What If The NHL Just Embraces Being Post-Cable TV?

The NHL has a cable problem, as Sportico’s Anthony Crupi recently noted in his piece discussing the league’s various TV audience quandaries — potentially made worse this year by the fact that this year’s Stanley Cup Playoff field is littered with Canadian squads (five of 16 are from up North).

With more Canadian teams than any other major U.S. league, the success of those squads can create numerous tune-in potholes for the NHL. But as the Sportico piece also highlights, NHL games aren’t really seeing viewership commensurate with their excitement levels anyway, especially during the playoffs.

So with cable’s relevance fading and so many NHL games sitting on TNT and ESPN, why not just steer into the skid if you’re the league? Embrace becoming a post-cable entity.

They wouldn’t even be the first.

The NBA’s current media deal is heavy on cable with TNT and ESPN as two of the three main networks airing games. Its more lucrative new rights deal eschews that dynamic for a split between ESPN/ABC, NBC and Amazon Prime Video. It’s not completely post-cable, BUT… with over two-thirds of the national games appearing on broadcast or streaming, the strong League Pass streaming option and a fleet of creators pushing highlights out every night during the season (something the league engages in as well), you could argue the NBA has very little need for cable as it is, and is actively embracing a future with limited exposure to it.

Going even further, Major League Soccer was able to elevate its media revenues via a 10-year deal with Apple TV+ to air every live game with no local blackouts. There’s meat left on that bone, you could argue. And Apple’s household reach doesn’t necessarily wow observers (especially when you consider that MLS season ticket holders, the primary audience, get access to MLS Season Pass for free). But aside from contests that appear on Fox and/or the league’s deal with MVPDs that make Season Pass accessible, this is a league existing outside of the current cable structure and its effects.

The NHL does not have the large audience sizes that the NBA does, and will likely never get back to those heights again. It also lacks the audience struggles that MLS experiences. Still, it’s already further along toward finding MLS levels of success via streaming and digital than it thinks.

ESPN+ and Hulu already factor heavily into any viewing experience for fans of the entire NHL (or out-of-market fans like myself). The league has a growing footprint on TikTok to connect to younger audiences. Many regional sports networks are offered via streaming in local markets, to appease cord-cutters. The games that appear on ESPN and TNT during the regular season always take a backseat to other sports. Ripping the bandaid off could just mean meeting a growing number of viewers where they already are to showcase a national product that highlights a fun game, interesting teams and entertaining star players.

With a national product living on streaming and digital channels, you don’t lose the local flavor that the league succeeds with now. You gain a defined home in a way that MLS sort of has, and the NBA has developed over time with TNT (and may with Amazon soon).

Packaging a national product via digital also gets around the inherent issues the NHL has with so many (seven) Canadian teams. Borders become less problematic and you can create more fans of those teams — many of which are fun and successful — in the U.S. It’s also not as if there aren’t Canadian hockey fans in the U.S. Walk into any U.S. arena when a Canadian club is visiting and you’ll find a slew of opposing sweaters.

(TikTok views via Tubular Labs)

That extends digitally, too. Tubular Labs data shows that the Canadian clubs are some of the league’s most popular on TikTok (the Toronto Maple Leafs were No. 2 in the league this year by TikTok views). The Canadian clubs are almost certainly pulling in some of those views from the U.S. But what is are the teams doing with those viewers, no matter what country they’re from, after they watch a fun video or highlight?

Linking that sort of social video success to streaming video could create a pipeline that grows fandom for stars and teams across the league and flattens the NHL’s huge geographic footprint. A fully (or mostly) digital operation with viewership data that speaks across platforms could deliver a first-of-its-kind product: Something that’s delivering targeted game content on streaming platforms based on viewing history, and eventually, targeted advertising that piggybacks on that data.

Investing in a shift like that that foregos traditional cable packages is a risk, for sure. But at this point, what does the NHL have to lose by trying something completely unique and digital-first?