No sport may be having a better year than hockey.
The sport received a boost from the Olympics (including a U.S.-Canada overtime thriller for the Gold medal), following last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off (another U.S.-Canada overtime final). Shows like Heated Rivalry (HBO Max), Off Campus (Amazon Prime), and Shoresy (Hulu) are introducing the sport to new audiences. But the most telling sign of the sport’s growth may be the recent success of NHL teams from outside the traditional “Hockey Belt” of the Northeast and Midwest.
This decade has seen four Stanley Cup winners from Florida and one each from Denver, Las Vegas, and Raleigh. This success has helped to strengthen the sport in areas that the NHL first began developing through expansion and relocation 30 years ago.
The NHL has continued to build its core Northeast and Midwest markets, while developing new hotbeds in areas that were mostly untapped 25 years ago. Comparing NHL fandom with Sports Poll data from this decade vs. the 1990s, we can see how interest has grown. The 1990s NHL fan base was heavily concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest (plus a pocket in Colorado with the recently transplanted Avalanche).
Today, the NHL enjoys a more balanced national fan base. The largest increases over the past 30 years include new NHL markets in Nevada (with the Golden Knights), North Carolina (Hurricanes), Tennessee (Predators), Washington (Kraken), and Utah (Mammoth). With interest rising in non-traditional markets and pop culture events introducing the sport to new segments of the population, there is potential for even greater gains in the future.
For more information on sports throughout the entire United States, reach out to us.
Sports Poll by SSRS is conducted continuously throughout the year and includes a nationally representative sample of more than 24,000 Americans each year.
