2008 was a good year for the NHL in the ratings department.
The year started out with a highly-touted outdoor game on New Year’s Day. The first Winter Classic featured star Sidney Crosby scoring the game-winning goal in driving snow — a perfect showcase for the league on network television. The game drew a 2.2 rating and 3.7 million viewers, making it the most-viewed regular season game in twelve years.
The ratings momentum continued. The All Star Game was up 14% in ratings and 18% in viewership from ’07. During the regular season, NBC saw an 11% increase in ratings (thanks almost entirely to the Winter Classic), while Versus saw a 28% increase in viewership. The playoffs became a virtual coming out party for the league’s two biggest stars, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin’s Capitals battled the Flyers in a 7 game series that drew huge ratings increases in Washington. Meanwhile, Crosby’s Penguins drew near record ratings in Pittsburgh on their way to the Conference Finals.
The league drew record ratings nationally as well. Versus set a record for its highest rated, most watched game with Game 4 of Rangers/Penguins (1.0 cable rating, 1.2 million viewers). That record was broken with Game 2 of Penguins/Flyers (1.8, 2.3 mil), and then broken again with Games 1 and 2 of the Penguins/Red Wings (1.8, 2.4 mil and 2.0, 2.6 mil). NBC drew strong ratings as well; Game 5 of Rangers/Penguins and Game 5 of Flyers/Penguins were the two most viewed playoff games on broadcast in five years, excluding the Stanley Cup Finals.
This relative ratings bonanza came to a head during the Stanley Cup Finals, which featured Crosby’s Penguins against a mega draw in their own right, the Detroit Red Wings. Ratings were up well over 100% for the first three games, and Games 5 and 6 were the two most viewed NHL telecasts ever on NBC. The series as a whole averaged 4.6 million viewers, up 159% from ’07.
The NHL did not just succeed in ratings in ’08. Attendance was up during the 2007-08 campaign, and the league projects a 2% increase in revenue in 2008-09 — despite the poor economy.
Still, there may be dark days ahead. That 2% growth in revenue is down from 12% during the ’07-’08 season. Attendance in 17 of the 30 NHL cities was down through early December, an ominous sign for a league that “relies on people filling the seats” and makes very little in television revenue compared to its competitors. As one economics professor told the Toronto Globe & Mail, “The NHL is much more dependent on gate revenue than TV revenue. That makes it more susceptible to the ups and downs of the economy.”
The Phoenix Coyotes are already in serious trouble. In late December, the Globe & Mail reported that the NHL was “providing financial assistance to keep the [Coyotes] alive,” with one league govenor saying that he was “‘99.9-per-cent sure’ NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has approved providing funds to the financially devastated team, with the permission of the governors’ executive and finance committees.”
All of which makes for a potentially unpleasant 2009. For now, however, the NHL can look back on 2008 fondly. It was a year when a league finally managed to capture America’s attention, even if just for one day in January, and six nights in June. More than anything, 2008 proved that the NHL still has a pulse, and can still be a draw — under the right conditions.
