Gary Bettman blasted for ridiculous rule leading to horrible NHL viewership numbers

The NHL and regional blackouts appear to go hand in hand, which is now causing problems in terms of their viewership numbers which are in sharp decline.

Drew Lerner, of the blog 'Awful Announcing', recently reported that the NHL saw a discouraging drop in viewership to begin the season. On opening night, with three games, the league averaged only 559,000 viewers, which was a steep 39% decline compared to last year's numbers. The NHL games even trailed behind Major League Baseball, and even the WNBA was ahead, too, which further underlined the league's failure to keep up with audience interest.

It's somewhat expected when the NHL lost viewers to the playoffs of more popular sports, but being passed by the WNBA is new and concerning. That move really raises some serious questions as to the strategy and ability of the league once other sports gain momentum.

Of course, one contributing factor to this decline in viewership is that the NHL fanbase is decidedly aging. As Lerner mentions, professional sports markets are aging, and continue to get older regarding hockey. Younger people, more digitally aware and accustomed to on-demand content, simply do not lean towards a product that appears hard to gain access to. First was subscribing, then streaming, and pirating of games confused them-, especially the older generation of fans.

Instead, it's compounded by the fact that the NHL has regional restrictions in place; depending on where people live and the broadcasting agreements the league has in place, that's where they can watch the games. It's counterintuitive for a generation that assumes all content should be available at any time. The most consistent casualties of these blackouts happen to be some of the staunchest, locally passionate fans, the last ones the league and Gary Bettman should alienate if it wants to grow its audience.

If it wants to turn that around, and its viewership numbers improve, Gary Bettman needs to work with modern expectations. He has to consider the NHL's blackout policy and streamlining how people can access games a lot easier. Otherwise, he continues alienating its core base of fans and misses the chance to get new viewers. The league will have to evolve or be at the mercy of dwindling relevance within an increasingly competitive sports landscape.

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