Here’s a shocking truth bomb: TV ratings, the holy grail of sports entertainment, are telling us something we can’t ignore about the NBA and NHL. These powerhouse leagues are watching their viewership numbers crater faster than a failed trick shot, and it’s not just a blip – it’s a trend that’s keeping executives up at night. Let’s dive into why the 2024-2025 season has both leagues reaching for the panic button, and what it reveals about sports in our Netflix-and-scroll era.
Everyone’s favorite scapegoat, streaming, is getting the blame – and the numbers back it up. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver dropped this bombshell: viewership on traditional heavyweights ABC, ESPN, and TNT is down 19% compared to last year, ballooning to 25% when you factor in NBA TV. Want to really feel the pain? Opening night games on ESPN somehow managed to lose half their audience compared to 2023. That’s not a dip – that’s a cliff dive.
The NHL’s story? Just as grim. They’re nursing a 28% ratings decline this season, according to Sports Media Watch. Sure, audiences are migrating to streaming platforms like digital nomads, but here’s the kicker: watching highlights on TikTok during your morning coffee run isn’t the same as gathering around the TV for a big game. The community experience is fragmenting faster than a broken stick, and neither league has cracked the code on putting it back together.
Let’s get real: the NFL is the 800-pound gorilla of American sports, and it’s not even close. When Taylor Swift showing up at a Chiefs game generates more buzz than any NBA or NHL matchup, you know there’s a problem. The NFL has mastered the art of being both a sports league and a pop culture phenomenon – something both the NBA and NHL seem to have forgotten how to do.
This year’s perfect storm of Olympic drama and a World Series that actually got people talking only made things worse. Try getting casual fans excited about a Winnipeg Jets-Arizona Coyotes game when there’s that kind of competition for eyeballs.
When LeBron James calls out the NBA for becoming a glorified three-point shooting contest, it’s time to listen. The league’s analytics-driven transformation into a pace-and-space showcase might look great on spreadsheets, but it’s turning games into predictable math equations. Where’s the soul? The swagger? The stuff that made us fall in love with the game?
Shaq nailed it recently: the lack of defensive intensity is making games feel like glorified practice sessions.
“Where’s the grit? Where’s the rivalry?” The Big Diesel asks, and the ratings suggest fans are asking the same question.
Over in the NHL, despite having human highlight reel Connor McDavid doing his thing night after night, the league is struggling to create the kind of compelling narratives that turn casual viewers into die-hard fans. The drama that once defined hockey – those blood-boiling rivalries and edge-of-your-seat storylines – feels as rare as a perfect hat trick.
Here’s a reality check: Gen Z isn’t about to sit through a full game when they can catch the highlights in 60 seconds on their Instagram feed. The numbers don’t lie – Nielsen found that fans under 35 are 40% more likely to consume sports highlights than full games. Both leagues are trying to adapt with social media strategies, but they’re missing the bigger picture: it’s not just about being on these platforms, it’s about making the full game experience worth the time investment.
Yes, we’ve got LeBron and Steph writing their legends in real-time, but they’re closer to the sunset than the sunrise of their careers. The next generation, led by phenoms like Victor Wembanyama and Connor Bedard, shows promise but hasn’t yet developed the gravitational pull needed to draw in the casual fan. Star power isn’t just about skill – it’s about creating cultural moments that transcend the sport itself.
NBA’s traditional broadcast viewership: ⬇️ 19% (ABC, ESPN, TNT)
When including NBA TV: ⬇️ 25%
Opening night ESPN games: ⬇️ 50% year-over-year
NHL’s overall viewership: ⬇️ 28%
NBA Cup experiment: Group play ratings ⬇️ 10% compared to regular season
Gen Z viewing habits: 40% prefer highlights over full games
So if ratings are tanking, what will the leagues do? Winds are blowing that both leagues are looking at expansion to increase eyeballs in the short term. Interest in owning teams has never been greater with cities and potential owners drooling over the prospect of stroking billion dollar entry fees. In the NBA, Seattle and Las Vegas appear to be as close to locks in the next round of expansion expected to be announced “soon”. In the NHL, all eyes are on a return to Atlanta, this time the suburbs and potentially Houston too. The current CBA precludes players from sharing in expansion fees, and many wonder how long Bettman will be able to maintain that status in a world of not many asks out there beyond escrow recapture.
Both leagues need more than just band-aid solutions. Here’s what has to change:
The NBA needs to rediscover balance. Yes, three-pointers are exciting, but so are defensive battles and strategic chess matches. The game needs variety like a highlight reel needs different angles.
The NHL needs to embrace storytelling. Great rivalries aren’t just born – they’re cultivated. The league needs to get better at building and promoting the personal dramas and team rivalries that make sports truly compelling.
Both leagues need to reconnect with what makes sports special: raw emotion, unscripted drama, and those magical moments that make you glad you watched the whole game instead of just the highlights.
The passion for basketball and hockey isn’t dead – it’s just waiting for something worth staying up late for. Until these leagues figure that out, the NFL will keep spiking the football in the ratings end zone while everyone else plays catch-up.
But hey, at least we’re not talking about soccer’s VAR controversies, right?
So far Amazon’s TV numbers in Canada are nearly identical to what Rogers experienced during the term of the albatross agreement. This is inline with expectations. However, the demographics for Amazon have far exceeded expectations, hitting the Prime targets exactly as hoped.
