Rumor: Hawks in 2025 Winter Classic

[mouser]

I think the bigger issue is that it was on the 31st of December instead of January 1st and people were watching other sport events on tv (other hockey games specifically WJC, college football etc ) and doing New Years eve stuff. Of course viewer ratings would be down. They should have had it on the first. I wonder if TNT had something to do with why it was on the 31st.

Agreed, I’m sure they had reasons to schedule the game for Dec 31st, but it looks like a mistake to me. New Year’s Day or Sat Jan 4th with a 1-2pm EST start to avoid most of the NFL window would have been better in my opinion.

 

[StreetHawk]

Agreed, I’m sure they had reasons to schedule the game for Dec 31st, but it looks like a mistake to me. New Year’s Day or Sat Jan 4th with a 1-2pm EST start to avoid most of the NFL window would have been better in my opinion.

NYD is always big on NCAAF bowl games. Just a bit different with the expanded PO, but still this was the day for those big bowl games anyways. So, NHL shouldn't be using that as an excuse to not have it on Jan 1 when they did in prior years.

Also, the game was decided pretty early. So, don't blame people to turning it off.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

NYD is always big on NCAAF bowl games. Just a bit different with the expanded PO, but still this was the day for those big bowl games anyways. So, NHL shouldn't be using that as an excuse to not have it on Jan 1 when they did in prior years.

Also, the game was decided pretty early. So, don't blame people to turning it off.

But they always played at 1et during the non-BCS/NY6 games, prior to the Rose Bowl. Citrus & Outback historically are decent for those schools but not 'big bowl games'. It's one thing to counter program that, going against the playoff is an entirely different animal.

Sunday before the Super Bowl is usually the All-Star Game.

Yeah, an event the league has shown they have no problem bumping for bigger and better things.

 

[jkrdevil]

NYD is always big on NCAAF bowl games. Just a bit different with the expanded PO, but still this was the day for those big bowl games anyways. So, NHL shouldn't be using that as an excuse to not have it on Jan 1 when they did in prior years.

Also, the game was decided pretty early. So, don't blame people to turning it off.

When the Winter Classic started it wasn’t going up against the big bowls. It was going up against the likes of the Gator, Citrus, and Outback (since renamed) Bowls. The Rose Bowl was afterwards at 5 and the other BCS Bowls were played in primetime over the next 3 nights before the Championship game the following Monday. When the College Football Playoff was created those prime Bowls were moved from the other nights and onto NYE and NYD in 2014, with one of them (but not one hosting a playoff games) taking over the 1pm game eastern slot. If you track rating history the Winter Classic ratings started to dip then, but some of that is also due to over exposure and bad matchups.

Fast forward to post-pandemic and the game is now on cable vs NBC, and going more directly with playoff telecast. It takes a chunk out of the ratings especially when you have just flat out bad games scheduled.

Agreed, I’m sure they had reasons to schedule the game for Dec 31st, but it looks like a mistake to me. New Year’s Day or Sat Jan 4th with a 1-2pm EST start to avoid most of the NFL window would have been better in my opinion.

I agree. I think the Week 17 Saturday before ESPN/ABC’s doubleheader is probably a good spot for it. A 12:30 eastern game has no competition and is over before the NFL game. The league already has a national tv game in that timeslot (Washington vs Rangers is the lead in for ESPN).

TNT is losing the NBA next year, so you can trade the Winter Classic to ABC for that timeslot in exchange for TNT getting the Stadium Series usually on President’s Day Weekend in non-Four Nations and Olympic years.

 

[Dolemite]

Ratings utterly bombed.

Winter Classic posts awful TV ratings: Blackhawks-Blues wasn't draw NHL hoped

Only 920,000 viewers watched the Hawks' blowout loss on Tuesday on TNT and TruTV, per Sports Media Watch.

chicago.suntimes.com

Golly gee, who would've thought that doing a venue retread with a significantly worse version of a team would be a ratings black hole?

Dear NHL,

STOP. PUTTING. THE. SAME. TEAMS. IN. EVERY. OUTDOOR. GAME.

Sincerely,

Everyone

 

[GKJ]

The last time the Blackhawks were in it, it was with the Bruins, and ratings went up 20% from a Rangers/Sabres.

Clearly, the event itself needs more juice, but having the game when it is, it’s simply going to get swallowed up. This wasn’t as big of an issue when it started.

920k for any broadcast on Tuesday afternoon at 5pm on cable with two bottom-half teams, in a venue they’ve already done, airing on cable, should have the NHL jumping through hoops. This was with unexpected competition within the market, or else this goes over a million again.

New Year’s Eve is not a holiday. ESPN found that out the hard way when they tried to put the College Football Playoff there and abandoned it. The nature of the playoff now, they had to go back to it, but only did so for the prime time slot.

If they expected more, then they have to get the game on ABC/ESPN, and there’s simply nowhere for them to put it at this time of year.

1-2pm on Saturday before NFL doesn’t work because the game most likely gets delayed unless it’s overcast.

 

[Brodie]

I think the event is dead in terms of being a marquee for the league. They've done too many outdoor games for them to be novel, the list of currently good teams no longer includes most of the biggest markets, college football has reasserted its dominance over NYD in a way that makes it less viable for hockey to steal eyeballs.

The NHL needs to accept reality and treat this like what it's become: a market driven event for the participating teams. They're going to be raked through the coles when they announce it's Miami next year but imo spreading it around without regard to TV audiences is probably the only way to keep the event viable. You bring in the locals with a multi-day festival atmosphere and hope you sell out 45,000 seat venues.

 

[GKJ]

I think the event is dead in terms of being a marquee for the league. They've done too many outdoor games for them to be novel, the list of currently good teams no longer includes most of the biggest markets, college football has reasserted its dominance over NYD in a way that makes it less viable for hockey to steal eyeballs.

The NHL needs to accept reality and treat this like what it's become: a market driven event for the participating teams. They're going to be raked through the coles when they announce it's Miami next year but imo spreading it around without regard to TV audiences is probably the only way to keep the event viable. You bring in the locals with a multi-day festival atmosphere and hope you sell out 45,000 seat venues.

They clearly have a did a long time ago.