The Blackhawks’ first playoff game this season could be telecast from the Stadium on ABC April 18, a day earlier than the postseason schedule lists.
That was announced at a press conference Thursday held basically to talk about the return of HawkVision, a pay-per-view service for Hawk home games in the playoffs that will be $4 cheaper than last year.
The new rates will be $15.95 for a game and $12.95 a game if you purchase an entire home round from a best-of-seven series. That’s a reduction from last year’s $19.95 a game and $16.95 a round.
Hawks owner Bill Wirtz cited market research as the reason the club decided to lower the cost. He hopes it will result in a higher purchase rate than the best night HawkVision experienced last year, which was 15,000 orders for one of the games.
But HawkVision will be canceled out for one game if ABC can broadcast that playoff opener. That would depend if the Hawks gain home-ice advantage in the first round.
Technically, the Hawks’ Campbell Conference is slated to start playoff action April 19, while the Wales Conference kicks off April 18. The Hawks would have two days between games if they play April 18, waiting for a second game in the series Wednesday rather than disrupt the game-every-other-day regimen.
In addition, ABC has yet to select the exact game they will show in the Midwest segment of a regionalized format. They will be telecasting games five straight Sundays, and the first two Sundays will be broken down with different games telecast to the East, Midwest and West.
“The final three Sundays, ABC will show a single game,” said Hawks attorney Gene Gosdecki.
The second Sunday of regional telecasting by ABC could also involve a Hawks game, Gosdecki said.
Wirtz was reminded he ordered a Chicago blackout for a nationally televised game from the Stadium in the 1973 playoffs. But he is willing to let ABC take precedence over his own HawkVision.
Muni money: Sources said Craig Muni got an extra $100,000 in compensation he was seeking from the Hawks before agreeing Thursday to report to the team. Hawks General Manager Bob Pulford said he had “not really” compensated Muni.
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But reportedly the money will be reflected in Muni’s next two yearly salaries, which were supposed to be $425,000 next season and $450,000 before leaping to $700,000 in the final year of his contract.
“Everyone was making more of it than it was,” Muni said. “The Hawks have been more than fair with me from the beginning. What I had to do is look after myself and my family after hockey. Hopefully, I’ll be carrying around the Stanley in Chicago.”
Muni will be ready to debut Sunday night against Hartford.
Realignment talk: A fax went out to all 26 clubs Thursday reiterating that Commissioner Gary Bettman wants a wall of silence from management during the realignment talks. The fax was prompted by Toronto General Manager Cliff Fletcher complaining publicly about being forced to remain in the Norris Division. Fletcher said Toronto “was getting shafted.”
“Realignment’s always a bloody battle,” Wirtz said. “It should come to a vote by the end of this month.”