NBBA: Curating the Business Conversation

Host Mitch Joel sits down with David Shoalts, The Globe and Mail’s longtime hockey columnist, and one of this year’s NBBA-finalists, about his book, Hockey Fight in Canada: The Big Media Faceoff Over the NHL. David takes Mitch behind the scenes to tell the story of the contentious, tug-of-war over the future of Hockey Night In Canada. Despite the CBC hosting the iconic show for over 60 years, in 2013, the NHL chose Rogers as its national broadcaster over both CBC and Bell Canada. The decision left many Canadians and media players, alike, scratching their heads. And when David’s reporting led some CBC employees to believe their leaders missed a chance to keep the lucrative program—a move that could have saved some of their jobs—their disappointment turned to outrage. But with Canadian teams failing to make the playoffs in the last two years, and Rogers’ attempts to revamp the show earning them costly blowback... did CBC really get the short end of the stick? Produced by Allie Graham for Church+State Podcasts.J