The novelty of outdoor hockey is fading.
The Blackhawks/Wild NHL Stadium Series game, part of Hockey Day in America, earned a 1.2 overnight rating on NBC Sunday afternoon — down a tick from last year’s comparable indoor Bruins/Blackhawks matchup (1.3).
The 1.2 is the lowest yet for an outdoor NHL game on broadcast television (11 telecasts), falling below the previous low of 1.6 for a Rangers/Devils Stadium Series game in January 2014. The overall low comes on the heels of record-low numbers for the Winter Classic, which had a 1.8 overnight.
Minnesota’s blowout win was lost in the shuffle Sunday afternoon, ranking behind the Daytona 500 on FOX (6.1), PGA Tour on CBS (2.8) and NBA on ABC (2.7).
Penguins/Sabres had a 0.8 overnight earlier in the day, even with Capitals/Flyers last year. NBCSN scored a 0.5 for the Rangers/Red Wings nightcap, up 150% from last year’s Stars/Wild matchup (0.2). The big jump on NBCSN propelled the full Hockey Day in America tripleheader to a 0.9 overnight — up a tick from last year (0.8).
Buffalo was Sunday’s top market with a 10.1 rating for Penguins/Sabres. Minneapolis scored a 9.4 for Blackhawks/Wild, its highest ever for a regular season Wild game on NBC.
(Sun. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily, Twitter [1], [2], [3])
