Blue Jackets Force Out Broadcaster

On its surface, the decision of the Columbus Blue Jackets to drop television host and reporter Jim Day is not a terribly newsworthy one. Around the league, such changes will be made with little to no fanfare.

When you examine some of the details of this story, however, you see another sign of problems that have existed in the local television business for many years. As it seems, the decision to remove Day, who had been with the team since its inception, had nothing to do with his talent or his salary.

On his Puck-rakers blog, Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch reports that there were issues between the Blue Jackets and Day. Seems that the team didn't like everything Day was saying on the air about them.

Sources have told The Dispatch that the Blue Jackets tended to complain weekly -- sometimes more often -- about Day, including a memorable "morning after" teleconference this season when Day dared to use the word "disappointing" to describe a 3-1 deficit in St. Louis on March 28.

That's right. The offensive word was "disappointing."

Also, Blue Jackets management remains angry, according to sources, that Day did not conform to the club's request to NOT mention late majority owner John H. McConnell on the night the Blue Jackets clinched a playoff spot, April 8 in Chicago. He also didn't follow along by acknowledging that it took the club eight seasons to make the playoffs.

I understand that teams don't want their own voices on the air badmouthing them, and that's fine. However, as someone who has worked in the broadcast business for a number of years, I have a huge problem with this type of behavior by the Blue Jackets.

The club has every right to exercise some say in who works their broadcasts. You don't want broadcasters who consistently rip the organization, fans, facilities, or who are constantly complaining about the quality of play on the ice or the quality of media access. I get that, and so should everyone else. Many of these guys travel with the team when they go on road trips, so if they're violating team rules on trips (i.e. the dress code), there should be repercussions.

It doesn't sound like any of this was a significant part of the problem. Instead, the Blue Jackets are so picky about what is said about them on the air that they forced out a guy who had been with them since the start, and whose worst crime was saying a loss to a fellow playoff contender was "disappointing". Preventing broadcasters from being able to call it the way they see it should be no part of any organization's standards. Unfortunately, it's been a trend for as long as local broadcasters have seen their role in sports grow.

The night Columbus made the playoffs, beating Chicago in a shootout, the Blackhawks' voices showed more enthusiasm for this first-time entrant than their own on-air people did. For those who followed Columbus through seven years of general futility, this is disgraceful. Day said nothing criticial of the organization or the team. Instead, he called it like he saw it, and he paid for his honesty and integrity with his job.