NHL TV Ratings: How To Establish an Identity
The NHL TV ratings are a mixed bag. The quality of the NBC broadcasts has been great. Spectacle events such as the Winter Classic, Stadium Series, and All-Star Games are given great attention on NBC platforms. But these great games highlight a large problem with how the NHL is presented, there are no transcendent television events.
This problem came to my attention in recent weeks. As the MLS season kicked off it struck me as odd how often both ESPN and Fox Sports 1 mentioned the other network. MLS had worked it into their national deals that both networks would mention which MLS game would be on the other network on “Soccer Sunday”. What MLS had created was a double-header that crossed between networks. This creates an “Oh…wow” moment for most viewers as this puts MLS on the same level as the NBA, NFL, or even playoff baseball which are the other times that viewers see networks mention each other.
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The other “event” that two of the four major leagues utilize to their advantage is populating an entire holiday with their product. For years the NFL has dominated Thanksgiving to the point that most people can’t think of the holiday without football. The NBA has done a great job in recent years of having their sport on major networks (ABC, ESPN, and TNT) from noon til midnight. Looking past professional leagues college football is synonymous with New Year’s Day (sorry Winter Classic).
The option to fix this is clear. Obviously the former is not possible for the NHL. Their contract with NBC runs through the 2020-2021 season and unless there is a huge shift in the sports landscape it would probably not be renegotiated till then. So the NHL is left with one major media partner.
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But the idea of the NHL claiming a holiday is intriguing. This may require some working with NBC and arena scheduling to make work but is definitely in the realm of possibility. Make sure that marquee teams that are projected to have a solid shot at the playoffs are scheduled on Easter Sunday. This is a holiday that as of now no other league is really pushing to make their own. Once you have the schedule get games on NBC so that they are nationally broadcast on a channel that everyone gets. Normally most teams try to run Sunday games in the afternoon but not for this one. Have games starting at noon and the last one starting at 9:30 eastern time.
What about years with a late Easter you ask? Even better. Have the teams hold Easter Sunday as an open date on their arena schedules for as many teams as possible and on those years make it all day playoff hockey.
In a perfect world it would be nice for the all day event to be earlier in the season. This is the next best thing. Find a way to get into the collective minds of American sports fans once a year with twelve-hour marathon of the best the NHL has to offer.