How In The World Were The Flyers Blacked Out Last Night?
The Philadelphia Flyers are not a very well-run organization, to put it very kindly. It seems at just about every turn, either ownership, or the GM, or anyone else you want to point to is making a decision that seems completely detrimental to helping the organization succeed. Now, to be fair, the product on the ice has not been awful this year. They’re not a winning team, but they aren’t downright dreadful. The problem, though, is that this year would’ve been a great year to be absolutely terrible considering future #1 overall pick Connor Bedard is available, and is viewed by many as a franchise changing player. The problem isn’t with the players, though; you can’t expect them to try to lose. The problem isn’t with Head Coach John Tortorella; he is a winning coach, and is doing his best with the roster at his disposal. Right now, the biggest problem with this team is the ownership group.
The Flyers, you see, are owned by Comcast Spectacor. Yes, the Comcast Spectacor that handles millions of people’s wifi, and phones, and television, and all that good stuff. The Philadelphia Flyers, of course, are shown on NBC Sports Philadelphia during their games, a channel that feeds up through ownership to Comcast. Makes sense, right? So someone tell me HOW THE HELL WERE THE FLYERS BLACKED OUT ON COMCAST LAST NIGHT?!? You own the team, and you own the channels, and you ARE the parent company of channels that can air your team. How could you possibly black out a game of the team you own? It’s unacceptable, and Flyers fans should be absolutely livid.
More than that, it shows the blatant disregard that Comcast Spectacor has shown for the well-being of the Flyers organization during their tenure of ownership. They have no interest in making the team better. They have no interest in giving their fan base a good product on the ice. They have shown you over and over again that they do not care about Flyers hockey; only the profit margins that come with the ownership of an NHL team. I know the plea for them to sell the team has already been voiced by many, but last night is a prime example of why ownership should listen to their fans. This is embarassing, disrespectful to the fans, and unacceptable at this point. Philly deserves better, and this Flyers’ ownership is NOT giving them better.
