• Loading stock data...
Friday, July 18, 2025

ESPN’s All-Night NHL Blitz Navigates Tricky Programming Window

  • The annual 32-team Frozen Frenzy is airing in a five-hour Tuesday slot.
  • ESPN and NHL scheduling is complicated, but is the condensed weekday format right?
Oct 19, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Stars center Matt Duchene (95) celebrates after scoring a goal against the Edmonton Oilers in the second period at American Airlines Center.
Tim Heitman/Imagn Images

The puck drops on ESPN’s second annual Frozen Frenzy on Tuesday, with all 32 NHL teams in action. The first game will begin at 6:00 p.m. ET, with subsequent start times staggered every 15 minutes between 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. (the two final West Coast games are slightly more spaced out). Games will air on both ESPN properties as well as regional sports networks.

It’s good chaos that viewers overwhelmingly lauded in its inaugural iteration last year. With simultaneous full-game and whiparound highlight coverage across both linear and streaming, there’s a lot to see.

In a moment when the NHL is pushing to grow the game, Frozen Frenzy is a strong way for the league to up its profile with its highly visible partner in ESPN. The nonstop format is positioned to resonate with a general audience beyond hockey diehards, particularly football fans who are hooked on NFL Network’s wildly successful RedZone. It also provides an entry point for a hockey-curious viewer who doesn’t have a team; Frozen Frenzy lets ESPN frame the sport through its most exciting moments and biggest stars.

Despite its widespread positive reception, the format is not without kinks—it is, by definition, a logistical nightmare to coordinate and cover 16 games in the five-hour prime-time window ESPN has chosen for the past two years. (The tight timing is in part caused by constraints around league scheduling and venue availability, an ESPN spokesperson tells Front Office Sports.) This year, ESPN will have to show which of Frozen Frenzy’s wrinkles it can iron out, especially as it competes with the beginning of the NBA season, and contends with a puck drop schedule that means NHL games themselves are butting up against one another.

Among the 2023 event’s praise, some viewers called the whiparound show on ESPN2 clunky and fragmented. Detractors expressed confusion around which highlights were live, and criticized cutaways that felt too rapid or ill-timed during prime scoring opportunities like power plays. Overall, ESPN tells FOS its tweaks to last year’s programming are small, and 2024’s Frozen Frenzy will feel familiar; the network will be working in the same format with the same producer, Mark Schuman. But the spokesperson adds the network has condensed its highlight-driven coverage this year from six hours to five to try to keep constant action on-screen—an experience she says the network hopes will bring “refinement” and a smoother viewing experience to the night. 

ESPN’s programming calculus for an event like this is not easy. There’s logic to holding Frozen Frenzy at the beginning of the hockey season to generate excitement that could translate into longtail ratings. But the network is not going to host the games on a Monday with Monday Night Football; or a Saturday, with a full college football slate; or Wednesdays or Fridays, when they have NBA doubleheaders. And were they looking for last Sunday, for instance, the WNBA Finals (which were already threading the needle with their own window) occupied the ESPN prime-time spot. ESPN confirms to FOS that Tuesday’s date was chosen for the prime-time availability on ESPN and ESPN2.

While Tuesday provides a slot that isn’t cannibalized by ESPN’s own main events, Frozen Frenzy does have a timing adversary: the start of the NBA season, which tips off with the Celtics versus the Knicks at 7:30 p.m. ET. The New York–Boston game will run at the same time as portions of the Rangers and Bruins games, which start at 7:15 p.m. and 8:45 p.m., respectively. Which sport will get the eyeballs of these prime markets—and does the NHL have any chance against the NBA? 

And in a broader sense, is there a bigger opportunity for Frozen Frenzy if it were to start in the early afternoon with more spaced-out games to fuel the constant action ESPN is craving to air? Is the network—and the NHL—leaving better ratings and fan reception on the table by running the event on a weekday instead of a weekend after the football season wraps, when Frozen Frenzy could potentially own an entire day of dedicated Saturday or Sunday viewership? A later date might not be dissimilar to the midseason bump the NBA seeks through its Christmas scheduling bonanza, and the NHL’s own midseason outdoor games.

