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The NHL’s viewership tear this postseason continued with a historic start to the Stanley Cup Final between the Golden Knights and the Hurricanes.
The opening game of the series on Tuesday in Raleigh averaged 4.8 million viewers on ABC, up a whopping 98% from the comparable contest last year on TNT Sports, and up 54% from the 2024 opener, also shown on ABC. Viewership peaked late in the third period at 5.5 million viewers as Vegas scored with less than four minutes remaining to claim the opener, 5–4. The broadcast was also the most-watched Stanley Cup Final opener since 2019, a Blues-Bruins series shown on NBC in a prior rights deal.
The NHL was always poised for a hefty increase in its television audience this year, though this figure represents yet another level in hockey’s accelerating boom period. ABC is airing the Stanley Cup Final this year on broadcast television in the annual rotation with TNT Sports, the league’s other national rights holder in the U.S., and providing a sizable boost in reach to viewers. The Vegas-Carolina matchup is also the first all-U.S. matchup in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final since 2023, giving the coverage two Nielsen-rated markets among the competing teams.
Two extremely tight games to start the Stanley Cup Final have supplemented those core factors, as the Hurricanes and Golden Knights have showcased why they’re each among the NHL’s most successful franchises over the past decade. Carolina won Game 2 Thursday night, 4–3 in overtime, to even up the series at a game each, and another big viewership number is expected for that once it’s released early next week.
The NHL’s audience boosts also are far outstripping the boosts of around 10% to 15% seen in many sports broadcasts as a result of Nielsen methodology changes such as Big Data + Panel.
The Stanley Cup Final now shifts to Las Vegas and T-Mobile Arena for Games 3 and 4, set for Saturday and Tuesday.
“Sign me up for seven [games],” said ESPN NHL commentator Steve Levy. “This is a great series. If you’re a hockey fan, regardless of who you root for, this is a terrific matchup.”
ABC, the sister network to ESPN, also has broadcast rights to the NBA Finals, moving to Game 2 Friday in San Antonio—creating a programming back-and-forth on consecutive nights that likely benefits both championship series.
Thinking Big
The latest NHL viewership data adds to significant increases seen in each of the prior three rounds, and now has the league expanding its aspirations for its next set of U.S. television deals. The current pacts with ABC parent company Disney and TNT Sports parent company Warner Bros. Discovery expire in 2028, and an exclusive renegotiation period will begin next year.
“I am excited about those prospects [in the rights renegotiation], based on how well we’re performing,” Bettman said earlier this week in response to a Front Office Sports question.
The league, meanwhile, is also poised to end the 2025–26 season with between $7.5 billion and $8.5 billion in revenue. The figure, representing mixed U.S. and Canadian currency, beats the comparable total from the 2024–25 season by more than $1 billion.
“Every platform, every source of revenue is growing,” Bettman said.
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