NFL Network vs NHL Network

I've been an NHL fan for most of my adult life. I watched that league bottom out after creating a nice niche in the mid-nineties. After ditching ESPN, the NHL seemed to fall off the face of the planet. However, now that the NHL Network popped up on my Time Warner digital tier (it was already part of my sports package, so no extra cost to me), I'm quickly getting back in touch with the NHL scene. NHL On the Fly is a genius move for the league in that it gives you the two-minute game highlights in chronological order and then a game breakdown/analysis. In 30 minutes, I'm up to date with the entire night's action.

So, the NHL is really just a speck compared to the NFL behemoth, but I look at the battle that rages on with Time Warner and the NFL Network and I can't help but think that the NFL just needs to roll that bad boy out. Sure, you get all the NFL coverage you need from about 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning until 1:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, but what about the long lost Miami Dolphins fan that grew up in Kansas. Maybe, he lost track of the NFL when he went to college and started to get a feel for the NCAA game. He's not going to buy the high-priced NFL package to follow a 1-15 fish squad, but maybe he could re-connect with his old team if he could get into the one-hour game replays that the NFL Network airs.

The NFL reigns supreme, so I suppose it doesn't matter either way, but if they're looking to recapture little pockets of lost fans, just getting that network out there might be the thing to do.