Some of the issues ESPN faces with Frozen Frenzy are not a question of its programming approach—beyond the intricate league logistics ESPN notes, hockey also simply doesn’t have the predictability or linearity of football that makes RedZone such a polished product. But for what ESPN can control, ratings will show whether it has made the right choices for its marquee hockey night when it begins at 6 p.m. ET with the Capitals at the Flyers—and so will next year’s scheduling. Perhaps fans could be watching the NHL blitz at noon on a March in Saturday instead.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Jul 13, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announces the pick for the Athletics pick during the MLB Draft at The Coca-Cola Roxy.

Manfred Says MLB Had Wrong Approach to Creators Like Jomboy

“You gotta go where people are going,” the commissioner said.
(NCL_OSU_11_SUGAR_LAURON 04JAN11) Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Terrelle Pryor (2) slips around the Arkansas Razorbacks defense during first half of the Sugar Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, January 4, 2011.

Terrelle Pryor’s Case for NIL Backpay Dismissed in Court

Pryor played seven years in the NFL after leaving OSU amid a scandal.
Jun 9, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Luis Ortiz (45) reacts after giving up a home run during the fourth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Progressive Field.

MLB Pitcher’s Paid Leave Extended Through August As Betting Probe Continues

Leagues have been dealing with a host of sports betting issues.

Featured Today

Jul 21, 2024; Ayrshire, SCT; Xander Schauffele celebrates with Claret Jug after winning the Open Championship golf tournament at Royal Troon.

The Boozy History and Traditions of The Open’s Claret Jug

The Open awards the world’s most famous wine decanter.
2025 PDC World Darts Championship Final - Luke Littler vs Michael Van Gerwen
July 16, 2025

A Teen Darts Prodigy Is Becoming Bigger Than the Game Itself

Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler is cashing in on his devastatingly accurate shot.
May 31, 2025; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Sydney McLaughin-Levrone (USA) reacts before the women's 100m hurdles during the Grand Slam Track Philadelphia at Franklin Field
exclusive
July 13, 2025

Track’s New Money Is Running Into Old Problems

The sport’s big-money era has hit some speed bumps in 2025.
Bobbleheads are seen at Vintage Indy Sports, Tuesday, April 29, 2025 in Speedway. The local sports memorabilia store opened recently.
July 12, 2025

Baseball’s Bobbleheads Are the Center of the Collectibles Universe

Baseball’s most important keepsake drives long lines—and big business.

Netflix Beats Projections Again—and Plots Big Holiday Sports Slate

The streaming giant again beats analyst projections in every respect.
Jul 15, 2025; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; National League designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (12) of the Philadelphia Phillies hits a home run in the swing off of after the 2025 MLB All Star Game ended in a tie at Truist Park.
July 16, 2025

MLB All-Star Game Viewership Dips Despite Historic Swing-Off

Game viewership falls 3% despite late dramatics in the unique tiebreaker.
July 17, 2025

ESPN Bidding Against NBC, Apple for MLB Rights Package

The league continues to negotiate with multiple media-rights bidders.
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

Dealmaker Jeffrey Kaplan maps the evolution of sports as an asset class
July 15, 2025

MLB Home Run Derby Draws 5.7M Viewers on ESPN, Up 5%

ESPN reverses the trend from last year and registers audience growth.
July 15, 2025

WNBA Hits Fourth-Highest ABC Viewership With Clark-Bueckers Duel

Clark missed the first Fever vs. Wings game with an injury.
Brittney Griner and Caitlin Clark
exclusive
July 15, 2025

‘Good Morning America’ Will Air From WNBA All-Star in First

The All-Star Game’s relevance has exploded with the league in recent years.
NBC Sports
exclusive
July 14, 2025

NBC Hiring Ex-Hawks Exec Grant Liffmann As NBA Front Office Insider

Liffmann spent the last three years with Atlanta after covering the Warriors.