NHL’s international best-on-best tournament drew big ratings, sold-out crowds
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The 4 Nations Face-Off continues to be a success for the NHL.
The international best-on-best tournament — which was run by the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association — that was held from Feb. 12-20 and captivated sports fans all over the world, was named Sports Event of the Year at the SBJ Sports Business Awards in New York on Wednesday.
Born out of innovation and creativity to bring international best-on-best competition back to the NHL schedule, the 4 Nations Face-Off was held in two cities with rich hockey histories — Montreal and Boston — to sold-out crowds. All games in the 4 Nations Face-Off were played in accordance with NHL rules, which provided an added level of entertainment and competitive intensity.
The 4 Nations Face-Off, which was won by Canada, was a bonanza in every measurable way — player buy-in, attendance, television ratings, corporate sponsor support and revenue generation, social media engagement, merchandise sales and media coverage and impressions.
The USA-Canada championship game drew 16.1 million viewers (9.3 million in the U.S on ESPN; 6.8 million in Canada), making it the second most-watched hockey game in North America in a decade. One out of every four Canadians watched the championship game on Sportsnet platforms. The USA-Canada rematch was the most-watched non-NFL event ever on ESPN+.
Across North America, the full 4 Nations Face-Off tournament garnered an average audience of 6.5 million viewers, up 256 percent from the World Cup of Hockey 2016 (ABC/ESPN/TNT/TRU/SN/SN+/CITY/TVA Sports).
The six round-robin games delivered an average audience of 4.6 million viewers across North America, up 226 percent from the comparable World Cup of Hockey 2016 average audience (SN/SN+/CITY/ABC/ESPN/TNT/TRU/TVA Sports).
