This is a MASSIVE problem for NHL hockey...

#nhl #hockey #montrealcanadiens

NHL viewership is down 22% from last year.. and this shouldn't surprise anyone. We breakdown why this is the case, and why fumbled events like the NHL All Star Game are a prime example of the NHL's struggles to market the game.

Music brought to you by blaowry
Follow him on ⏩

[bostonhockeyco]

The NHL: *wants to grow the game*

Also the NHL: *puts a majority of the games behind blackout restrictions or a paywall*

[NifeOOniff]

I miss the NHL on NBC. You had your game of the week early afternoon on Sunday. Which was perfect because once you get to playoff push time for hockey football season has ended. And then Wednesday Night Rivalry night was always a fun watch in the middle of the week. And they covered the playoffs perfectly for every game, every night, because it's the cup! I enjoyed the broadcast guys more, and the coverage of the sport as a whole. It's almost as if ESPN's plan was to, instead of bring new people to hockey, they wanted to get the little hockey community into football or basketball.

[SparePartsBud]

Interesting how the majority of NHL fans knew going back to ESPN wasn't going to be good for the sport nor was ESPN gonna give hockey the time of day, yet Bettman and the NHL didn't.

[studlyone]

My favorite game, out of the entire season, is the Winter Classic on New Year's day. I have the whole day off and I can sit and enjoy the experience, mid-day, with my kids. This year it was behind a streaming paywall. I refuse to purchase a one-month subscription for a station I will never watch, to view one game. I was so pissed off that I didn't bother watching it illegally either. Didn't even watch the highlights on youtube when it was finally available.

[katelynanderson]

Pretty simple. Viewership is down because we can't watch the games. I pay for ESPN+ and I can still only watch half the games that I want to watch. It's absolutely ridiculous the lengths that I need to go through in order to watch a hockey game anymore.

[neilreid]

Gotta agree. The plays are better than ever. It's like all-star hockey in most games. The camera and replay work is fantastic. Those stupid digital hockey boards are highly distracting and I end up disliking the companies posted. ESPN is a disaster in every way. If they don't get the broadcasts right, there is no single larger liability to hockey. I've played and loved this game all my life- it's not that hard to fix.

[shannond]

Nailed it. I’m 52 years old and have been a Bruins fan my whole life. I’ve never seen an entire seasons worth of games because of stupid blackouts. Incredible that this has been allowed to happen for so long. so many stupid things that would be easy to fix.

[alext]

You hit this right on the money man. I have ESPN+ so I can watch ufc and the premier league but I can’t even watch my home team on there because of the stupid blackouts. Its ridiculous.

[dougaldarcy]

I live in Australia, and even when we try to stream them, and pay for it, many of them are blocked. Last year so many of the playoff games were blocked. It was really annoying. I was subscribed to multiple services to see games. Real pain in the ass. They would get a bigger fan base across the world if they were reasonable

[ianhall]

The only time the bar I work at has hockey on anymore is the very occasional time that ESPN isn’t showing division 3 college basketball and decides to air a freaking hockey game once in a while. We all knew it was going to be bad but being down 22% is insane. Thanks Bettman

[sturnie]

Moving games to steaming services was my breaking point. I live on the East coast and when my team plays West coast teams we are going to bed before puck drop most nights. The way they schedule games stinks also some teams have several days break while other teams grind out several games in 5 days it can change teams momentum and for younger teams it hurts cohesiveness.

[RomanMestas]

This video is 100% accurate, I live in Colorado and it’s almost impossible to watch an Avalanche game. The late great Peter McNab said it best about winning the cup last year “it’s only live once” and so many of the fans missed the once in a lifetime Stanley Cup season.

[gabe_p]

Hey man! Stumbled across this video and saw that my Instagram comment was used in the thumbnail! Love it! The NHL really does need to get their broadcasting situation sorted out.

[purpletacos]

I've had more trouble watching my local team this year than any year before.

[Vertigo]

At times I cant help but think the NHL fails repeatedly on purpose.

[angeluniverse]

You forgot to mention the real bad refereeing. The very confusing rules. When you have your number one player in McDavid come out and say he is confused about what a offside is you know you got problems. The league is fixed I've literally been saying it for decades. You just have to really keep an opened mind when watching the inconsistency of the calls being made across the board. It's really an eye opener.

[ryanbrown]

honestly the worst part is getting ready to watch a 5 or 6 o'clock game when I get home from work and it doesn't even start until 20 minutes or more late

[dailysmiles]

Spot on bud! I was infuriated at how hard it was to A) Simply find out when the all star skills comp was airing and where I could watch it, and B) find out my choice is to watch at my local sports bar where I get no sound and pay $15 for a few beers, OR sign up for an app that $60/month just to watch one thing I wanted to see. Honestly, trying to watch hockey (including recent world juniors) has been a nightmare for me for years. Far too expensive and even cool special events like this were far too difficult to access, monetarily and otherwise. disappointed hockey fan here saying get it together NHL!

[JohnDoe-huve]

I live more than 500 miles from the nearest NHL arena and I am blacked out from THREE NHL franchises. Absolutely stupid.

[thathockeykid]

Tbh I think as long as Bettman is commissioner the game will continue to go down hill. Seems to be limited marketing over seas and my biggest issue I think is the fact that he doesn’t seem to be interested in fixing issues that r constant complaint from not only the fans but the players themselves. Examples like the new digital ads, playoff formats, reffing consistency and overtime/shootouts. There’s so much I feel that could be done right away (I know most changes take time but in terms of “short term” solutions) that can instantly have a positive impact on the over popularity on the league. Just my 2 cents