Huge ratings for Gold Medal Game

• End of Line

  

  http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/People-watch-hockey-Gold-medal-ratings-huge-for?urn=nhl,224998
  

  Steve Lepore of Puck The Media passed along the first glimpse of the enormous ratings success in the U.S. for the gold medal game against Canada: 17.6/33 overnight rating, via Sports Business Daily. Writes Lepore:
  
  This is up 46% from the 2002 USA/Canada showdown, and will very likely be the highest-rated hockey game since 1980. The share means that 1 in every 3 Americans with a TV were watching the game. This is, to put it professionally, out of this world.
  
  Sports Media Watch offers further perspective on the hockey numbers:
  
  Sunday's game drew a higher overnight rating than every World Series game since 2004 (including every game of Yankees/Phillies last year), every NBA Finals telecast since 1998, and every NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four game since at least '98.
  
  Excluding the NFL, the 17.6 overnight for the game is the second-highest of the year for any sporting event, behind only the Texas/Alabama BCS National Championship Game in January (18.2).

• gorocks99

  

  Just remember, Gary Bettman wants to take away his league's highest rated television event. What a dumbass.
• End of Line

  

  Bettman is an ass clown.
• thavoice

  Bettman has concerncs because the games will be live in the middle of the nithe.
  
  
  Tremendous ratings. Even more than I expected! I know there was A L O T of buzz. We planned a family thing around it....had the whole fam.....and nieces and nephews and all.
• queencitybuckeye

  gorocks99 wrote: Just remember, Gary Bettman wants to take away his league's highest rated television event. What a dumbass.

  The NHL only benfits if there's a carryover effect. Time will tell.
• ts1227

  

  Even if the NHL benefits, they're not going to benefit anywhere near enough to compete with the NFL, MLB, NBA any time soon. This is what happens when you sign your media contract with Versus.
  
  The players want to do it... and they will get it in their next bargaining agreement, guaranteed.
• gorocks99

  

  Well duh it won't be on par with the other three big US sports. But you can't tell me the NHL doesn't benefit now that approximately 30 million more people are familiar with names of young stars not names Crosby and Ovechkin, like Ryan Miller and Patrick Kane.
• thavoice

  I think their contract is up soon with VS.
  
  I dont know how much it has helped VS ratings at all. Havnt seen it.
  
  They didnt decide real early to send NHL guys to this olympics. You can bet they will send them to russia..no doubt.
• Azubuike24

  

  As yous aw the reaction of Alex O. in his interview with Roenick, he WILL go to the Olympics. If that means not being a part of an NHL team for the next Olympic season, that's what he will do. That's what most of the European players will do, and probably some Americans and Canadians.
  
  To put it mildly, the NHL better find a way to keep NHL players in the Olympics or it will be a complete P.R. nightmare for the league and they will lose a lot of talent and fans of the sport.
• Gobuckeyes1

  I will be pretty surprised if there isn't at least a small carryover effect for the NHL. I am anticipating at least a slight increase in attendance and TV ratings for the rest of the season...
  
  Bettman would be an idiot to not allow NHL players in the Olympics. Exposing the casual sports fan to hockey is a good thing...
• september63

  

  I see no rating spike for the NHL. How many homes in Versus even in? 70%? I watched and I usually watch some playoffs and the entire Stanley Cup finals. One regular season game. The outdoor game each year is pretty cool.
• thavoice

  ^OH i dont think it comes close to 70% of the people. No way.
• End of Line

  

  ^^^^^I agree. DirecTv is in 16million homes and it's no where near 70%
• tk421

  

  I've never even really heard of Versus. I'd be surprised if it had 10 million subscribers.
• gorocks99

  

  My guess is it's probably closer to 20-30 million subscribers. Comcast (which has something like 16 million digital cable subscribers) carries it on the same package as ESPN.