shows on Chicago Sports Network, replacing Jason Goff. Smith joins Kendall Gill and K.C. Johnson in the studio. Adam Amin and Stacey King return to call the games. CHSN will air all five preseason games, beginning Tuesday in Cleveland. That game also will be Peacock\u2019s first NBA broadcast. Chuck Swirsky, Bill Wennington and Alyssa Bergamini return for Bulls radio broadcasts on The Score, which will air two preseason games (Oct. 12 and Oct. 16). The Wolves will broadcast 30 home games on Fox Chicago Plus (WPWR-Channel 50), beginning with the season opener Oct. 18 against the IceHogs. Jason Shaver and analyst Bill Gardner return to call the games.<\/p>\n
The Blackhawks’ consistent appearance in prime TV spots, despite their losing streak, can be attributed to their national brand and the significance of being an Original Six team. Their centennial season and the rebuild process are also factors that contribute to their prominent TV schedule.<\/p>\n
Q: Why do the NHL and TV networks feature the Blackhawks in prime TV spots despite their losing streak?
\nA: The Blackhawks’ national brand, their status as an Original Six team, and their rebuild process contribute to their prominent TV schedule.
\nQ: How many national TV games will the Blackhawks have this season?
\nA: The Hawks will appear twice on ESPN, seven times on ESPN+ and six times on TNT this season, totaling eight national-TV games.
\nQ: What is the significance of the Original Six teams in the NHL?
\nA: The Original Six teams have built a national brand, history, and equity that fans care about, even when they have their ebbs and flows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to the Blackhawks’ Prime TV Spots The Blackhawks have finished last in their division for three consecutive seasons. Since losing in the first round of the 2017 playoffs, they haven\u2019t finished higher than sixth. Their one postseason appearance during that span came in COVID-ravaged 2020, when the NHL expanded the playoffs just enough for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-29546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/ea2b5da\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1804x1030+0+132\/resize\/1461x834!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F7f%2F99%2Faec229104911a2a717874872a6ff%2Fscreenshot-2025-10-02-at-9-14-21-pm.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29546"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29548,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29546\/revisions\/29548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}