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137-464: SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision , which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC . Operating from March 1, 1979, to January 27, 1998, it was the country's first regional sports network, and along with Prime Network , was an important ancestor to many of

274-522: A round-robin tournament to determine final seeding in the First Round, while the bottom eight seeds in each conference played in a best-of-five series to determine who advanced to face one of the Round-Robin teams in the First Round, after which they were re-seeded 5th–8th. Teams then were reseeded after each round similar to the conference-based formats used from 1994 to 2013. The closure of

411-402: A "regional sports network fee" as a separate item on their bills. In response to high and increasing surcharges for RSNs and local broadcast channels, on March 22, 2023, FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced a proposal to require television providers to advertise only "all-in" pricing, including all programming fees. In Canada, Sportsnet operates four regional sports networks, and

548-601: A 30-day grace period to make the payment. During this grace period, Diamond Sports also missed a rights payment to the Arizona Diamondbacks . On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy . In October 2023, following the loss of airing Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks games during the year, Bally Sports Arizona dropped coverage of the Arizona Coyotes during the preseason, which subsequently led to Bally Sports Arizona being

685-694: A 50% interest in Fox Sports New England (with Comcast retaining its existing 50% stake), in a trade deal in which News Corporation sold its interests in Madison Square Garden, the Knicks and Rangers in exchange for acquiring sole ownership of Fox Sports Ohio and Fox Sports Florida. However, News Corporation and Cablevision retained joint ownership of Fox Sports Bay Area. Fox Sports Chicago ceased operations in June 2006, after losing

822-505: A SportsChannel affiliate. Maryland -based Home Team Sports and Minneapolis -based Midwest Sports Channel (independently owned and operated despite the similar sounding name) would also sign-up as affiliates. Later that year, Cablevision would also gain a new partner. In December 1988, NBC and Cablevision announced that they would form a joint venture to operate their respective cable networks, including SportsChannel. Through this partnership, SportsChannel launched five additional networks in

959-471: A best-of-seven series for one berth in the Stanley Cup Finals, while the third- to sixth-place teams battled in a series of best-of-three matches for the other berth (with the third-place team taking on the fourth-place team, and the fifth-place team against the sixth-place team). In 1939, the Stanley Cup Finals became a best-of-seven series, the format still used today. The 1942–43 season saw

1096-538: A best-of-three semifinal. As travel expenses were high during these times, it was often the case that the NHL champions were sent west to compete. In a dispute between the leagues in 1923 about whether to send one or both western league champions east, the winner of the PCHA/WCHL series would proceed to the Stanley Cup Finals, while the loser of the series would face the NHL champion, both series being best-of-three. In 1924,

1233-421: A better goaltender, a better defensive team, or other players that pose matchup problems. If the regular season champion's primary success was only outscoring others, they may be out of luck facing goaltenders that can shut them out. For the first time, during the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs , all division winners were eliminated in the first round, which also saw the first instance that a Presidents' Trophy winner

1370-459: A bye to the quarterfinal, while the second- and third-place teams from each division started their playoff run from a best-of-three preliminary round. In each round of the playoffs, the teams remaining were seeded regardless of divisional or conference alignment, with the preliminary-round series being a best-of-three affair while the remainder of the series remained best-of-seven. The 1977–78 season had one minor change in its playoff format: although

1507-517: A centralized media rights model in the 2023 season ; all match telecasts are now produced in-house and carried internationally on the MLS Season Pass subscription service under a ten-year digital rights agreement with Apple Inc. , and blackouts are not enforced. In March 2023, Bally Sports parent company Diamond Sports Group filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, while Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (WBD) announced its intent to exit

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1644-524: A deal to televise the Chicago White Sox in 1981. However, this new network would be short-lived as the White Sox launched SportsVision the following season. Cablevision's subsidiary Rainbow Media 's purchased Boston -based PRISM New England in 1983, relaunching the network as SportsChannel New England . Shortly after, Cablevision formed a partnership with The Washington Post which gave

1781-441: A dedicated channel; in contrast to other sports channels, it was distributed free-to-air as a digital multicast television network , and eventually subsumed its syndication of individual telecasts. In 2017, the channel was relaunched as Stadium as part of a joint venture with Silver Chalice , which expanded its programming and added a focus on distribution via free ad-supported streaming television (FAST). Starting in 2023, amid

1918-472: A disaster for SportsChannel, as even though it helped the national channel expand its coverage to 20 million homes within the first three years, Rainbow Sports lost as much as $ 10 million on the agreement, and SportsChannel America soon faded into obscurity. Some regional SportsChannel networks – which carried NHL games in their local markets – were not affected by the national network's loss of league rights. SportsChannel broadcast NPSL games at least as early as

2055-462: A four-division, two-conference system for the 2013–14 season . Under the postseason system from 2014 to the present (excluding the seasons that were changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the top three teams in each division make the playoffs , with two wild-cards in each conference (for a total of eight playoff teams from each conference). The format is division-based, similar to the 1982 system. In

2192-609: A group that shared programming and national TV rights. During the 1990s, some teams experimented with pay-per-view or premium television broadcasts of games, which were generally unpopular. The Portland Trail Blazers ran BlazerVision, which charged a fee for every game, and which blacked out NBA on TNT coverage of Trail Blazer playoff games for fans within 40 miles (64 km) of Portland. The Chicago Blackhawks broadcast games exclusively on Hawkvision between 1992 and 1995. As sports fans began to prefer watching their favorite teams on television rather than in person, RSNs became

2329-604: A higher programming tier or a specialized sports tier to receive local and out-of-market regional sports networks. National Football League games (outside of preseason games) are not shown on regional sports networks as its TV deal is centralized and local games are broadcast on TV in a team's local area. In 2023, Major League Soccer also switched to a centralized broadcasting model, with all games carried nationally via streaming. Viewership and advertising revenue on RSNs are highest during live broadcasts of professional and collegiate sporting events. These broadcasts are often

2466-870: A joint venture between News Corporation and Liberty Media , purchased a 40% interest in Rainbow's sports properties including the SportsChannel networks, Madison Square Garden , the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers . Through the deal, the SportsChannel networks would be integrated into Fox Sports Net , a group of regional sports networks launched in November 1996 through News Corporation's purchase of Liberty's Prime Network group; SportsChannel New York would also be rebranded as Fox Sports New York, with Cablevision-owned MSG also becoming