We are now entering the exclusivity window wherein Roger’s can re-up it’s TV deal with the NHL. While silent on many matters, Rogers sources have let it be known that Edward Jr. has already been talking to Bettman Inc. and discussions will begin in earnest on a real extension to some degree. Highly unlikely that Rogers buys the full package exclusively. They already sold part to Amazon. We know the diamond here is Saturday night and Playoffs. How do they maintain those gems allowing Gary to increase his revenue is the question.
Insiders expect the next package to include Rogers and Amazon. Will Bell or whomever owns TSN buy a game too? The sentiment from people I have talked to seems to suggest that Rogers keeps Saturday plus another night (not Monday) and playoffs but is asked to keep it’s spend intact (perhaps this time in USD) while Amazon maintains Monday and maybe more with others.
With politics unfolding one thing many insiders is the viability of games on CBC. Rogers has used (figuratively and literally) the network for the life of the deal to their ADvantage. Will they want to or even be able to in the new era? Something to keep an eye on.
Born and raised in Toronto, Jonah Sigel is currently based in Seattle, WA. An avid sports fan, Jonah took to writing about the sports media world back in 2004 with two young kids at home, a new job and a return to Toronto. The interest grew and grew to include the former website Torontosportsmedia.com, the twitter handle @yyzsportsmedia, the PressRow podcast and now the all new yyzsportsmedia.com
The reason the NHL numbers are down are:
Too many games are boring ’cause the players look tired or dis-interested once they have their big contract..
Pretty bad when you know who’s going to get the next penalty call be it legit or phantom. This is alarming when considering the gambling on games that goes on.
I won’t be forced to pay Amazon Prime just for some Monday night games thus the connectivity to your favourite team erodes.
Thanks Gurnman
Great piece but it’s not true that the NFL is exempt from these same problems. The NFL suffers from a lack of parity over time , some franchises like the Saints are suffering. An NFL game with parking fees, food, beer and ‘ cheap’ tickets is still well over 200 bucks for a couple people and the league also has challenges with game interest. Thankfully the NFL doesn’t need in the seats attendance to be profitable but the Gen Z effect is still there and young people who can’t afford to buy a home and may not even have a car prioritize their spending differently. This dynamic is a ‘Pro Sports’ problem not just a NBA/NHL one , that will become increasingly clear.
“TV ratings are declining for xyz” has been an evergreen story for over 60 years now. Time for the latest hysterical freakout that will be forgotten by next month. I mean, the NBA just signed a huge increased deal and it hasn’t even kicked in yet. Or remember the ignorant “Rogers is losing SO MUCH MONEY” comments even though there were audited financial statements saying the exact opposite. lol
The more teams there are, the less likely you are to have rivalries. There are simply too many teams for whom the fans have no familiarity or contempt. Most games are nothing more than an opportunity for fans to cheer for their own team.. Pre expansion in 1967, the nteams played each other 14 times. Out of this grew familiarity and contempt, which is how rivalries are formed.
What really needs to happen is for Canada to take this league for its own. The Stanley Cup is not owned by the NHL. Instead, it’s leased and in the hands of three Canadian trustees.. I don’t know the specifics of the lease agreement.
Annually, the NHL TV contract in Canada is over $400 million. In the US it’s over $200 million. In Canada, it’s about $60 million per team. In the US, it’s about $8 million per team. They need us a lot more than we need them.
We need to have the Canadian national hockey league that doesn’t play any games outside of Canada. We currently have seven Canadian teams. Quebec makes it eight and Hamilton makes it nine. The greater Toronto area or southern Ontario could easily support at least one more team.
Before you’re totally dismissive of this, give it some thought. Initially, salaries with spike. Before too long, we would have the best players and the best league in the world. Canadians know how to take care of hockey. All too often, people in the US attempt to paint it with the same brush as they do basketball, baseball and football without respecting what makes it different.
The viability of a market for a sport isn’t simply due to the number of people that live there. The most important component is how many fans of that sport live there.
During the Stanley Cup finals some Panthers fans went to Edmonton. They said “ this is bigger than the Super Bowl.” A few years ago, I was at a viewing party for the third round of the playoffs in Central Park in New York City. By what we see in at first round viewing parties in Canada, what was happening in New York was pathetic.
What Gary Betman did in Phoenix is criminal. For innumerable years the rest of the owners chipped in $30 million annually to prop up a team in a city that didn’t care. It was done because it was his grand vision of how things should be. His inability to accept reality, should’ve been grounds for dismissal. Now he wants to go back to Atlanta for a third time. They lost a team twice because not enough people cared. Quebec and Winnipeg lost teams because they didn’t have a building. Quebec now has a better building than Winnipeg but still no team because of Betman.
Several years ago, when Calgary was encountering political obstacles regarding a new arena, Betman said “there’s a perfectly good rink sitting empty in Quebec”inferring that the Flames could move there. It’s unfortunate he wasn’t able to apply that same business acumen to hockey in Phoenix. Instead, when asked about the pathetic situation, he said “it’s worth it” displaying his generosity at being irresponsible with other people‘s money.
People like to say how much money he’s made the owners. Aside from expansion fees, where has he made them money? Expansion can’t continue indefinitely.
Further expansion will make the league worse, not better . His attempts at growing of the game in the US are at the expense of it in Canada. I am amazed by how many people I know who, as lifelong hockey fans, are less interested than they’ve ever been in the NHL. The longer this goes on, the greater the likelihood of the NHL killing the goose that laid the golden egg.