When sports fans in North America want to watch a physically demanding sport with high contact levels, their first choice is almost always the National Football League. When they want to watch a sport highlighted by individual accolades and achievements, they watch the National Basketball Association. When they want to watch a sport focused around team success and league parity, they watch Major League Baseball.
So what if we had one sports league to combine all three into one flawlessly? Well, that’s where the National Hockey League comes into play. The NHL features immense physicality, a special group of talent headlining the news, and 23 of the 32 teams have participated in a Stanley Cup final since the 2004-05 lockout.
The talent level in the NHL right now is the best it’s ever been. It seems that the talent level of every incoming draft class just grows and grows every year. Matthew Schaefer and Macklin Celebrini are two teenagers who are the headlining piece for their respective teams. Connor Bedard, 20, has lived up to the hype as well. You also still have veteran greats like Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby showing off their skills at 40 and 38, respectively.
Despite that, ratings are dropping consistently every season, with the 2024-2025 Stanley Cup Final seeing particularly low ratings in the United States. So why are ratings dropping every year in a league with so much talent and so much parity? Quite simply, the NHL can’t get out of its own way.
Let’s start with the most prominent reason the NHL is losing popularity: a ridiculous amount of blackouts. On the surface, it makes a lot of sense why these restrictions are in place.
The NHL values protecting Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) from national competition. For example, a Montreal Canadiens fan living in the team’s area will not be able to watch a game on a designated national platform such as SN+ if they are within the team’s designated area.
With cable TV dying so much, this has created repeated frustration for fans, who have such a hard time watching their home team due to these rules. This either forces fans to pay for expensive cable packages or use illegal services.
It’s even worse for fans in markets with multiple teams. Fans living in the New York metro area will have access blocked for all three of their teams (Devils, Rangers, Islanders).
Of course, blackouts occur in other sports as well. The MLB and NBA also deal with these multi-team blackouts. However, a major difference between the NHL and the other leagues is the display of national coverage.
The MLB and NBA both have nationally televised games on multiple days of the week, giving fans more options if they’re frustrated with blackouts. The NHL’s national broadcasts are seldom until after the New Year. So many fans often go the first two and a half months without watching a single game nor what’s going on in the league.
Speaking of the other professional sports leagues, another problem with the NHL is that they build their schedule around the other sports leagues, and resist directly competing with them.
The NHL season starts heating up around November and December. Thanksgiving and Christmas are two holidays where they really could capitalize and bring in new viewers.
Of course, the NFL’s Thanksgiving package and NBA Christmas Day have been immensely successful in bringing in fans and revenue for both leagues. It’s understandable why the NHL doesn’t want to attempt to compete with both having decades of foundation built on them. But here’s my question: Why not?
Let’s look at Christmas Day for an example. This day was long dominated by the NBA, as they have been playing consistently on Christmas since 1947. With five games every year since 2008, the slate often features the best teams in the league during any given season.
The NFL has recently dipped their feet into Christmas Day more aggressively, especially in the 2020s. For the last few seasons, they have played a Christmas tripleheader. Despite trailing in Christmas coverage by multiple decades, the NFL racked in about four times the viewership of the NBA on Christmas Day 2025.
Why can’t the NHL have a Thanksgiving or Christmas tripleheader of the Original Six teams? A Rangers/Bruins, Canadiens/Maple Leafs, and Red Wings/Blackhawks slate would bring in tons of viewers, especially considering that all six of those teams play in major markets.
It can’t hurt to at least try. And if it fails, so what? The NHL took a risk last season with the debut of the 4 Nations Face-Off, going up against NBA All-Star Weekend. The final between the U.S. and Canada was the most watched NHL game since 1994.
Another massive problem with the NHL is that they have ruined one of their most high-profile games of the year, The Winter Classic. This is an outdoor game played around New Years’ Day in the United States, featuring new teams every year.
The Winter Classic was a spectacle for many years. In 2014, the Red Wings and Maple Leafs played at Michigan Stadium in snowy conditions with over 100,000 spectators, and it was the most viewed regular season game in NHL history.
The Winter Classic nowadays features games in much smaller MLB stadiums, in warmer climates as well. This year, the Florida Panthers played the New York Rangers at LoanDepot park in Miami. With the NHL being a winter sport, why are they playing outdoor games in sunny Florida?
Trying to bring in fans is not an acceptable answer. The Panthers are back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, and if that alone can’t bring in fans, nothing will.
The Winter Classic isn’t even the only outdoor game played anymore during the regular season. The Stadium Series, played usually in February, is played at sites where the Winter Classic used to be played.
Amazingly, the 2026 Stadium Series will be played in Tampa, between the Bruins and Lightning. What exactly is the NHL trying to accomplish? It’s understandable why they are trying to increase their market in the South, but this is not the way to do it.
We are truly blown away with the talent right now in the National Hockey League. Connor McDavid will go down as the greatest player we’ve ever seen not named Wayne Gretzky. Ovechkin is the greatest goal scorer of all time. The under-25 talent is the best we’ve ever seen.
It’s time for the NHL to step up and fix their current issues, because if they do, the league can compete directly with the NFL, MLB, and NBA for popularity.
