The Winter Classic Ratings Are In And They’re Not Pretty… Like At All

This season’s edition of the NHL Winter Classic was held on New Year’s Eve after last season’s Winter Classic on New Year’s Day found itself getting shellacked in the ratings thanks in large part to the fact that it was in direct competition with the Rose Bowl.

So did the move work?

It appears that it did not, but there is more to it.

According to Newsweek, the game between the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues at Wrigley Field — which the Blues won 6-2 —drew an average of 920,000 viewers on TNT and TruTV (peaking at 1.2 million). That makes it the lowest-rated Winter Classic ever, substantially below last season’s Winter Classic between the Seattle Kraken and the Vegas Golden Knights.

That’s not ideal — and it’s even a 48 percent drop since the Bruins and Penguins played outdoors at Fenway two years ago — but the league seems to have shot itself in the foot in other ways that doomed the move to New Year’s Eve.

The Winter Classic ratings are in and they’re not great despite the event moving to New Year’s Eve. (Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images)

First of all, the matchup this year? Bad.

Now, picking these matchups can be like trying to design a flu vaccine. It’s a guess. Some years it works, some years it doesn’t. 

Sure, it’s a historic rivalry, and getting Conner Bedard in an outdoor game is a good call. But you don’t want teams that are out of the playoff picture and while the Blues are playing better, the Blackhawks are horrendous.

There weren’t really any interesting storylines to speak of that would make people want to watch two of the Central Division’s worst teams play outside.

Secondly, the smart move would be to make the Winter Classic the only hockey game of the day. This was not the case. There were 13 games on the schedule some of which competed with the Winter Classic.

When the game is on cable, to begin with, maybe don’t give hockey fans who would otherwise watch the Winter Classic the opportunity to watch their team.

Oddly enough, the league instead decided to put just one game on tap for New Year’s Day.

I don’t get it either…

Furthermore, the Winter Classic got started at around 5 pm on the East Coast. That meant that it competed with the Fiesta Bowl for part of the night, as well as the Cheez-It Bowl.

Sure, it’s impossible to avoid competing with bowl games completely, but had the game started a bit earlier like it has in the past — like maybe 2 pm Eastern — it wouldn’t have run into the Fiesta Bowl.

The NHL needs to figure this out in a hurry because the Winter Classic is a great event, that deserves eyeballs. However, they haven’t been helping it in recent years.

Hopefully, they learn before next season’s game, which is rumored to be happening in Florida.