Stanley Cup Ratings Steady as NHL Revenue Rebounds on ESPN/ABC Deal

If at some point you find yourself running a television network that leases the rights to air the Stanley Cup Final, there are three conditions necessary to make the Nielsen dials sizzle:

1) Try to get one of the Original Six franchises on board. Better still, seeing as how neither the Canadiens nor the Maple Leafs have home-market representation in these United States, see what you can do about getting the Rangers, Bruins, Blackhawks and/or the Red Wings involved in some meaningful way. Since the century began, the five most-watched NHL championship series have featured at least one of those four teams, and the top draw in the last twenty-something years was a dream matchup between the Bruins and Blackhawks, in 2013.

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2) Inclusion is nice and all, but let’s take the above qualifier about the two Canadian O6 clubs and extend it to all who call the area north of the 49th parallel home. They have pictures of birds on their money up there, and it’s weird. More to the point, Canadian teams = ratings death. Disregarding the pandemic-blighted Finals of 2020 and 2021, the three least-watched series were those that included a club hailing from the Great White North. Also, under Canada’s criminal code, if you “alarm Her Majesty” or otherwise startle or put out bad vibes to the Queen of England, you have to go to jail for 14 years. Say what you will about America, but at least we don’t get bossed around by a 96-year-old lady who lives in a castle 5,000 miles away.

3) See if maybe you can’t do something to ensure a Game 7. In the 21st century, there have been seven series that went the limit, which means that one out of every three Finals has required a full slate of broadcasts before a champion could be crowned. The average delivery for these seven Game 7s was 7.31 million viewers, which is about 70% higher than the average turnout for the first six games of each overstuffed series. In 2019, NBC scared up 8.91 million viewers for the…