News came out today courtesy of Bill Shea at Crain’s Detroit Business that the Wings will be unable to host a Joe Vision tomorrow night when the Wings have a chance to win their second straight Stanley Cup.
A source familiar with the negotiations, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, said the National Hockey League refused to let the team air with the NBC or CBC broadcast of the game at the arena.
Last year’s Game 6 used the CBC feed, which the NHL didn’t reject.
A near-sellout of Joe Louis could shave a ratings point off the local television ratings measurement, and such ratings are used to establish advertising rates.
Each ratings point represents 19,270 households in the Detroit market.
The refusal to allow the team to either the game was likely a joint decision by the league and networks, the source said.
There will still be Cafe Vision — a party at Hockeytown Cafe where fans can watch the game inside or outside on the patio. The Wings hosted Joe Vision last year for Game 6 in Pittsburgh and the event has been known to draw up to 15,000 fans over the years.
The party outside Mellon Arena was also called off for Games 1, 2, 5, and 7. Pittsburgh fans were able to watch the game on the big screen outside the rink for Games 3 and 4 because those games were shown on Versus.