2603-495: A manner similar to Sportsnet. These feeds are primarily used to broadcast regional NHL games, but may also be used to provide alternative and common national programming. While each region has a primary TSN channel, due to overlaps in NHL territories it is possible in some parts of Ontario to access additional regional games from one non-primary channel. Prior to the launch of these channels, regional NHL games whose rights were held by TSN (which, at that point, consisted solely of

2740-530: A network of broadcasters that may consist of either individual over-the-air stations, regional sports networks, or a mixture of both. Jefferson-Pilot Communications and Raycom Sports were well known as syndicators of college sports on broadcast television, having previously held agreements with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and Southeastern Conference (SEC). By the late-2000's. both packages began to wind down after ESPN acquired

2877-458: A new playoff system was introduced where 16 of the league's 21 teams qualified for postseason play. The four division winners qualified for the playoffs while twelve wild-card positions rounded out the sixteen teams. At the beginning of each round the teams were seeded based on their regular season point totals, with the preliminary round being a best-of-five series while all other playoff series were best-of-seven. The 1981–82 season brought forth

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3014-414: A separately branded FSN outlet. Weeks after the deal was announced, SportsChannel would discontinue its national programming in favor of Fox's programming and simultaneously discontinued NewSport, replacing it with American Sports Classics , a network focusing on replays of past sporting events and historical sports documentaries. National Sports Partners, the venture formed through Cablevision's entry into

3151-511: A small number of subscribers in Manhattan in May 1969. By the late 1970s another version of this network would launch and be made available to other cable systems in the metropolitan area and it would finally receive the name Madison Square Garden Television in 1980. Another early network considered by many to be an RSN is Philadelphia 's PRISM which launched in 1976 offering coverage of three of

3288-899: A strategy of launching RSNs, particularly in markets where its stations have state-wide coverage. This strategy began with Arizona's Family Sports , which features Phoenix Suns and Mercury basketball, and auxiliary programming for the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL. It has since established similar networks, such as Peachtree Sports Network (which is carried on the digital channels of multiple Gray stations in Georgia), Matrix Midwest in St. Louis, Missouri (a rebranding of its MyNetworkTV subchannel), Rock Entertainment Sports Network in Ohio (in partnership with Dan Gilbert 's Rock Entertainment, owner of

3425-408: A stronger team would face a weaker opponent. Thus, instead of a first-place versus third-place and a second versus fourth-place match up in the first round, the first round had the first-place versus the fourth and the second versus the third-place. This practice of having stronger teams facing weaker opposition has continued to the present day. This change necessitated the need to reseed the winners of

3562-575: A tradition which has arisen because the Stanley Cup is North America's oldest professional sports trophy, dating back more than two decades before the establishment of the NHL. Originally inscribed the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup , the trophy was donated in 1892 by Lord Stanley of Preston , then– Governor General of Canada , initially as a " challenge trophy " for Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey club. From 1893 when

3699-469: A two-game total goals affair and the Stanley Cup Finals became a best-of-five series. The two-game total goals format was abolished in 1937, with those series being changed to best-of-three affairs. The 1930s saw the reduction of teams from ten to seven, which resulted in an end to the Canadian and American divisions. The Stanley Cup playoffs saw the first- and second-place teams play against each other in

3836-480: A very important source of revenue for professional teams and collegiate conferences. By 2011, regional sports networks were integral to the financial health of many U.S. sports ventures. Teams in smaller media markets were often disadvantaged by their reliance on RSNs, whereas teams in larger markets could negotiate more lucrative media rights deals. In the 21st century, the rise of cord-cutting has led to decreasing cable and satellite television subscriber numbers in

3973-926: Is also a shareholder in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), which owned Leafs Nation Network , a channel devoted entirely to the Toronto Maple Leafs and its farm team, the Toronto Marlies (and is restricted to the Leafs' broadcast territory). MLSE also operates NBA TV Canada , which is distributed nationally but has featured programming focused on the MLSE-owned Toronto Raptors and its NBA G League affiliate Raptors 905 . On August 25, 2014, The Sports Network (TSN), another Canadian sports channel, split its singular national feed into four regional feeds in

4110-530: Is common among players to never touch or hoist the Prince of Wales Trophy ( Eastern Conference champion) or Clarence S. Campbell Bowl ( Western Conference champion) after they have won the conference finals ; the players feel that the Stanley Cup is the true championship trophy and thus it should be the only trophy that they should be hoisting. However, there have been many exceptions to this. Nineteen of

4247-441: Is considered a national channel with multiple feeds for regulatory purposes, in practice its four main channels act as a set of RSNs, albeit with a significant portion of common national programming. Through the separate Sportsnet One licence, Rogers also operates three regional overflow channels—Sportsnet Flames, Sportsnet Oilers, and Sportsnet Canucks—for Calgary Flames , Edmonton Oilers , and Vancouver Canucks games. Rogers

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4384-576: Is eliminated or wins the Stanley Cup. The tradition was started in the 1980s by the New York Islanders , and is often mirrored by the fans, as well. At the conclusion of a playoff series, players and coaches line up and exchange handshakes with their counterparts on the opposing team, and this has been described by commentators as "one of the great traditions in sports". However, there have been rare occasions that individual players have refused to participate, such as Gerry Cheevers who left

4521-547: Is majority-owned by the Seattle Mariners . This deadline quietly passed with no changes in operations; it was later reported that WBD had been negotiating an agreement with MLB to ensure that the networks would continue operating as normal through the end of the 2023 regular season . In October 2023, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh was acquired by the Pittsburgh Penguins (with NESN —a sister via

4658-608: Is mostly owned by the Seattle Mariners – under the AT&;T SportsNet banner on July 14, 2017. In September 2018, AT&TSN was transferred to the WarnerMedia News & Sports division . In February 2020, the New York Post reported that AT&T had abandoned a plan to divest the channels, after only receiving bids in excess of $ 500 million (rather than the $ 1 billion valuation it had expected). In May 2021, it

4795-421: Is no attention paid to divisional alignment with the wild cards, it is possible for one division in a conference to have five teams in the postseason while the other has just three. In the First Round, the teams are split into two separate brackets by conference. Each bracket consists of the top three divisional qualifiers and one of the wild cards. The lower seeded wild card plays against the division winner with

