Catastrophe for the NHL: worst TV ratings ever incoming for the conferences finals + cup final

[VivaLasVegas]

62 pages talking about ratings - why does anyone honestly care?

It is a disguised way of griping about their own team not going further in the playoffs as a result of the great Bettman Conspiracy Grandioso to rig everything against their team so that they are being forcibly held down (instead of, you know, just underperforming as usual).

 

[Lady Stanley]

TV ratings are not going to fix themselves.
The NHL needs to work to condense both the regular season and postseason.
Currently the NHL takes 28 weeks, nearly 200 days to play 82 games in the regular season.
Its beyond ridiculous.
Then the NHL takes 8 weeks for the playoffs.

October thru mid June, beyond ridiculous.
Get rid of the All Star game, no one cares about it. Play more back to back nights in the regular season AND playoffs.
Get rid of the OT, go to a straight 5v5 for 10 minute Sudden Death. winner gets 2 points the loser gets 0 points.

A) the only way it'd work is if they changed the alignment so teams were playing doubles/less road trips. And they'd have to allow for more players on the active roster so they can rotate players better.

B) I think there's obviously a problem with season length.

C) Overlapping with the NBA is the worst.

D) Personally I'd make the preseason 16 games long. Play a shorter regular season. It'd mean players are actually in shape at the start of the season, it'd allow owners to make some money, and increase the value of each game.

E) Alternatively split the schedule into two unequal halfs. Have early season games worth 2 points, and late season games worth 3 points.

It increases the probability that late season games can cause an upset in the rankings.

F) A big one which is more of a curiousity, but why hasn't the league played with an NFL styled point scheme.

Empty Netter 1 point

PP goal would be 2

Even strength would be 3

With a shot from the blue line being worth 4.

It'd decrease ties, and give a very interest dynamic to the game, where teams could pull goalies more often etc.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

I've been watching less hockey the last few years. Among my friend group, of those who like sports there seems to be more interest in basketball, soccer, football and maybe UFC? I feel like hockey is on a par with maybe baseball, which is pretty niche now (funny because baseball used to be king).

For myself I find it difficult to watch regular season hockey games in which my team isn't involved. Whereas I don't have that same issue for some other sports (basketball, soccer, and maybe football?).

Even the playoffs I didn't follow all that much this season. I'm sure hockey will do ok. Ending the regular season in February and the SCF in April would be the ideal, but they'll likely never do it.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

I've been watching less hockey the last few years. Among my friend group, of those who like sports there seems to be more interest in basketball, soccer, football and maybe UFC? I feel like hockey is on a par with maybe baseball, which is pretty niche now (funny because baseball used to be king).

For myself I find it difficult to watch regular season hockey games in which my team isn't involved. Whereas I don't have that same issue for some other sports (basketball, soccer, and maybe football?).

Even the playoffs I didn't follow all that much this season. I'm sure hockey will do ok. Ending the regular season in February and the SCF in April would be the ideal, but they'll likely never do it.

Yeah, seems like there is substantial "fan fatigue" because the seasons are so long. Even in football, which has the shortest season of all, by the time we get to the Super Bowl, I am just damned glad the season is finally ending.

Seems like a lot of fans shorten the seasons themselves, which has really hurt baseball because you now find a lot of baseball fans who will say something like "I don't start watching until the playoffs start". My guess is that a goodly number of hockey and basketball fans don't start seriously watching until football has ended.

BTW, the NHL and NHLPA are negotiating to increase the season by two more games to 84, basically another week. That should run the playoff season into late June, meaning that there's only about 75 days between the last game of the SCF and the first pre-season game.

 

[Jason316]

Nobody in Southern California were watching Florida vs Vegas lol

 

[north21]

The NHL should start and finish earlier, as a whole the entire northern hemisphere wants to get outside during the cup finals unless their team is involved, you will get more far more people watching with worse weather.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

For myself I find it difficult to watch regular season hockey games in which my team isn't involved. Whereas I don't have that same issue for some other sports (basketball, soccer, and maybe football?).

I feel this way about baseball.

 

[McHelpus]

The NHL should start and finish earlier, as a whole the entire northern hemisphere wants to get outside during the cup finals unless their team is involved, you will get more far more people watching with worse weather.

They started this past season on October 7th, if they pushed it back a month (September 7th) I think it would be much better. But that's my selfish answer haha

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

The season shouldn’t last into J months that’s for sure. SCG should be early May, possibly even April. As another said, get rid of the all star game, no one cares. Also why isn’t there hockey on Christmas Day??? That would be a great day for big games but instead they take a week off…

80 games
Start October 1st.
eliminate the all star game
Play through Christmas
SCF in late April/early may.

Also for OT they should do 3on3 sudden death for 10 minutes. Penalize a team for intentional stoppages (goalie freezing the puck or icing etc). If after 10 minutes they are still tied, so be it, it’ll be a rare occurrence. 2 points for a W, 1 for a tie.

 

[Soundwave]

They started this past season on October 7th, if they pushed it back a month (September 7th) I think it would be much better. But that's my selfish answer haha

I wouldn't mind a mid-September start.

 

[dre2112]

Even less would tune-in in the US if it was McDavid and the Oilers in the Finals

 

[RayMartyniukTotems]

Yet, Canada still has 10x the viewership of the states per capita.

Yeah it's 10 x the viewership

 

[KnightCap78]

Nobody in Southern California were watching Florida vs Vegas lol

My brother from San Diego was here in Vegas watching game 5 with me at Circa. He actually booked his trip to Vegas during game 4, took me by surprise. He wanted to be a part of history. Admittedly we both grew up in the dc/balt metro and he still follows the Caps after living in SoCal for the past 15 years but he has warmed up to the Knights. For whatever reason he has never pulled for Ducks or Kings

 

[Slats432]

Catastrophe.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

"Hockey will never work in the desert!"

