Good morning. The NHL is coming off what its commissioner has called the “most successful” season in league history. To ensure this is more than a blip, it’ll need to address a few big issues. We lay them out and chart what the league’s plan could look like.
—Eric Fisher, David Rumsey, and Colin Salao
|
|
|
The National Hockey League just enjoyed its best season, at least in the assessment of commissioner Gary Bettman, who called 2023–2024 the “most successful” campaign in league history.
There’s plenty of support for that opinion between record attendance and historically strong ratings, the beginning of a new uniform contract with Fanatics, and a successful staging of the league’s draft at the Sphere in Las Vegas, among other accomplishments.
Now what about an encore?
Operating from a position of relative strength and stability, the league will still have several pressing issues to address during the 2024–2025 season, beginning Friday with the NHL Global Series in Prague with the Sabres and Devils. Among them:
- Labor: The NHL’s current collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players’ Association doesn’t expire until September 2026. But buoyed by the current health of the league, talks are slated to begin soon, and Bettman is aiming to reach a new deal by the Stanley Cup Final in June.
- Amazon: The online retail and streaming giant is beginning a weekly NHL live game showcase in Canada with its new Monday Night Hockey. Amazon’s quickly expanding live sports aspirations are well known, and Prime Video global head of sports Jay Marine said the company will “invest like crazy” to establish the weekly game as a “huge national event.”
- Canadian national media rights: The two-year Amazon deal in Canada is actually a sublicensing of broader rights held by media giant Rogers Communications. That company’s existing national agreement with the NHL expires in 2026, and like the labor talks, work is expected to soon begin on the next contract term. In addition to Amazon’s growing strength, Rogers is becoming more powerful with its recent deal to assume majority control of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
- Regional U.S. media: The NHL recently struck a revised deal with bankrupt Bally Sports parent company Diamond Sports Group. That agreement, however, still leaves question marks for after the upcoming season. Should DSG fail next month in its bid to gain confirmation for its reorganization, or if Major League Baseball’s issues with the company spread wider, the NHL could face heightened problems in this area sooner rather than later.
- Utah: This one is far less problematic as the franchise—relocated and rebranded from its former existence as the Coyotes—has been an immediate hit with local fans. But the league will be interested to see team owner Ryan Smith continue on his rapid trajectory to make the franchise a lasting success. Permanent branding for the Utah Hockey Club, most likely to be the Yeti, is expected sometime soon after the season’s end.
- Ottawa arena: The Senators recently reached an agreement in principle with Canada’s National Capital Commission on a 10-acre parcel in downtown Ottawa eyed for a new arena and mixed-use development. Long a key priority for team owner Michael Andlauer, a venue deal after years of unsuccessful pursuit would represent a huge boost for the franchise.
Not So Fast
While the NHL is in growth mode, that won’t apply to additional franchises—at least in the near term. An expanding collection of markets, including Atlanta and Houston, have shown keen interest in landing a team. But given the other outstanding issues, expansion beyond the current 32 teams is still a back-burner concern.
“We feel no compulsion [to expand] right now,” Bettman said earlier this week after board of governors meetings. “If something came in and checked all the boxes, and we felt that it might make sense, we might consider it, but we’re not there right now.”
|
|
|
|
|
David Kirouac-Imagn Images
|
This season, the NHL will cross the halfway point of its seven-year, $4.37 billion media-rights deals with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, which have led to strong U.S. viewership gains for the league.
After leaving NBC Sports following the 2020–2021 season, game broadcasts on ABC, ESPN, and TNT have been drawing larger audiences for the last three years. Here are the per-game viewership averages (which include digital viewing) for the NHL’s last four regular seasons:
- 2020–2021: 391,000
- 2021–2022: 448,000
- 2022–2023: 468,000
- 2023–2024: 504,000
Last season’s figure, which was up roughly 8% over 2022–2023, was the NHL’s best since 2015–2016 (505,000 average on NBC Sports channels). Next week, ESPN will drop the puck on a new season with a tripleheader Tuesday, and TNT will have a doubleheader Wednesday.
Playoff Viewership Surging, Too
The NHL has been drawing strong TV numbers in the postseason, too. The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs were the second-most-watched on record, averaging 1.54 million viewers per game.
However, despite the Stanley Cup Final going seven games, viewership of the Panthers-Oilers series on ABC, a 4.2 million average, was slightly down from the broadcast network’s previous Stanley Cup Final—the six-game Avalanche-Lightning series in 2022 averaged 4.6 million viewers. It should be noted U.S. viewership is typically lower when a team from a Canadian media market plays.
|
|
|
|
|
The NHL’s revenue pales in comparison to other major men’s pro sports leagues—and that’s seen through its salary cap for the 2024–2025 season, which is about 61% of the NBA’s soft-cap threshold (which most teams exceed) and 37% of the NFL’s hard cap. MLB does not have a salary cap.