4932-468: Is no longer possible. The first round is the only round where the better teams play easier opponents, as every other round is played by the winner of another series, thus leaving no opportunities to reseed. The winners of these series advance to the conference finals and the two conference finals winners move on to the Stanley Cup Finals. In the first two rounds, the higher-seeded team has home-ice advantage (regardless of point record). Thereafter, it goes to

5069-517: The 1916–17 NHA season saw the league split its schedule into two halves with the top team from each half moving on to the league finals, which was a two-game total goals series . The PCHA continued to award their league title to the team that finished in first place after the regular season. The National Hockey League (NHL) was founded in November 1917 as a successor to the NHA. From the NHL's inception until 1920, both NHL and PCHA teams were eligible for

5206-615: The 1992–93 Montreal Canadiens remain the last Canadian club to win the Stanley Cup, as of 2024. The Stanley Cup playoffs MVP award, the Conn Smythe Trophy is based on the entire NHL postseason instead of just the championship game or series, unlike the playoff MVP awards presented in the other major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada (the Super Bowl MVP , the NBA Finals MVP , and

5343-581: The 1992–93 season . This was incidentally, the same year that for the NPSL being the top level of professional indoor soccer in the United States following the collapse of Major Soccer League . In February 1993, SportsChannel broadcast the NPSL All-Star Game from Cleveland . Lee Zeidman, Dave Johnson , and sideline reporter Keith Tozer served as the commentators for the occasion. Besides Lee Zeidman and Dave Johnson, commentators for their Game of

5480-492: The 2005 acquisition of NHL rights by Comcast / OLN over ESPN); SportsChannel America obtained a fourth year of the contract for just $ 5 million in 1992. One problem that arose with the deal was that SportsChannel America was available only in a few major markets and reached only one-third of the households that ESPN covered, limiting the national availability of its NHL coverage. In smaller markets, especially those with cable systems whose headends had limited channel capacity,

5617-772: The 2014–15 season , RDS could air Canadiens games on a national basis, as it was also the national French-language rightsholder of the National Hockey League in Canada. With Rogers' acquisition of the exclusive national media rights to the NHL, and its decision to sub-license French rights to Quebecor Media 's TVA Sports , RDS and RDS2's coverage of the Canadiens and Senators are now restricted to parts of Eastern Ontario , Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Some telecasts (especially in U.S. college sports) are broadcast by ad-hoc syndicated packages, which can be picked up on

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5754-592: The Bay Area , Cincinnati , Cleveland , Philadelphia , and Los Angeles . The partnership also produced the Olympics Triplecast , a pay-per-view service providing additional coverage of the 1992 Summer Olympics . In 1991, the one year-old San Francisco-based SportsChannel Bay Area merged with rival TCI 's Pacific Sports Network to become SportsChannel Pacific. This would become the second regional sports network to affiliate both with SportsChannel and

5891-505: The Canada–United States border during the 2020–21 regular season caused the NHL to temporarily abolish both conferences and realign into four different divisions, putting all Canadian teams into one of those divisions. The top four teams in each division then made the 2021 playoffs . All four rounds of the playoffs remained as best-of-seven series, and the first two rounds of the playoffs featured intra-divisional matchups similar to

6028-621: The Cleveland Cavaliers ), and Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network (which will carry New Orleans Pelicans basketball beginning in the 2024–25 season, with WVUE-DT as flagship). Sportsnet (formerly known as CTV Sportsnet and Rogers Sportsnet) is owned by the Rogers Media division of Toronto -based Rogers Communications . Sportsnet carries all of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball games. Although it

6165-540: The Dallas Stars took its media rights to an in-house streaming platform. Stanley Cup playoffs The Stanley Cup playoffs ( French : Les séries éliminatoires de la Coupe Stanley ) is the annual elimination tournament to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup , and the league champion of the National Hockey League (NHL). The four-round, best-of-seven tournament is held after

6302-538: The Flyers and 76ers . Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, the first CSN channel, launched on October 1, 1997. CSN purchased a small number of RSNs previously owned by Fox Sports Networks, and acquired the local rights to professional teams that FSN regional networks carried. In two markets, the latter situation resulted in Fox Sports shutting down their networks. Comcast's 2011 acquisition of NBC Universal allowed

6439-451: The NBA playoffs . It is the reality of the sport. If your particular strength happens to be that you're really good offensively, and you come up against a hot goaltender and a team that is stout defensively, it might not matter that you were good on a nightly basis scoring goals. And that one particular opponent: you'll have to beat them four times. NHL broadcaster Darren Eliot explaining

6576-524: The Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers being acquired by the new Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia (which replaced SportsChannel Philadelphia on local cable systems and additionally became an FSN affiliate; PRISM was replaced by then-Liberty owned premium movie network Starz ). SportsChannel Florida was also unable to join Fox Sports Net at the same time as its sisters as Wayne Huizenga , owner of

6713-560: The Prime Network (Home Team Sports had done so since 1988). SportsChannel Los Angeles later ceased operations at the end of 1992 due to financial issues, with all of its sports broadcast contracts being acquired by the competing Prime Ticket . In 1993, Rainbow and Liberty Media formed Prime SportsChannels America , a venture in which the companies pooled programming and advertising sales between SportsChannel and Liberty's Prime Network regional sports group. Through this partnership,

6850-524: The World Series MVP ), although in its history the trophy has never been given to someone that was not in the finals. Doug Gilmour and Peter Forsberg , in 1986 and 1999 , respectively, are the only players who have topped the postseason in scoring without making it to the Finals. NHL players have often grown beards when their team is in the playoffs, where they do not shave until their team

6987-649: The $ 9.42 rate ESPN charges. RSNs justify these high prices by citing demand for the local sports teams they carry, particularly those in Major League Baseball , the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League , as well as college teams that have large and loyal fanbases. Carriage disputes between distributors and RSNs are often controversial and protracted. Since 2013, television providers such as Charter Spectrum and Verizon FiOS have charged customers

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7124-562: The 1993 season, later losing the broadcast rights to the upstart ESPN2 (at the time devoted most of programming to extreme sports) through a four-year contract in 1994. The network was also notable for providing live national coverage of NASCAR Busch Grand National races beginning in 1990, as well as coverage of the World Basketball League . SportsChannel America aired the professional wrestling show UWF Fury Hour on Monday nights from 1990 to 1991, and later aired

