Dallas Stars 2017-18 National Broadcast Schedule Makes Sense

The Dallas Stars will only appear on national television twice during the 2017-18 regular season, and that has some fans outraged. But being broadcast nationally on a consistent basis is territory that has to be earned.

It’s hard being the little fish in a massive pond. You’re overlooked more often than not, seen as minimal and not worth a lot of time or attention, and often get put at the end of everything. The Dallas Stars are the little fish in the massive pond that is the DFW sports world.

There are very few markets across the United States that rival Dallas as a sports town. Of all the “four team” cities in the nation regarding “the big four”, Dallas is close to the top of the list. Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Detroit, and New York are really the only other cities in the conversation, and Dallas stacks up well against them.

Big D generates an incredible sports following and is always piping with new content. But with the four sports teams comes a fair amount of competition in each city. And sadly, the Stars are on the short end of the stick.

After all, it’s tough to follow a Dallas Cowboys team that is extremely talented and is the most controversial and valuable franchise in all of sports, a Dallas Mavericks team that recently won the Finals and is owned by a billionaire, and a Texas Rangers team that has been consistently good for the past seven years. Meanwhile, the Stars have made the playoffs in two of the past nine seasons and have yet to make it past the second round.

Dallas Stars

As a result, they have been tossed to the side in DFW. And while they are on the rise, it is going to take a lot of scrapping and quality performances to begin their conquest to be one of the top-followed teams in Dallas. The other day, I saw someone say that even if the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup in 2018, most Dallas sports reporting networks would care more about what Dak Prescott had for breakfast. It’s sad to think about.

And sadly, there’s not much more popularity for the Dallas Stars at the NHL level. While teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins eat up all of the media attention, the Stars are stuck in a “non-traditional” market and therefore are swept under the rug at times in terms of following and exposure.

That also holds true for time spent on national television. On Monday morning, NBC released their national broadcast schedule for the 2017-18 NHL season. The Dallas Stars will play on national TV  two times next season. Both are away games, with the Stars being in Pittsburgh for the first one on March 11 and in Minnesota for the second one on March 29.

The Stars always seem to get shortchanged on national airtime, so it really should not have been an unbelievable shock. Meanwhile, the Chicago Blackhawks will play on NBC or NBCSN 17 times, the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins will be nationally televised 15 times, and even the Vegas Golden Knights will appear five times on one of NBC’s national networks.

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You might be upset about the Stars’ incredibly minuscule amount of time in the spotlight and be aggravated that it’s a common occurrence. Or, you may be annoyed that it will be yet another year of having the Blackhawks, Bruins, Capitals, or Rangers shoved down your throat when you watch national hockey.

Either way, it is definitely another disappointing year to be a Dallas Stars fan in terms of national exposure.

But NBC was pretty justified in how they made the schedule. That’s because for the Stars to make it on the big screen for a consistent period of time, they have to prove themselves. This is territory that has to be earned.

The teams that are on the big screen have made themselves known over the past few seasons. They have either won a Stanley Cup (or two) sometime in the past few years or consistently qualify for the playoffs and make a sizable run. The Dallas Stars have done neither of those.

The Stars have made the playoffs in two of the past nine years and are approaching the 20 year anniversary since their last Stanley Cup title. In other words, you may think it’s a belittlement, but until Dallas earns the territory, NBC knows that it would be a bad move business-wise to give the Stars a substantial amount of time in the limelight.

And while the Dallas Stars had an offseason for the ages this summer and are expected the be leaps and bounds better than they were last season, nothing is guaranteed and NBC isn’t (and shouldn’t) be betting on something to happen.

Next: Five Reasons To Be Excited About Stars' 2017-18 Campaign

It may take a few years to build this reputation up. But until the Stars take the reins and solidify themselves as one of the top teams in the NHL, you can expect to see more schedules like this each season.

On the bright side, at least we get more TV time with Razor.