Early season viewership numbers not good for the NHL and Gary Bettman

PUBLICATION

Tom Banks
October 15, 2024 (3:35 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

Gary Bettman prides himself on the growth the NHL has taken during his tenure, but with a mess of streaming services and local blackouts, viewership is taking a hit.

Just a few months ago, the NHL was seeing record viewers during their Stanley Cup Playoffs, with the iconic Game 7 between Boston and Toronto seeing a combined 9 million viewers across North America. Unfortunately for Gary Bettman and the NHL, things haven't gone quite as well to start the new season, as Drew Lerner of Awful Announcing reveals the terrible numbers on the opening night triple header.

In an interesting programming decision, two teams situated west of the Mississippi River opened the season while it was still afternoon on the East Coast. The St. Louis Blues and Seattle Kraken opened the action during the late afternoon window, averaging 348,000 viewers, down 42% from last season's Nashville Predators-Tampa Bay Lightning game (598,000 viewers).

Game two of the tripleheader was the top hockey audience of the night, as the Boston Bruins and defending champions Florida Panthers averaged 790,000 viewers. The game was down 45 percent from last season's Chicago Blackhawks-Pittsburgh Penguins game averaged 1.43 million viewers and included Bedard's debut.

The NHL closed out the night by featuring its new franchise, the Utah Hockey Club, up against the Blackhawks. The game averaged 522,000 viewers, down 24 percent from the Seattle Kraken and Las Vegas Golden Knights nightcap last season (691,000 viewers).

As many have pointed out, all three NHL games were beaten out by Game 5 of the Minnesota Lynx-Connecticut Sun WNBA semifinal series over on ESPN2, which averaged 984,000 viewers and continued a strong postseason for that league.

According to Lerner, the league fell behind both the playoffs of the MLB and WNBA, and that's to be expected given the popularity of postseason play and the growing supporter base of the WNBA, but it could be a worrying trend for the league. With so much skill on the ice and many exciting young stars entering the league, the NHL have a chance to capitalize and bring in more viewers, but until they stop regional blackouts and the mess of confusing streaming services to watch particular games, this trend could continue with many fans being alienated in the process.