7261-686: The AT&T SportsNet closure by abandoning the RSN model entirely, in favour of a mixture of regional syndication via free-to-air television, and paid streaming services. After having opted out of its contract with the Arizona Coyotes (who signed with the E. W. Scripps Company 's newly-formed Scripps Sports division and would themselves leave Arizona the next year ), and losing the Phoenix Suns to Gray Television , Bally Sports Arizona shut down entirely in October 2023. For more than 20 years,

7398-551: The Colorado Rockies foregoing a new television deal and moving under MLB Local Media. Spectrum Sports is the collective name for a group of regional sports networks that are primarily owned and operated by Charter Communications through its acquisition of Time Warner Cable in May 2016. In 2018, Sinclair relaunched its Reno MyNetworkTV station KAME-TV as Nevada Sports Net, with a focus on Nevada Wolf Pack college sports and Reno Aces baseball. It later acquired

7535-770: The Cup for the next four years. In 1914, the Victoria Aristocrats of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) challenged the NHA and Cup champion Toronto Blueshirts . One year later, the NHA and the PCHA began an agreement in which their respective champions would face each other annually for the Stanley Cup, effectively ending the Cup challenge games . After years of the NHA not having an annual playoff tournament to determine its league champion,

7672-583: The Cup grew, so did the need to attract top players, and thus professional teams first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. Then in 1908, the Allan Cup was introduced as the trophy for Canada's amateurs, and the Stanley Cup became a symbol of professional hockey supremacy. In 1910, the National Hockey Association (NHA) held its inaugural season and soon emerged as the best professional hockey league in Canada, keeping

7809-556: The First Round, the top-ranked team in the conference plays against the lowest-ranked wild-card, while the other division winner plays against the higher-ranked wild-card. The second- and third-place teams in each division play each other. The first-round winners then meet in the Second Round. The third round still consists of the Western Conference and Eastern Conference finals, with those conference winners advancing to

7946-453: The Jets and Canadiens) were broadcast on special part-time channels exclusive to the team's television region. Bell Media also owns Réseau des sports (RDS) and RDS2 , French-language sports networks that are licensed to serve all of Canada, but in practice focus on the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec (as there are relatively few francophones outside that province). Prior to

8083-403: The NHL playoffs expanded from two to three teams (with the top team getting a bye to the two-game total goal NHL finals), but because the first-place Hamilton Tigers refused to play under this format, the second and third place teams played for the NHL championship in a two-game total goals affair. The Stanley Cup Finals series returned to a best-of-five format the same year. With the merger of

8220-446: The NHL's Florida Panthers , owned a 70% controlling interest in the channel (with Rainbow Media as minority partner). Cablevision repurchased Huizenga's share of the network in November 1999, relaunching it as Fox Sports Net Florida on March 1, 2000, formally dissolving the SportsChannel brand two years after the national group effectively ceased operations. Though SportsChannel New England became known as Fox Sports New England in 1998, it

8357-473: The NHL's regular season. Eight teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season points totals. The final round is commonly known as the Stanley Cup Finals , which matches the two conference champions. The NHL is the only one of the big four major leagues in Canada and the United States to refer to its playoffs by the name of its championship trophy,

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8494-530: The News Corporation/Liberty partnership to operate the existing and newly acquired owned-and-operated regional networks, later announced that it would relaunch the other SportsChannel networks under the "Fox Sports Net" banner. SportsChannel New York was the first to rebrand, as Fox Sports New York, on January 27, 1998. Five of the seven other remaining SportsChannel networks relaunched as member networks of Fox Sports Net later that week. Two of

8631-410: The PCHA and WCHL in 1925 and the merged league's collapse in 1926, the NHL took de facto control of the Stanley Cup. While the Cup would not be formally deeded to the league until 1947, from 1926 onward the NHL playoffs and the Stanley Cup playoffs are considered synonymous. The NHL was subsequently divided into the Canadian and American divisions for the 1927–28 season. For 1927, six teams qualified for

8768-672: The Post a 50% interest in SportsChannel. By the end of the year, the Rainbow/Washington Post partnership purchased Philadelphia -based PRISM and SportsVision, affiliating them with SportsChannel (although the SportsChannel Chicago brand would not reappear until 1989). The White Sox returned to Cablevison, now with the addition of the Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago Bulls . In 1984, CBS entered

8905-571: The SportsChannel networks would not become part of FSN, one of them not immediately, while a third was unable to carry FSN's national programming. After Comcast acquired a majority stake in Philadelphia-based entertainment company Spectacor to form Comcast Spectacor in 1996 and announced plans to create its own regional sports network, Rainbow Media decided to shut down SportsChannel Philadelphia and sister premium service PRISM on October 1, 1997, with both networks' NBA and NHL contracts with

9042-487: The Stanley Cup Finals, as before. Compared to other major professional sports leagues, playoff upsets are relatively common in the NHL. According to NHL broadcaster Darren Eliot , this is because the style of competition in the playoffs is different from the regular season: instead of playing different teams every night, the goal is to advance through four best-of-seven playoff series . The Presidents' Trophy winner may have to go through other playoff clubs who might have

9179-478: The Stanley Cup Finals. Special formats were used in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . As a result of the pandemic prematurely ending the 2019–20 regular season , a 24-team, conference-based format (with 12 from each conference) was adopted for the 2020 playoffs . Seeding was based on each team's points percentage at the time the regular season was suspended on March 12. The top four teams competed in

9316-457: The Stanley Cup. The 1970–71 season , because of fan demand, brought forth the first inter-conference playoff match up outside of the Stanley Cup Finals since the pre-war expansion, which had the winner of the second-place versus fourth-place match up in one conference take on the winner of the first- versus third-place match up in the other conference for a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals. The following year had one minor change to its playoff format:

9453-480: The Stanley Cup. The NHL inherited the NHA's regular season system of dividing it into two halves, with the top team from each half moving on to the league finals. The NHL finals was a two-game total goals series in 1918 and a best-of-seven series in 1919. In 1920, the Ottawa Senators were automatically declared the league champion when the team had won both halves of the regular season. The two halves format

