BREAKING: Gary Bettman Makes Another Terrible Decision For Fans

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Graham Montgomery
January 16, 2024 (5:09 PM)

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Most NHL fans are not fans of the league commissioner Gary Bettman. Today he will not be gaining any fans as ESPN announced a shocking change to their NHL service with ESPN+

ESPN Makes Games Harder To Watch For NHL Fans

The service announced today that they will be removing all archived NHL games 30 days after they are uploaded. This means that anyone who wants to watch a game more than a month after it happened will no longer be able to do so through a legal NHL-backed service.

ESPN has confirmed that it is now removing NHL games from on-demand ESPN+ after 30 days, officially making it a worse product than the one it replaced, NHL dot TV.

It's no longer possible in any way to legally watch an NHL game that is more than a month old if you are in the US

While most fans rarely, if ever, watch archived games more than 30 days old, the service is critical for journalists covering the NHL who often watch archived games as research for stories involving season-long trends or statistics.

Now, journalists and fans alike will no longer be able to watch past games. This also means that whenever there is a classic game such as a remarkable comeback or a four-goal game from a star player, fans will not be able to relive their favorite moments. At the end of the day, Gary Bettman bears at least some of the responsibility for this move as he has the final say in all things NHL, including the service switch from NHL TV to ESPN+.

This is just another disappointing move from the league commissioner. Hopefully, the decision will be reversed or the league will provide another platform for us to watch our favorite games.