Daily Faceoff
National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman spoke to the media Saturday in a press conference prior to the 2023 NHL All-Star Game in Sunrise, Florida. Bettman is celebrating 30 years on the job this weekend after being named the NHL’s first commissioner in 1993.
There were a number of topics floated Saturday and Bettman spoke on the viral television ratings that were revealed in a report indicating that the NHL’s average viewership in the United States was down from 478,000 to 373,000 this season, a whopping 22 percent. The report also stated that one of the main reasons the NHL has seen such a decline in year-to-year viewership is due to regional blackouts via TNT as well as competition with the NFL on weekends.