Compared to the other two leagues, the NHL is also not experiencing the same salary-cap growth. Since 2018, the NBA salary cap has increased by 38%—and this could continue once its $7 billion per year media-rights deal kicks in after this season. The NFL has seen a 44.1% increase in its salary cap—in part driven by the $11 billion per year media deal that started in 2023.
The NHL’s current media deal—worth about $625 million annually with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery—expires after the 2027–2028 season. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league could see its cap number jump to $92.5 million next year, a 5% increase.
|
|
|
Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
|
Last season, Connor Bedard, one of the most-hyped prospects in all of sports, made his NHL debut after being selected by the Blackhawks with the No. 1 pick.
It ended up being one of the most successful rookie seasons in NHL history (at least since Connor McDavid’s rookie campaign in 2015–2016)—not only because Bedard led all rookies in goals (22) and points (61) despite missing 14 games, but because of the buzz he generated for the NHL and Blackhawks.
Bedard’s Impact
- Viewership: The NHL confirmed to Front Office Sports that viewership for nationally televised Blackhawks games was up 97% relative to the previous year. This included Bedard’s debut game against the Penguins that delivered 1.43 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched NHL regular-season game. NBC Sports Chicago, which shut down this week and will be replaced by the Chicago Sports Network, reported a 35% increase in viewership for Blackhawks games.
- Tickets: The Blackhawks saw a 22% increase in tickets sold versus the previous season, despite winning three fewer games and finishing with the second-worst record in the league, a team spokesperson told FOS. This translated to the second-highest percent increase in attendance across the league, just behind the Panthers, winners of the Stanley Cup. The team also reported a 50% uptick in season-ticket holders for this season. When Chicago played on the road, its opponents saw a 15% attendance bump relative to its average attendance.
- Digital: Bedard’s debut game generated 300 million impressions across all social platforms, according to a Blackhawks spokesperson. Chicago also became the only NHL team to crack the top 50 North American sports brands in social following and engagement, according to analytics firm Blinkfire.
- Merchandise and sponsorship: The 19-year-old finished with the highest-selling jersey among all NHL players last year, according to Fanatics. The sports merchandise giant also announced Wednesday it became the sole distributor of Bedard’s official licensed memorabilia—a partnership that Fanatics has with several major athletes, including Tom Brady, Alex Ovechkin, and Victor Wembanyama.
In June 2023, Bedard became the first NHL athlete to sign an apparel deal with Lululemon. He also signed a contract with Gatorade in July.
|
|
|
|
|
Utah Hockey Club ⬆ The rebranded and relocated franchise, previously the Arizona Coyotes, will play the first game of its new era Tuesday night in Salt Lake City, hosting the Blackhawks in the third game of ESPN’s opening-night tripleheader. Country music star Shaboozey will play a free concert outside Delta Center before the game.
Connor McDavid ⬆ The Oilers star has two years left on his eight-year, $100 million contract, but he is eligible to sign an extension after this season. Many are already speculating he could be in for a big payday with Edmonton, or another team, in the near future.
Bruins ⬇ On Monday, team president Cam Neely said there were “64 million reasons” why goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who is in a heated contract dispute with Boston, should be playing right now. Shortly after, Swayman’s agent released a statement saying no offer of a $64 million contract had ever been presented. For now, the two sides remain in a stalemate.
Golden Knights ⬆⬇ The team will pay goalie Robin Lehner, who last played in the NHL in 2022, for the final $4.4 million of his five-year contract, but that won’t count against the club’s salary cap, according to ESPN. Vegas, the NHL, and the players’ association came to a resolution together. Lehner previously had hip surgery and has also been outspoken about mental health issues.
|
|
|
Four-time Super Bowl–winning quarterback Joe Montana and Bears defensive end Montez Sweat join the show for interviews on how the NFL has changed on and off the field. Sweat discusses what it was like to have HBO cameras following him throughout training camp for the Hard Knocks series, and Montana weighs in on the ascendance of his two former teams that square off this weekend, the 49ers and Chiefs.
Plus, CBS Sports and Yahoo Sports analyst Adam Breneman discusses the structural changes in college football and why it should move toward a nationally organized system, such as the recently proposed super conference idea.
Watch, listen, and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.
|
|
- The Carolina Hurricanes raised nearly $280,000 from ticket proceeds of Tuesday’s sold-out preseason NHL game to support relief efforts following the damage from Hurricane Helene.
- The NHL is debuting in Utah this season thanks to the leadership of new franchise owner Ryan Smith. FOS Explains took a look at the billionaire’s rise in the sports industry. Watch here.
- Speaking of Utah, the club will introduce the new “fan-friendly” concession prices at all home games this year. Check them out.
|
|
 | Both brands have been around for decades and changed ownership in the same week. |
 | The sports merchandising giant rolls out four tiers of redesigned NHL jerseys. |
 | McDavid’s dominance gives the Oilers 17 nationally televised games. |
|
|
Do you find it difficult to watch the NHL (or hockey in general) on TV?
|
|
Thursday’s result: 51% of respondents said they plan on watching Shohei Ohtani’s first postseason game.
|
|
|
