Home › Media › ABC › Heated U.S.-Canada face-off delivers red hot 4.4 million on ABC
Feb 15, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team United States forward Matthew Tkachuk (19) and Team Canada forward brandon Hagel (38) fight in the first period during a 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey game at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
Out of seemingly nowhere, the NHL has stumbled upon one of its biggest draws in recent years, the Four Nations Face-Off.
Saturday’s United States-Canada NHL Four Nations Face-Off game averaged 4.4 million viewers, per Nielsen fast-nationals — trailing only Game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final (Oilers-Panthers: 7.67M) as the most-watched NHL-affiliated telecast of any kind in the past two years.
The United States’ win, which peaked with 5.2 million viewers, delivered the largest NHL audience outside of the Stanley Cup Final since 2019, when NBC averaged 4.7 million for a Blue Jackets-Bruins playoff game that followed the Kentucky Derby. It delivered the largest non-playoff NHL audience since the 2011 Winter Classic (Penguins-Capitals: 4.5M).
As goes without saying, it was the most-watched NHL telecast of the season. The Four Nations Face-Off now accounts for three of the six largest NHL audiences this season, with the United States’ opener against Finland ranking second (1.55M) and Canada’s opener against Sweden sixth (1.05M).
Among all non-football sportscasts, only five have averaged a larger audience since the World Series, all of them boosted by holiday out-of-home viewing — four NBA Christmas Day games on ESPN/ABC and a Thanksgiving Day Illinois-Arkansas college basketball game on CBS that had a direct lead-in from the NFL.
Given the size of the audience Saturday night, it is entirely possible the hockey game outdrew the competing NBA All-Star Saturday Night on TNT, preliminary figures for which were unavailable. Last year’s All-Star Saturday Night averaged 4.6 million.
The United States-Canada rivalry is always a marquee draw — their Olympic gold medal game in 2010 averaged nearly 28 million viewers in an era before out-of-home viewing — and Saturday’s matchup was particularly resonant given the broader political context. When the teams met in the Olympics three years ago, a tournament that crucially did not include NHL players, the matchup had just 1.22 million on USA Network.
The Four Nations Face-Off, a replacement for the NHL’s annual All-Star Game, has delivered in the ratings like few NHL events in league history.
Jon Lewis has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. You can contact him here or on the social media websites X (Twitter), Threads or Bluesky.
The Four Nations Face-Off delivered another strong audience Monday night.
In the interest of trying something new — and old — Sports Media Watch presents thoughts on the weekend…
The NHL Four Nations Face-Off delivered another impressive audience Thursday night as the United States played its first game.
The NHL may have something with its new “Four Nations Face-Off.”
Hi John, any update on the NBA ALL-Star game numbers? Thanks again for all the work you do.
Just Friday, working on a post now. Weekend numbers delayed to Wednesday due to Presidents Day.
These are remarkable numbers. I am curious to see what happens on Thursday night. US-Canada rematch on ESPN only. As Jon noted, there is no way ESPN is going to give up exclusive rights for this game. But I do wonder if the final can beat Saturday night’s game on ABC. So many factors. 1. The game Saturday was the first best vs best game in 9 years. 2. Game was on ABC. 3. Very little sports competition (best college games were earlier, and the NBA had its All-Star Saturday night, instead of regular slew of games). I think Thursday will bring some challenges to get to that Saturday number again. It may be close, but I think it will take a lot to get the viewership number higher than Saturday.
Regarding the future, it will be interesting to see what hockey does. I think the Olympics next year will be a great opportunity for NBC to showcase hockey with the professionals playing. In the past, NBC would show 1 team USA game and then the gold medal game. The rest of the games would be relegated to USA cable (or going back further to NBCSN). Next year, there will be even greater anticipation with more countries included (and fingers crossed they can include Russian players even if they are under a unified team). I think NBC can use their morning coverage to show more hockey. Using that 10am-1pm window to put the USA game (or a showcase game if US is not playing). As for the World Cup that is scheduled to take place in 2028, I am curious to see if the rights for the tournament will be bid on? Or if this will be ESPN and Turner splitting it? If rights are to be bid on, this would be a great opportunity for Turner to go all in on this. With Turner losing the NBA, they could really invest in hockey. And, put a stamp on this tournament. Be the exclusive rights holder. This could be huge with first round games internationally being played in Europe. Turner will be covering the French Open, so, they can build an international platform. And, without any other winter sports, there would be no issues with game conflicts. There studio show is better than ESPNs. This could be a big win for Turner.
Finally, I imagine the All Star game will still be played the years without the World Cup or Olympics. Best format going forward would be team North America (US and Canada) vs the world. It will keep the international focus.
The championship game would do huge numbers on ABC instead of ESPN but I see why ESPN would want to put the game on its own network. I think you would agree Dr Lewis that this has been a success for ESPN and TNT Sports and the NHL
Been a big, unexpected hit for the NHL. I imagine they had high hopes, but this must be going way beyond even their highest expectations.
Any numbers on the entertaining Sweden v. Finland earlier in the day on Saturday?
Not yet — due to the holiday those won’t be out until Wednesday. I think ESPN ordered fast-nationals just for USA-Canada.
IIRC, ABC was going to show Game 7 of the ECF had NYR won Game 6 over FLA.
True — had forgotten about that. So there is some precedent. Still, I think ESPN will want this for itself.
Now the plan going forward is every 2 years there’s an Olympics or World Cup of Hockey (each being played once every 4 years). I think depending on matchup luck they could be consistently hitting 20+ million in Olympic finals and 10+ million in World Cup finals.
Do we think the NHL will still have a all star game in future years even with World Cup of hockey and Olympics going on?
Thanks for the last line of this article, Paulsen. Irrespective of other grander conclusions elsewhere online, hockey needed something (until next year’s Olympics) that wasn’t a half-speed dog with fleas on ice for this time in February and got more than they ever could’ve imagined. Canada-U.S.A. will be fantastic Thursday, unless Canada slips up tomorrow afternoon.
Great research you did on the NHL viewership numbers. Very impressive.
The Olympics next year will be an insane tournament to watch and many eyes will be on it
Do you believe there’s a possibility that the final could be moved to ABC?
I don’t see ESPN giving up an audience of that size.
Then Do we expect for ABC to simulcast the Final with ESPN like how they do for other events (or even make the final air on Disney+ especially if it’s US vs Canada again)?
I just want to thank you for your service Jon!
How does that work? Isnt ESPN and ABC the same company? Could you explain that for me? Thanks.
ESPN and ABC are the same company but they operate as 2 different tv networks (one is over the air and the other is cable)
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