NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman gets terrible news
The latest viewership numbers for the 2025 NHL Winter Classic between the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues at historic Wrigley Field are in, and they're not good.
The Chicago Blackhawks and the St. Louis Blues met one another at historic Wrigley Field on New Year's Eve for this year's Winter Classic.
The game wasn't close, as the Blues won 6-2 with ease.
The problem for the National Hockey League and Commissioner Gary Bettman is that the ratings for the annual event continue to plummet, as it seems that the novelty of the event for everyone who isn't at the event is wearing off.
In fact, the ratings were the worst in the NHL Winter Classic's history, as an average of 920,000 viewers tuned into the broadcast.
Meanwhile, it likely didn't help the ratings considering the Blackhawks lack any meaningful star power beyond former 1st overall NHL Entry Draft pick Connor Bedard, and sit at the bottom of the Western Conference.
The viewership per year is as follows:
Year Teams Ratings (Avg. Viewers)
2008 PIT/BUF 3.75 million
2009 DET/CHI 4.40 million
2010 PHI/BOS 3.68 million
2011 WSH/PIT 4.50 million
2012 NYR/PHI 3.73 million
2014 TOR/DET 4.40 million
2015 CHI/WSH 3.47 million
2016 MTL/BOS 2.78 million
2017 CHI/STL 2.56 million
2018 NYR/BUF 1.4 million
2019 CHI/BOS 2.97 million
2020 NSH/DAL 1.96 million
2022 STL/MIN 1.4 million
2023 PIT/BOS 1.78 million
2024 VGK/SEA. 1.10 million
2025 STL/CHI 920,000