9590-547: The U.S., which in turn has reduced the revenue that RSNs receive from television provider subscriber fees and advertising. These have resulted in an increasing erosion to the RSN market, and attempts to launch over-the-top (OTT) services at RSNs. These services require broadcasters to obtain in-market streaming rights to teams, and have a high cost due to RSNs usually being subsidized by subscribers that are not interested in sports. Major League Soccer , which previously broadcast most of its matches regionally on RSNs, switched to

9727-466: The United States, DirecTV offers all regional sports networks to all subscribers across the country, but live games and other selected programs are blacked out outside their home markets. Regional sports networks are generally among the most expensive channels carried by cable television providers. A typical RSN, as of 2024 , carries a monthly retransmission fee of $ 3.50 to $ 8 per subscriber, double to triple what they charged in 2012 and second only to

9864-564: The Week coverage included Dave Phillips and Bob Bishop. For SportsChannel's coverage of the 1993 NPSL Finals between Cleveland and Kansas City , they employed the broadcast team of Dave Phillips (on play-by-play) and Dave Johnson. Regional sports network Some RSNs originated as premium channels. Since the 1990s, they have commonly been distributed through the expanded basic tiers of cable television and IPTV services. Direct broadcast satellite providers may require subscribers to purchase

10001-407: The best record while the other wild card plays against the other division winner, and both wild cards are de facto No. 4 seeds. The other two series match the second and third place teams from the divisions. The winners of both First Round series advance to the Second Round. The reseeding in the previous format, which ensured the top seed would play the lowest remaining seed, was discarded, as it

10138-445: The champion of the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the champion of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). After a series of league mergers and folds, including the 1917 establishment of the NHL as a successor to the NHA, the Stanley Cup became the championship trophy of the NHL prior to the 1926–27 season . The NHL has always used a playoff tournament to determine its champion. The league's playoff system has changed over

10275-413: The channel was only made available on a gametime basis as a pay-per-view option and often limited telecast to only Stanley Cup playoff games. The NHL terminated its deal with SportsChannel America in 1992 and signed a new broadcast deal with ESPN, leaving SportsChannel America with very little sports content outside of outdoor sports shows and Canadian Football League games. The NHL rights deal proved for

10412-414: The city's major sports teams and movies. In 1976, Cablevision launched a new service providing coverage of Long Island sports (originally called Cablevision Sports 3). This channel would be renamed SportsChannel New York in 1979 and became the first channel to resemble a modern regional sports network. Other SportsChannels were launched in different cities and in 1988, they were formally organized into

10549-480: The company upon the completion of the merger, but his successor Chris Licht would only oversee CNN. The merger was completed the following day. On February 24, 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it would leave the RSN business, and informed that the networks' respective teams had until March 31 to reach an agreement to take their rights back or acquire the networks. Those teams with deals with Root Sports Northwest are not affected because that channel already

10686-654: The conference champions since 1997 have touched the trophy, of which 8 teams went on to win the Stanley Cup – Scott Stevens of the Devils in 2000 and 2003; Sidney Crosby of the Penguins in 2009, 2016, and 2017; Alexander Ovechkin of the Capitals in 2018; and Steven Stamkos of the Lightning in 2020. In recent years, the captain of the winning team poses (usually looking solemn) with the conference trophy, and sometimes,

10823-562: The deployment of cable television service in New York and other cities as the reason for exiting the partnership. Also, in 1987 SportsChannel Florida was launched, initially with programming from local college teams and out-of-market MLB games that SportsChannel already had rights to through its other networks. While the Florida network got off to a slow start, this proved to be a great move as it gained rights to several expansion teams in

10960-561: The dismantling of AT&T SportsNet and the Diamond Sports bankruptcy, multiple NBA and NHL teams have pivoted away from the pay television RSN model and returned to primarily carrying their games on free-to-air television via regional syndication, with supplemental distribution via paid OTT services. The NBA's Phoenix Suns signed a deal with Gray Television , and Utah Jazz signed with Sinclair Broadcast Group -owned station KJZZ-TV (which had formerly aired Jazz games while under

11097-483: The division-based formats previously used. The four division champions were reseeded based on regular season point total in the Stanley Cup Semifinals. The best-ranked division winner played against the worst-ranked division winner, while the other two division champions faced-off against each other, with the second-best division champion having home-ice advantage. The winners of these series advanced to

11234-498: The entire team poses as well. There are many traditions and anecdotes associated with the championship trophy , the Stanley Cup . Because the Ice Hockey World Championships are held in the same time period as the Stanley Cup playoffs, the only NHL players who can participate in the former are those on NHL teams that have been eliminated from Stanley Cup contention. This policy has been in place since

11371-399: The first Bally Sports-related regional sports network to shut down. In October 2024, the networks were renamed again to FanDuel Sports Network, as part of an agreement with online gambling company FanDuel . Cable conglomerate Comcast began creating Comcast SportsNet (CSN) after their March 1996 purchase of a 66% stake in Philadelphia -based event organizer Spectacor , which owned

11508-407: The first Cup was awarded to 1914, the champions held onto the Cup until they either lost their league title to another club, or a champion from another league issued a formal challenge and defeated the reigning Cup champion in a final game to claim their win. Professional teams then first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. Starting in 1915, the Cup was officially contested between

11645-418: The following protocols: Unlike the regular season where a contest could eventually be decided in a shootout , overtime in the playoffs is played in multiple sudden-death, 20-minute five-on-five periods until one team scores. Although a playoff game could theoretically last indefinitely, only two contests have reached six overtime periods, and neither of those went beyond six. During playoff overtime periods,

11782-741: The group's assets subsequently being spun off as a separate company under the DirecTV banner; the Fox Sports Networks outlets that became part of the Liberty Sports unit (which was renamed DirecTV Sports Networks on November 19, 2009) were rebranded under the new name "Root Sports" on April 1, 2011. DirecTV Sports Networks would be acquired by AT&T Inc. in 2015, as a byproduct of its acquisition of DirecTV. The renamed RSN unit, AT&T Sports Networks , rebranded its regional sports networks – excluding Root Sports Northwest, which

