What the CBC/HNIC Should Do About Don Cherry

At this point, after his tirade against women sports journalists on Saturday night, Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC)/CBC bigwigs have to realize that Don Cherry is damaging the HNIC brand. Now, to be clear, I happen to think that the HNIC brand is not terribly strong to begin with these days, from Ron MacLean and Don Cherry, any number of retired players who add absolutely no insight to the broadcast (I am looking at you, PJ Stock) and camera work that has not seemed to evolve at the very least since I started watching hockey in the 70's (it seems like 90 per cent of any given game is showed from the mid-ice camera pan shot). HNIC, which first defined how to broadcast hockey games, has slipped into a comfort zone, with very little innovation.

That being said, Cherry spouting off on an issue that has been non-existent for 25 or 30 years or so (whether women reporters should be allowed in locker rooms) gives the CBC/HNIC the chance to take the first step to reinvigorate their broadcasting approach: suspend him with pay for the play-offs. Keep paying him what I have to assume is his very handsome wage, but keep him sitting at home. He would still remain an employee of HNIC and thus would not be able to jump ship to a competitor (TSN or Sportsnet). HNIC would be able to judge if his absence would have any impact on their ratings. (My guess is that it would not: four Canadian teams in the first round, including the Leaves all but guarantees that.) Most importantly, the producers would be able to begin a long needed revamp of their broadcast. Here are a couple of suggestions off the top of my head: strengthen the highlight packages from other games (a glaring weakness); and/or dive into the HNIC archives to do a 'This day in play-off history' segment. As an added bonus, 'disappearing' Cherry might address some potential workplace issues, given the presence of Cassie Campbell and Andi Petrillo on the HNIC team; I am sure they were thrilled at being belittled by their bosses' apparent mouthpiece.

HNIC might want to get a handle on this before the NHL decides that Cherry (and by extension HNIC) is actually damaging the NHL brand, broadcast contract renewal issues and all...

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.