Sam Flood reflects on NBC's tenure as NHL television partner

Hockey on television is a business, just as every other sport on television is a business. Let’s not be naïve here.

But still: There is something about hockey, and the people who follow it in the United States, that often leads to a feeling of protectiveness about the sport. We know we are in the minority around here.

Which leads us back to TV, and to the outgoing NHL partners who helped shepherd the league over a decade-and-a-half into a better place than where they found it.

From the time NBC began carrying the sport in 2005-06, its hockey operation has been full of lifelong hockey people, starting with Sam Flood, who has overseen the network’s coverage from Day One.

Flood, now NBC Sports’ executive producer, was a hockey captain at Williams College.

With NBC now showing its final Cup Final, I asked Flood what the network’s aspiration was back in ’05, with the league coming out of a season-long lockout.

"The aspiration was for people to fall in love with hockey the way I’d grown up to love the sport through my relationship with the game since I was a little boy," he said.

"I wanted people to understand how special hockey is and how unique the culture is and wanted to find out new ways to engage the audience to help grow the game and make it a bigger sport in this country."

And how does he think that turned out? "We’re all incredibly proud of what NBC Sports and the entire team has done for the game," he said

Starting next season and through at least 2027-2028, ESPN and Turner will share NHL rights. NBC decided the economics were not a fit for the network

"Everyone is really proud of the content side of the business and what we did here, and the commerce side made the right decision for NBC Universal," Flood said.

"They made a decision they had to make, and everyone understands it and respects it. Do we wish we were still doing hockey? Yes. But to a person we understand why."

The NBC era has seen a variety of improvements, from the rules of the game to higher ratings to wider availability of playoff games to the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day and other outdoor games.

For all but this last season, NBC also employed "Doc" Emrick, widely regarded as the best American hockey play-by-play man of all time, as its lead announcer.

But Flood is most proud of the creation of the "Inside the Glass" analyst position, an innovation that came early in NBC’s run.

"The relationships of the players, the battles, the psychological warfare and the chaos that happens at ice level can’t be communicated from five stories above the ice surface," Flood said. "We were able to capture that and change the way the game is perceived."

He recalled early pushback about the idea but said commissioner Gary Bettman got onboard during a meeting between top NBC and NHL executives.

Asked what he needs on the production end, Flood recalled saying, "’We need a position between the benches. We’re to put an ex-player, ex-coach, in that spot to give us real-time information and intel while respecting the code, never crossing the line, but always giving us information that’s going to take the sport to another level.’

"Gary said, ‘If that’s what you need, that’s what you’ll get,’ and Gary, true to his word, made sure we had that."

The idea has been widely copied by local networks and has become a standard part of hockey coverage.

It was an example of an openness from the NHL post-lockout to change the game and access to it.

It began with the "Shanahan Summit" in Toronto during the lockout that led to significant rules changes. Flood participated in those meetings.

He also helped the NHL turn its All-Star Game into a 3-on-3 tournament starting in 2016 after initial reluctance from the players’ association. Flood had breakfast in New York with executive director Don Fehr to lobby him to give it a try.

Another favorite memory was the 2010 Winter Classic, when Bobby Orr and Bobby Clarke led the Bruins and Flyers onto the ice at Fenway Park.

"That’s that connection to hockey that’s so meaningful to hockey and to all the people on our team who knew what it meant to have Bobby Orr step on that ice," Flood said.

The end of NBC’s run became public in late April. By TV rights deal standards, it has been an amicable divorce, with each side praising the other.

"When the news first came out, I think there was a lot of sadness and frustration with the team, and rightfully so," Flood said. "It hurts when you’ve had a love affair for 15-plus years with a sport and a league to be going in a different direction.

"But once [the playoffs] started, we had one goal and it continues until the final whistle in the final game, which is to finish strong and get to the finish line and be very proud of what we’ve done for the league and what this partnership means for both sides.

"We want the league to remember we gave it all to every last shift, to the very ultimate level."

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

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.