11919-486: The ice as a good luck charm, as eight wins were required to win the Stanley Cup. The 1967 expansion saw the number of teams double from six to twelve for the 1967–68 season , and with it the creation of the Western and Eastern divisions. The playoff format remained largely the same, with four teams in each division qualifying for the playoffs, all series remaining best-of-seven, and the division champions battling for

12056-658: The ice without shaking hands with any of the Flyers in 1978, and Billy Smith who avoided handshakes as he was particularly passionate about losses. More recent examples of players refusing the handshake include the 1996 playoffs when several Detroit Red Wings players protested the dirty hit by the Colorado Avalanche 's Claude Lemieux , and in the 2008 playoffs when Martin Brodeur refused to shake Sean Avery 's hand after Avery screened him in an earlier game. It

12193-571: The joint venture company operated by News Corporation and Liberty Media, purchased a 40% interest in the Cablevision -owned SportsChannel group. As part of a rebranding effort, the collective branding of the networks – which eventually became "FSN (Region/City)" in 2004 – was extended to Fox Sports (Region/City) (also used from 1996 to 2000) with the start of the 2008 college football season. The FSN networks were acquired by Diamond Sports Group from The Walt Disney Company in 2019, as Disney

12330-504: The lack of success of Presidents' Trophy winners winning the Stanley Cup. Despite having more American-based teams than Canadian-based ones throughout much of the NHL's existence (dating back to the Original Six era when it was two Canadian clubs to four American ones, and now 7 to 25 since 2021), there have been only two times in league history where none of the Canadian teams qualified for the postseason: 1970 and 2016 . However,

12467-523: The league revamped its playoff structure to become conference-based rather than division-based. Eight teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs. The first-place teams in each division were seeded first and second in their respective conference playoffs; the next six best teams in each conference also qualified and were seeded third through eighth. All teams played in the conference quarterfinals: first-place versus eighth, second versus seventh, third versus sixth, and fourth versus fifth; after each round,

12604-456: The live UWF Blackjack Brawl special in 1994. SportsChannel Philadelphia carried ECW Hardcore TV , a syndicated wrestling program of the now-defunct Philadelphia -based Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion from the program's debut in 1993 until the channel shut down in 1997. From 1994 to 1997, SportsChannel America also aired NewSport Talk , a two-hour sports talk show produced by SportsChannel Chicago for sister network NewSport, that

12741-504: The media rights to both conferences; ESPN initially maintained a syndicated package known as " SEC Network ", while Raycom was given a sub-license to continue its syndication package (subsequently renamed " ACC Network "). Both packages ended when ESPN launched dedicated cable channels for both conferences. ESPN was originally intended to focus on sports in Connecticut , but chose to broadcast nationally when it debuted in 1979 when it

12878-467: The networks to be merged into its NBC Sports division. In April 2017, Comcast SportsNet's California and Bay Area networks were rebranded under the NBC Sports brand; NBC Sports Regional Networks adopted the "NBC Sports" moniker on its other regional channels on October 2, 2017. In May 2009, DirecTV Group Inc. announced that it would become a part of Liberty Media's entertainment unit, with some of

13015-432: The normal 2–2–1–1–1 rotation, a series involving teams from both divisions was 2–3–2, with the higher-seeded team having the option of starting play at home or on the road (the format was used four times in 1994 , between 1995 and 1998, all higher-seeded teams opted to start play at home with the 2–2–1–1–1 format). For the 1998–99 season , the league re-organized into two conferences of three divisions apiece, resulting in

13152-444: The notable accomplishments from the channel's early days was inking one of the earliest cable deals with a pro sports team when they signed a contract to broadcast games on cable for the National Hockey League 's New York Islanders in 1978 while still known as Sports 3. The network expanded to other regions with the launches and purchases of additional networks throughout the 1980s; the first expansion occurred when Cablevision signed

13289-469: The only break is to shovel away the loose ice shavings at the first stoppage after the period is halfway finished. The Stanley Cup was commissioned in 1892 as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup and was named after Lord Stanley of Preston , the Governor General of Canada who donated it as an award to Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey club. The entire Stanley family supported the sport,

13426-403: The otherwise nationally distributed TSN also maintains some regional operations. This differs from the operational structure of RSNs in the United States, which are independently operated from national sports networks. Some sports teams own some or all of their respective RSNs. For example, the New York Rangers and New York Knicks have long co-owned their RSN, MSG ; they also have purchased

13563-733: The ownership of then-owner Larry H. Miller ). Both the NHL's Arizona Coyotes and Vegas Golden Knights signed with the E. W. Scripps Company 's newly-formed Scripps Sports division for the 2023–24 season. For the subsequent 2024–25 season, Scripps also signed with the Florida Panthers , and retained its association with the Utah Hockey Club (which acquired the Coyotes' hockey operations and relocated them to Salt Lake City ). The Seattle Kraken similarly made an agreement with Tegna Inc. and Amazon Prime Video , and

13700-764: The partnership in a deal that gave each of the three companies a one-third interest in three of the four networks and a one-sixth interest in SportsChannel New England (the other 50% was owned by the Celtics and the Whalers ). The same deal would also give CBS a 50% interest in Rainbow's other networks, then-premium services Bravo and American Movie Classics . The partnership with the Washington Post and CBS would end in 1987 when both companies sold their shares back to Cablevision, citing delays in

13837-428: The playoff format used through the 2012–13 season . The qualifiers remained sixteen, but the seeding changed. The three first-place teams in each division qualified and were seeded first through third for the playoffs; of the other teams in each conference, the top five finishers qualified for the fourth through eighth seeds. The format otherwise remained identical to that of the 1994–1998 system. The NHL realigned into

13974-442: The playoffs, three from each division, with the division semifinals and finals being a two-game total goals affair, and the Stanley Cup Finals becoming a best-of-five series. In 1928, the playoff format was changed so that the two teams with identical division ranking would face each other (i.e., the division winners played each other, the second place teams play each other, and likewise for the third place teams). The first place series

14111-424: The playoffs. In the playoff series format instituted in 2014, the first, second, and third place teams in each of the four divisions qualify for the playoffs automatically. Two additional teams from each conference, regardless of divisional alignment, also qualify for the playoffs by having the highest point totals out of the remaining teams in the conference. These teams are referred to as the wild cards . Since there

