If you feel like the Timberwolves and Wild have been playing on the same night an awful lot this year, you're not alone … and you're not crazy.
You're right. It's happening way more than it did a season ago, and it will happen again tonight when the Wild hosts Vancouver while the Wolves host Denver.
That will mark the 13th time already this season that both teams have played on the same night. At this point last year, it had happened only nine times.
For the season, the Timberwolves and Wild will play on the same date a whopping 33 times. Last season, it only happened 24 times.
As someone who consumes quite a bit of sports on TV (maybe more than I should, but that's a story for another day), it's a little agitating because 1) If the teams are playing at the same time, as they are tonight (the Wolves on FSN, the Wild on FSN-plus), it's hard to keep track of both games. 2) It leaves more dates on which neither play, leaving us poor sports fans to tend to other pursuits such as reading and spending meaningful time with our children (OK, these are good things, but the point is that there has been a lot of feast or famine when it comes to having a local game option to check in on).
I'm hoping to dive into the numbers and TV impact a little more for a story later this week, but to reiterate for now: it is happening more frequently than it did a year ago.
Also, just for fun: last year, the Wolves won on 7 of the 24 overlap dates, while the Wild won on 10 of them. So 31 of the total 48 games ended in losses. Both teams won on five of the dates. Both teams lost on 12 of the dates.
