After encountering difficulties in attracting substantial audiences at the start of the season, hockey is witnessing a resurgence. The 4 Nations Face-Off, a round robin competition featuring the United States, Canada, Sweden, and Finland, has replaced this year’s NHL All-Star festivities and is off to an excellent start in viewership. According to Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, Thursday’s game between the United States and Finland garnered the largest hockey audience this season, averaging 1.55 million viewers on ESPN. This surpasses the previous high—a Golden Knights-Bruins game on ABC—which averaged 1.27 million viewers.
The Americans’ 6-1 victory marked the most-watched non-playoff NHL-affiliated game on any network since the Winter Classic in 2023. Notably, the USA-Finland matchup drew a larger audience than any NHL All-Star Game since 2020, when NBC recorded 1.7 million viewers for the event. The game performed admirably against other sports programming on Thursday, surpassing a Memphis Grizzlies-Minnesota Timberwolves game on TNT (1.11 million) and coming in just behind the NASCAR Duel at Daytona on FS1 (1.84 million).
The 4 Nations Face-Off is providing a much-needed boost for hockey in the United States. Following significant declines in viewership on Opening Night, a record-low audience for the Winter Classic, and woefully low audiences during its regular season broadcasts on ESPN and TNT, this week’s international competition could provide the momentum needed for the remainder of the season. Anticipate an even larger audience on Saturday night when the United States faces Canada at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