14248-508: The primary RSN in many markets was owned by Fox Sports . Fox Sports Networks, which launched on November 1, 1996, as Fox Sports Net, was created through former parent News Corporation 's October 1995 purchase of a 50% equity stake in Liberty Media -owned Prime Sports Networks , co-founded in 1988 by Bill Daniels and Liberty's then-sister company Tele-Communications Inc. The group expanded further in June 1997, Fox/Liberty Networks,

14385-422: The production of Padres regional games, distributing them via an in-market add-on to MLB.tv, and making agreements to carry the games on local access channels, such as Cox Cable 's YurView California . The broadcasts maintain team-contracted staff, such as commentators. In July 2023, MLB Local Media took over the rights to the Arizona Diamondbacks , after Diamond was granted a motion to decline its contract with

14522-466: The provider), a sports network carried on the company's New York City area system. The network originated the SportsChannel brand on March 1, 1979, when it changed its name to SportsChannel New York . The network carried games from several New York area sports teams including the New York Yankees and New York Mets Major League Baseball franchises and the NBA 's New Jersey Nets . One of

14659-412: The quarterfinals by matching up the highest remaining seed of one division against the lowest remaining seed from the other division in the semifinals. The 1974–75 season saw another change to the playoff system to accommodate a league that had expanded to 18 teams in two conferences and four divisions. Under this system, twelve teams qualified for the playoffs. The top team from each division would earn

14796-1147: The regional cable television rights to local professional teams (including the Chicago Bulls , Blackhawks , Cubs and White Sox ) two years earlier to the newly launched Comcast SportsNet Chicago . In April 2007, Cablevision sold its interest in the New England and Bay Area networks to Comcast (the San Francisco Giants later acquired part-ownership of the San Francisco-based network in February 2008); both networks became part of Comcast SportsNet , with FSN New England relaunching as Comcast SportsNet New England in July 2007 and FSN Bay Area relaunching as Comcast SportsNet Bay Area in March 2008. Cablevision later rebranded Fox Sports New York as MSG Plus on March 10, 2008. Cablevision formally exited

14933-517: The regional sports business when it spun-off all of its sports assets (including MSG and MSG Plus) into the Madison Square Garden Company . This was new company was (and still is) headed by James L. Dolan , the then-current CEO of Cablevision and son of Cablevision founder Charles Dolan . While Cablevision was sold to Altice in 2016, Dolan still runs the two New York-area sports networks to this day. SportsChannel America

15070-497: The regional sports market by divesting its AT&T SportsNet channels. Major League Baseball established a local media department prior to the 2023 season, using resources from MLB Network , to produce telecasts for teams whose RSNs would become unable to broadcast their teams' games. In May 2023, when the rights to the San Diego Padres reverted to the team after Diamond missed a payment, MLB Local Media took over

15207-405: The regional sports outlets in the U.S., particularly Fox Sports Networks and Comcast SportsNet . At its peak, SportsChannel operated nine networks serving several of the nation's largest cities including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. SportsChannel's origins date back to 1976, when Cablevision launched Cablevision Sports 3 (the "3" referencing its original channel slot on

15344-511: The removal of the New York Americans , leaving six remaining teams (now known as the " Original Six "). From 1943 to 1967 , all playoff match ups were best-of-seven affairs. The first and third-place teams played in one semifinal, while the second and fourth-place teams played in the other semifinal, with the semifinal winners advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals. During this time, Detroit Red Wings fans often threw an octopus onto

15481-419: The return of divisional matchups, with the top four teams from each division qualifying for the playoffs. Division champions would be determined, followed by the conference champions, who would meet in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Division Semifinals was a best-of-five affair until the 1986–87 season , when it became a best-of-seven series, while all other series remained best-of seven. For the 1993–94 season ,

15618-471: The rights to the Golden Knights' syndication package with Scripps Sports. Some regional sports networks have been formed as digital multicast television networks . BEK Communications Cooperative operates BEK Sports, an RSN focusing on North Dakota high school sports, across several stations in the state. In 2023, Gray Television (the current owner of sports syndicator Raycom Sports ) began

15755-739: The rights to the Rangers' local rivals, the New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils . MSG also owns the rights to the Buffalo Sabres , but the Sabres produce their own games for MSG Western New York , a separate channel managed by MSG and Pegula Sports and Entertainment , owners of the Sabres. The first regional sports network is considered to be the Madison Square Garden Network . An early unnamed version of that network started broadcasting Knicks and Rangers to

15892-483: The second-place finishers from each division would qualify for the preliminary round, the four playoff spots reserved for the third-place teams were replaced by four wild-card spots—spots for the four teams with the highest regular season point total that did not finish first or second in their divisions. With the absorption of four teams from the World Hockey Association in the 1979–80 season ,

16029-408: The sons and daughters all playing and promoting the game. The first Cup was then awarded in 1893 to Montreal Hockey Club . During the period from 1893 to 1914, the champions held the Cup until they lost their league title to another club, or a champion from another league issued a formal challenge and subsequently defeated them in a special game or series. The competitive format of each Cup challenge

16166-419: The source content for out-of-market sports packages . During the rest of the day, these channels show news programs covering local and national sports, magazine and discussion programs relating to a team or collegiate conference, fishing and hunting programs, and in-studio video simulcasts of sports radio programs. RSNs also rerun sports events from the recent and distant past. Some RSNs air infomercials . In

16303-453: The surviving teams were reseeded to play the conference semifinals, then a conference final, with the conference champions playing against each other in the Stanley Cup Finals. Home ice advantage was determined by higher seed in the first three rounds and by regular season points of the two teams in the Stanley Cup Finals. All series were best of seven, but the arrangement of home games was changed for Central and Pacific division teams. Instead of

16440-406: The team with the better regular season record (regardless of seeding); in the case of a tie, the league's standard tie-breaking procedure is applied. The team with home-ice advantage hosts games one, two, five, and seven, while the opponent hosts games three, four, and six (games five through seven are played if necessary). Any ties in the standings at the end of the regular season are broken using

16577-546: The team's parent Fenway Sports Group —assuming day-to-day operations) and renamed to SportsNet Pittsburgh. The Pirates later bought a stake in the network as well. The Houston Astros and Rockets acquired WBD's shares in AT&;T SportsNet Southwest and rebranded it as Space City Home Network . AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain closed in October 2023, with the Utah Jazz moving to Sinclair Broadcast Group 's KJZZ-TV , and

