MSG Networks to call Islanders' West Coast games remotely this week
New York Islanders broadcasters Brendan Burke and Butch Goring work a game at UBS Arena last October. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Islanders will visit Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose this week. MSG Networks’ announcers will not.
The games will be called remotely from a New York studio, part of a slate of 18 Islanders, Rangers and Devils games — six for each team — identified for such treatment before the season.
Those games generally have been ones played in the western United States and Canada.
Alan Fuehring will handle play-by-play for Tuesday’s game against the Kings and Wednesday’s against the Ducks. Brendan Burke will work Saturday’s game against the Sharks. Butch Goring will be the analyst for all three.
MSG did not comment on the reason for the remote coverage, but it is believed to be a money-saving move, as is the case with the YES Network calling most of the Yankees’ spring training games from its Connecticut studios.
MSG did not schedule any Knicks games to be called remotely this season.
Remote broadcasts were a necessity during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many national and local outlets continue to use them on a more limited basis now to hold down costs.
Regional sports networks, as channels such as MSG, YES and SNY are known in the business, face financial challenges as more and more consumers choose not to subscribe to a traditional pay TV bundle.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