Vegas leads attendance percentage

 

[KingsFan7824]

Yeah, seems like there is substantial "fan fatigue" because the seasons are so long. Even in football, which has the shortest season of all, by the time we get to the Super Bowl, I am just damned glad the season is finally ending.

I think the insane access we have to every game, for every team, in every league, contributes to this. Same reason every all-star game has lost anything that was unique about them. Back in the day, you didn't get to see every player play every night. You didn't have 24/7 access to almost any highlight you want. Today, seeing McDavid every day isn't abnormal. The plays he makes might be special, but seeing him do it isnt.

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

"Hockey will never work in the desert!"

Vegas leads attendance percentage

I've never seen a city that didn't support a winner. It's the lean times that tell the true tale. It wasn't long ago that you could get tickets to a quarter filled Saturday night game in Tampa. And I am not talking about 1 bad season, I mean like "midst of a 6 year rebuild" bad.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

I've never seen a city that didn't support a winner. It's the lean times that tell the true tale. It wasn't long ago that you could get tickets to a quarter filled Saturday night game in Tampa. And I am not talking about 1 bad season, I mean like "midst of a 6 year rebuild" bad.

Vegas is a special case that will probably always to well in attendance because there are so many fans from visiting teams who want to use it as an excuse to come to Vegas for a long weekend, particularly northern teams in the middle of the winter, the casinos buy lots of tickets to comp suckers high rollers, and then if stadium prices get low enough (they've been horrendously since inception) they'll get casual tourists off the Strip who treat it like another show.

In fact, the original business plans for the Knights did not anticipate very substantial local support but rather thought that the local support would be tepid. That strong local support did develop caught the organization very much by surprise, but to their credit their rode with it.

Whether that is a good thing for competitiveness is a different matter, since I'm a believer that that best way for fans to drive an organization to be better is with their feet: Empty stadiums are the best way of telling an organization that they'd better get their act together quick, but if fans just show uip anyway then there is not a lot of incentive for improvement and they can just maintain the status quo at the lowest cost. IMHO, God bless fair weather fans!

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

"Hockey will never work in the desert!"

Vegas leads attendance percentage

People will tune into a winner. The Hawks couldn't even fill half their stadium before Kane and Toews came along.

Also Arizona still very much exists.

 

[TurgPavs]

Catastrophe.

I dont think attendance is the issue, and while ticket sales are paramount for the owners, (I believe something like 50-60% of a Team total revenue is ticket sales) the issue is TV viewership is really not growing.
I honestly like the idea of moving the start date make to mid September, get rid of the All Star Game, take the CBA mandated off week between Christmas and New Years, and start the second half of the season, with a Rivalry weekend for all the teams. Play half the season before the Xmas Break, and finish the season mid March, starting the playoffs the last 2 weeks of March. i would like to see a 2,3,2 Format return in the playoffs.

 

[Soundwave]

I dont think attendance is the issue, and while ticket sales are paramount for the owners, (I believe something like 50-60% of a Team total revenue is ticket sales) the issue is TV viewership is really not growing.
I honestly like the idea of moving the start date make to mid September, get rid of the All Star Game, take the CBA mandated off week between Christmas and New Years, and start the second half of the season, with a Rivalry weekend for all the teams. Play half the season before the Xmas Break, and finish the season mid March, starting the playoffs the last 2 weeks of March. i would like to see a 2,3,2 Format return in the playoffs.

Not a fan of 2/3/2 but the rest of it is cool by me.

 

[Slats432]

I dont think attendance is the issue, and while ticket sales are paramount for the owners, (I believe something like 50-60% of a Team total revenue is ticket sales) the issue is TV viewership is really not growing.
I honestly like the idea of moving the start date make to mid September, get rid of the All Star Game, take the CBA mandated off week between Christmas and New Years, and start the second half of the season, with a Rivalry weekend for all the teams. Play half the season before the Xmas Break, and finish the season mid March, starting the playoffs the last 2 weeks of March. i would like to see a 2,3,2 Format return in the playoffs.

Just that people use the word Catastrophe and whine about whatever. The league is in good shape and we don't need chicken littles.

 

[TurgPavs]

Just that people use the word Catastrophe and whine about whatever. The league is in good shape and we don't need chicken littles.

Not sure I would say the league is in good shape.
There are 14 NHL Teams that are in limbo with their Regional Sports Provider, Bally's headed into bankruptcy. Roughly half the owners are still trying to recover financially from the effects of losing gate sales during COVID, overall license product sales are flat, and the windfall that the teams have received from the expansion teams over the last 6-7 years are now gone.
Its a weird time for the NHL.

 

[Slats432]

Not sure I would say the league is in good shape.
There are 14 NHL Teams that are in limbo with their Regional Sports Provider, Bally's headed into bankruptcy. Roughly half the owners are still trying to recover financially from the effects of losing gate sales during COVID, overall license product sales are flat, and the windfall that the teams have received from the expansion teams over the last 6-7 years are now gone.
Its a weird time for the NHL.

The TV issues are an all sports issue and not just an NHL issue. And whether the league makes $6B a year,$5B a year and Matthews makes $13M instead of $15M really doesn't affect me at all. I like the game currently.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

The TV issues are an all sports issue and not just an NHL issue. And whether the league makes $6B a year,$5B a year and Matthews makes $13M instead of $15M really doesn't affect me at all. I like the game currently.

I too en-*AD*-joy the cur-GAMBLING-ent game of hockey.