16714-670: The team. The Colorado Rockies also joined MLB Local Media for the 2024 season amid the closure of AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain . In October 2024, MLB Local Media announced that it would begin producing and distributing broadcasts for the Cleveland Guardians , Milwaukee Brewers , and Minnesota Twins beginning in the 2025 season; it also announced that the Texas Rangers would end their relationship with Bally Sports Southwest and explore local television options for 2025 and beyond. Some NHL and NBA teams handled

16851-529: The two companies formed the sports news service NewSport , replacing SportsChannel America. On April 25, 1995, NBC sold its 50% interest in SportsChannel New York to Rainbow Media for US$ 93 million; NBC cited that "owning a piece of SportsChannel New York made less sense" after Cablevision and ITT purchased competing regional sports network, MSG Network . NBC retained its ownership in the other networks. On June 30, 1997, Fox/Liberty Networks,

16988-469: The western leagues allowed six), the rules for each game in the Stanley Cup Finals alternated between those of the NHL and the western leagues. Before the WCHL competed for the Stanley Cup, the Cup championship series was a best-of-five series. Following the involvement of the WCHL, one league champion was given a bye straight to the finals (a best-of-three affair starting in 1922), while the other two competed in

17125-441: The years that followed. In 1988, SportsChannel would make its largest television deal, gaining national television rights for the National Hockey League from ESPN . The three-year $ 51 million agreement also included rights to playoff games. A national network SportsChannel America (also the new name for the group of networks) was also launched on October 6, 1988, to make the games available to cable subscribers in areas without

17262-472: The years, from the NHL's inception in 1917, to when the NHL took over the Cup in 1926, to the current setup today. The Stanley Cup playoffs consists of four rounds of best-of-seven series . Each series is played in a 2–2–1–1–1 format, meaning the team with home-ice advantage hosts games one, two, five, and seven, while their opponent hosts games three, four, and six. Games five, six, and seven are only played if needed. Eight teams in each conference qualify for

17399-418: Was syndicated to most of its SportsChannel-branded sister networks. SportsChannel America obtained the national cable television rights to the National Hockey League from ESPN in 1988 ; Rainbow Sports was able to secure the rights by offering the NHL a bid of US$ 51 million ($ 17 million per year) over three years, more than double what ESPN had paid ($ 24 million) for its 1985–1988 contract (a move not unlike

17536-399: Was a best-of-five affair, with the winner proceeding to the best-of-three Stanley Cup Finals, while the others were a two-game total goals series. The winner of the second and third place series played each other in a best-of-three series, with the winner earning the other berth to the Stanley Cup Finals. This format had a slight modification the following year, where the semifinal series became

17673-517: Was a national version of SportsChannel that launched in 1988 when SportsChannel gained rights to the NHL. The network was available to cable subscribers in areas that did not have a regional SportsChannel affiliate. At its peak it had 12 million subscribers nationwide. It was replaced with NewSport in 1993. The name SportsChannel America was sometimes also applied to the group as a whole. SportsChannel broadcast several Canadian Football League regular season games produced by SportsChannel Pacific during

17810-700: Was a successor to the previous Raycom Sports-produced SEC package. In 2014, television station owner Sinclair Broadcast Group established its own sports syndicator known as the American Sports Network (ASN), primarily syndicating broadcasts of college football and basketball from mid-major conferences (some of which were previously associated with ESPN Plus) to stations that it owns and operates. In 2015, Sinclair also acquired regional rights to Major League Soccer 's Real Salt Lake , with ASN handling production and distribution of team telecasts within its designated market. ASN later began to operate

17947-549: Was abandoned the next year, and the top two teams faced off for the NHL championship in a two-game total goals series. At the time, the NHL champion would later face the winners of the PCHA and, from 1921, the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) in further rounds in order to determine the Stanley Cup champion. During this time, as the rules of the NHL and those of the western leagues differ (the main difference being that NHL rules allowed five skaters while

18084-409: Was announced that AT&T would instead divest the entirety of WarnerMedia, and contribute it into a joint venture with Discovery Inc. , forming a new company later announced as Warner Bros. Discovery . Discovery announced on April 7, 2022, that Patrick Crumb, president of AT&T Sports Networks, would report to the yet-to-be-named Chairperson for Warner Bros. Discovery Sports; Jeff Zucker departed

18221-402: Was determined by negotiation between the two clubs. Furthermore, none of the leagues that played for the Cup had a formal playoff system to decide their respective champions; whichever team finished in first place after the regular season won the league title. A playoff would only be played if teams tied for first-place in their leagues at the end of the regular season. As the prestige of winning

18358-538: Was discovered by the network's founders that it would be less expensive to broadcast nationwide on satellite as opposed to regionally through microwave transmission. ESPN formerly served as a college sports syndicator via ESPN Regional Television —formerly branded on-air as ESPN Plus, but later using conference-oriented brands such as SEC Network (not to be confused with the SEC Network cable channel which succeeded it), and Big East Network. The SEC Network package

18495-411: Was required to divest them by U.S. Department of Justice as a condition of their own acquisition of 21st Century Fox . The channel group was renamed Bally Sports on March 31, 2021, as part of a naming rights agreement with casino operator Bally's Corporation . On February 15, 2023, Diamond Sports Group , the parent company of Bally Sports, failed to make a $ 140M interest payment, instead opting for

18632-547: Was swept 4–0 in the opening round. And although rare, another aspect is that the NHL leads the other leagues in game seven comebacks . In four instances an NHL team has been able to come back from being down 0–3 to win a seven-game series: the 1941–42 Toronto Maple Leafs , the 1974–75 New York Islanders , the 2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers , and the 2013–14 Los Angeles Kings . There has been only one such "reverse sweep" comeback in MLB postseason (the 2004 Boston Red Sox ) and none in

18769-560: Was unable to broadcast FSN's national programming for a further two years because of a pre-existing contract Fox had signed with rival sports network NESN back in 1996; Fox hoped to persuade NESN to break the contract early, but this did not occur. The contract expired on January 1, 2000, enabling Fox Sports New England to become a full FSN affiliate. On February 22, 2005, Cablevision acquired News Corporation's ownership interests in Fox Sports Chicago and Fox Sports New York, and

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