According to various reports, NBC will begin airing ads for NHL coverage during the Christmas Day Eagles/Cowboys football game. Last year, NHL games on NBC averaged a 1.0 rating, and for good reason; NBC aired games on three Saturdays in January, then took two months off, and started airing games again in April. This year, NBC has a much more consistent schedule, with two more weekends of coverage, and games mostly on Sundays. Ratings shouldn’t improve too drastically, but it is possible that game coverage could rise to a 1.2, which would be the highest for NHL regular season games since 2002.
Apparently, NBC is looking to turn the main game from its three regionalized matchups into a game of the week, “similar to how it has attempted to brand its Sunday Night Football contests.” Sam Flood, producer of NBC’s telecasts:
Increased promotional exposure and a game of the week could spell future success for the NHL; if NBC is able to achieve steady viewership increases over the next three years (NBC is likely to renew its NHL deal until the 2009-10 season), it is possible that before the end of the decade, ratings could rise over 1.5 for the first time since 1997. Certainly, the NHL will never have regular season ratings match those of the NBA or Major League Baseball, and playoff ratings are out of the question. But any increase is a good increase, and NBC’s moves indicate a commitment to hockey that ABC and ESPN never truly showed.
All that being said, there is a strong possibility that these moves won’t result in any increases; with a weak cable partner like Versus, the NHL doesn’t have a supplemental partner with which to promote games on NBC. Other sports are able to use their various television partners to promote games; TNT promotes NBA games on ABC and come playoff time, FOX promotes baseball games on ESPN. If the NHL signs a deal with a stronger partner at the end of this season when the Versus deal expires, for instance ESPN, the likelihood of ratings going up increases dramatically. If not, the league could become the first pro North American sport to have its regular season average ratings below 1.0, regardless of how committed NBC is.
