NHL gives ratings dip sunny spin

Numbers down for final but up in L.A. market

NEWARK, N.J.— The front office of the NHL might have been almost as disappointed as NBC, fans at the Belmont Stakes and the owners of I’ll Have Another.

The prospect of a Triple Crown — and its huge ratings implications — evaporated when I’ll Have Another was scratched from the Belmont on Friday. It might have made for the largest audience lead-in for NBC’s other big property Saturday night: Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final.

“I’m disappointed for them,” said John Collins, the NHL’s chief operating officer. “It was a great story: Triple Crown is always fun. Brings a lot of new eyeballs.”

The NHL could use a lot of new eyeballs. This Stanley Cup final, the league’s marquee product, has lacked the buzz of previous years. Last year’s seven-game series between Vancouver and Boston was the league’s highest-rated ever in the U.S., putting to rest the myth that a Canadian team won’t sell on American TV.

Ratings for the final this year — perhaps because of the low scoring, all the shot-blocking or the dominance of the Los Angeles Kings — have dropped off:

Game 1, NBC, 2.90 million average viewers (vs. 4.56 million for last year’s Game 1 on NBC).

Game 2, NBC, 2.94 million (vs. 3.57 million last year on NBC).

Game 3, NBCSN, 1.74 million (vs. 2.76 million last year on Versus).

Game 4, NBCSN, 2.07 million (vs. 2.71 million last year on Versus).

Or maybe it’s because it’s the New Jersey Devils — a team that never really got much respect — are the other team in the final. Or maybe it’s because NHL has gone head-tohead at times with the NBA. But looking at the bigger picture, the NHL sees an upside. “TV ratings are the first metric that everyone points to,” said Collins. “It still is the ultimate way of keeping score. But for us, it’s not the only metric that’s important.” For one thing, ratings for the playoffs as a whole are up. More than 70 million “unique” viewers tuned in across North America over the first three rounds, an increase over last year. Collins said the league is thrilled with the Kings’ popularity in a tough market, the second largest — behind New York — in the U.S. “We’ve been able to pick up a big, important media market in every playoffs (the last few years) and light that place up as a hockey market,” said Collins. While NBC’s ratings for the Cup final are down compared to last year, the network rules the L.A. market on nights when it shows Kings games. NBC Sports Network — a cable network — was the toprated network overall in L.A. for the 8-11 p.m. time period in Game 4.

The bottom line is that the NHL is growing. The business has gone from $2.1 billion in 2008 to $3.3 billion in hockey-related revenue.

This is the first year of a 10-year, $2-billion partnership with NBC and Collins says the league is delivering what its business partners hoped for:

Every playoff game was available in the U.S.

TV viewership overall through the playoffs is up, with more than 70 million “unique” sets of eyes watching the playoffs (through the conference finals) in North America.

Merchandising sales are up 14 per cent over last year.

Obviously, if the Devils push this series to seven games, it would help create some interest.

“Just from a business standpoint, more games is always better,” said Collins. “There’s nothing like Games 6 and 7 of a Stanley Cup final.”