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NHL's 24-team Return to Play proposal

I don't know how much there will or won't be professional videography within the bubbles, but if this season gets completed, it's conceivable there could be an amazing documentary, either serial/ongoing like 24/7 or afterward in summary,  about the whole process.  There's just so much material:  the pandemic backdrop, the logistical challenges of bringing it all together, player life in the bubbles both together and away from families, the challenges of creating the broadcast experience, nevermind the sporting spectacle of the playoffs.

The sheer scale of the material just dwarfs what we had with 24/7.  NHL, please do this, and get Liev Schreiber on board as narrator again.
 
I agree that'd be super cool for the fans, but what would all the sound/video/technical people involved with making that sort of thing happen have to quarantine in the bubble without their families for months as well?

I just want them to power through this thing in the safest way possible. Restricting access to all the people involved is the best way to do that. If that costs reporters a few stories (that they wouldn't print anyway for a few years until it became kosher to do so) then I guess so be it.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
I agree that'd be super cool for the fans, but what would all the sound/video/technical people involved with making that sort of thing happen have to quarantine in the bubble without their families for months as well?

I just want them to power through this thing in the safest way possible. Restricting access to all the people involved is the best way to do that. If that costs reporters a few stories (that they wouldn't print anyway for a few years until it became kosher to do so) then I guess so be it.


Oh, I don't disagree, and for sure such people would have to bubble up as well.  But, there's surely more than a handful of capable videographers (single or not) who would be more than willing to live strictly in the bubble with NHLers for a couple of months with free food on demand for like 50K for their troubles.

Given any possible risks, I'm okay if they don't do this.  There's many ways these playoffs could be a disaster.  But if they pull it off and it ends up a big success, it would be so amazing to see behind the scenes. We've seen how sports documentaries can be great, and there's so much potential here.  Could help grow the sport too, particularly if the other leagues struggle to finish their seasons.
 
Heroic Shrimp said:
I don't know how much there will or won't be professional videography within the bubbles, but if this season gets completed, it's conceivable there could be an amazing documentary, either serial/ongoing like 24/7 or afterward in summary,  about the whole process.  There's just so much material:  the pandemic backdrop, the logistical challenges of bringing it all together, player life in the bubbles both together and away from families, the challenges of creating the broadcast experience, nevermind the sporting spectacle of the playoffs.

The sheer scale of the material just dwarfs what we had with 24/7.  NHL, please do this, and get Liev Schreiber on board as narrator again.

Just force each player to wear a GoPro for two months. Practice, Golf Course, the Showers...the possibilities are endless.
 
https://twitter.com/SportsnetSpec/status/1286696482150559744

Yes, that's definitely going to be the craziest thing about this whole experience.
 
Nik said:
Heroic Shrimp said:
I don't know how much there will or won't be professional videography within the bubbles, but if this season gets completed, it's conceivable there could be an amazing documentary, either serial/ongoing like 24/7 or afterward in summary,  about the whole process.  There's just so much material:  the pandemic backdrop, the logistical challenges of bringing it all together, player life in the bubbles both together and away from families, the challenges of creating the broadcast experience, nevermind the sporting spectacle of the playoffs.

The sheer scale of the material just dwarfs what we had with 24/7.  NHL, please do this, and get Liev Schreiber on board as narrator again.

Just force each player to wear a GoPro for two months. Practice, Golf Course, the Showers...the possibilities are endless.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's some middle-ground between non-coverage and shower-cams.
 
Heroic Shrimp said:
Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's some middle-ground between non-coverage and shower-cams.

You seem to be reading my post there as a rebuke to your suggestion as opposed to just a very stupid joke and trust me, it was just a stupid joke.

That said, I think the nature of the NHL's bubble makes for any coverage kind of tricky. These guys are already going to be living a very weird few months without the prospect of having to live around the guys covering them too. I don't doubt some good footage could be found but considering the consequences/penalties for bad behaviour in this situation it seems unlikely that the league or the PA would be alright for even more scrutiny on the players.
 
I'm not sure the league who is having their bubble in one of the worst hit Covid spots in the world right now is really the one I'd be using as the gold standard for how to operate through this whole thing.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
I'm not sure the league who is having their bubble in one of the worst hit Covid spots in the world right now is really the one I'd be using as the gold standard for how to operate through this whole thing.

I again don't disagree. It's all about how secure the bubble is.  But with the many, many hundreds of players and team personnel within the bubbles of either sport, I doubt adding a dozen some media members of various stripes is going to be the difference between success and failure, so long as the bubble standards apply to everybody. Either the bubble is secure or it's not, but a bubble in Canada is way more likely to be secure than one in Florida.
 
Heroic Shrimp said:
I again don't disagree. It's all about how secure the bubble is.  But with the many, many hundreds of players and team personnel within the bubbles of either sport, I doubt adding a dozen some media members of various stripes is going to be the difference between success and failure, so long as the bubble standards apply to everybody. Either the bubble is secure or it's not, but a bubble in Canada is way more likely to be secure than one in Florida.

I guess the biggest thing here is I just don't think we'd get the type of ground breaking content if media members were allowed into the bubble like you would hope. They wouldn't be embedded into the dressing room or their living quarters and have unfettered access to the players lives outside the games. That just wouldn't fly with the players or the league. I really don't think this whole experience will be much different with or without Kevin McGran in the bubble.

The media isn't throwing a hissy fit because they can't do 24/7 type content. They're doing it because they think it's a crime against humanity that they can't tweet out line-ups from practice.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
https://twitter.com/SportsnetSpec/status/1286696482150559744

Yes, that's definitely going to be the craziest thing about this whole experience.

I thought the Leafs "away" games were going that route too. For the home bubble teams Oilers and Leafs away games they would be in the visiting dressing rooms.
 
oldman said:
CarltonTheBear said:
https://twitter.com/SportsnetSpec/status/1286696482150559744

Yes, that's definitely going to be the craziest thing about this whole experience.

I thought the Leafs "away" games were going that route too. For the home bubble teams Oilers and Leafs away games they would be in the visiting dressing rooms.

Correct. The Leafs and Oilers get no special treatment in that regard just because they're hosting cities.
 
https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne/status/1287161731689492480

Just for reference about what could happen during the hockey RTP phase 4, but we won?t hear about the hockey ones  :P
 
All of Kevin McGran?s latest tweets are just of the NHL bubble fencing that he is standing outside of forlornly tweeting and I?m kind of sad for him.
 
herman said:
All of Kevin McGran?s latest tweets are just of the NHL bubble fencing that he is standing outside of forlornly tweeting and I?m kind of sad for him.

If he wants to catch stories like the Lou Williams one in the NBA he just needs to keep an eye on the social media accounts for Toronto's strip clubs.
 
Outside of the marketing opportunities for docu-series of "life in the bubble" I don't see the need for any media to be there in person.  You can do virtual press conferences perfectly fine because we have these amazing things called conference calls.  I don't need to see microphones directly in the face of players to hear questions.
 
L K said:
Outside of the marketing opportunities for docu-series of "life in the bubble" I don't see the need for any media to be there in person.  You can do virtual press conferences perfectly fine because we have these amazing things called conference calls.  I don't need to see microphones directly in the face of players to hear questions.

But that would require doing actual legwork, instead of just standing there recording cliches and transcribing it into a template.
 
https://twitter.com/PR_NHL/status/1287780026281336833

No new positive tests, and that's with players not even in a strict bubble yet. They might actually pull this off.
 
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