NHL Winter Classic Shifts to New Year’s Eve Seeking Viewership Boost

CHICAGO — The NHL’s Winter Classic is returning to Wrigley Field, but this year’s event still features a massive change.

The Winter Classic, an outdoor regular-season hockey game held in baseball or football stadiums, normally takes place on New Year’s Day. The 2024 matchup between the Blackhawks and Blues will be played on Dec. 31 for the first time. The NHL says they made the change due to competition from college football and its expanded Playoff format. 

“With so much going on with so many sports, you have to keep an open mind,” NHL president for content and events Steve Mayer told Front Office Sports following a press event in Chicago. “We looked at a bunch of alternatives, but I think we just kept on coming back to New Year’s Eve. … When [the Winter Classic] started out, it was just Bowl games. Then it became the College Football Playoff, which definitely changes your competition. The intention was to do something that was very unique on our day.”

Jan. 1 is traditionally the date of the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. With the new college football quarterfinal debuting this season, New Year’s Day will have three CFP games, including the Peach Bowl. There is one quarterfinal on Dec. 31, but it starts at 7:30 p.m. ET. The late-afternoon time slot is clear for the Winter Classic: The puck drops at 5 p.m. ET.

Last year’s game, which featured the Kraken and Golden Knights—the league’s two newest franchises—averaged 1.1 million viewers on TNT and truTV, an all-time low for the event that started in 2008. NBC, which held the rights until 2022, reached at least two million viewers on NBC every year except 2020—and saw a high of 4.5 million viewers in 2011. But the Winter Classic hasn’t had the same success since its move to cable television, as the event has yet to breach two million viewers since Warner Bros. Discovery acquired the rights.

According to Mayer, the NHL and WBD have been in discussions for several years about the schedule change, and WBD is “thrilled” about the decision to move to New Year’s Eve. He told FOS that both parties will be flexible with changing the date in the future, but it’s likely they’ll stick with Dec. 31 for the foreseeable future.

“I think we’ve always had an open mind to it, but I think we’re probably O.K. with the 31st for a little bit,” Mayer said.

While the date change may bring more eyeballs to the event, there is also a question about whether fans will be interested in watching the matchup between the Blues and Blackhawks. The two teams are currently out of the playoff picture—and Chicago, despite sporting young star Connor Bedard, has the worst record in the NHL.