Detroit Red Wings fans will have a little extra time to get to Joe Louis Arena before face-off this season. The team announced today that it is changing the start times for weekday games to 7:30 p.m.
↵Here's the official explanation from the Wings:
↵↵↵"One of the key reasons we considered 7:00 pm starts was to keep all our weekday start times consistent throughout the season with the traditional 7:00 pm starts of nationally televised games," said Steve Violetta, senior vice president of business affairs. "However, this season’s national broadcast schedule changed to 7:30 pm start times, resulting in eight home games moving to 7:30 pm and creating even more inconsistency in our start times than in the past. Maintaining a 7:30 pm start time on weekday games will result in a consistent start time throughout the season and less confusion for our fans."
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Why make your fans wonder if the game starts at 7 or 7:30 p.m.? The Tigers begin all of their weekday games at 7:05 p.m. The Pistons do something similar with 7:30 p.m. tip-offs during the week. (Perhaps they'd have some 8:00 p.m. starts if any games were on ESPN or TNT, but that doesn't appear to be an issue this season.)
↵The Wings' 7:30 p.m. start times will apply to all but two home games on the schedule. The December 10 game versus the Montreal Canadians will face-off at 7:00 p.m., thanks to CBC coverage. And the December 31 game against the New York Islanders also gets a 7:00 pm face-off, the Wings' traditional New Year's Eve start time.