While the NBA has stolen most of the headlines recently with uncertainty around the league’s media rights beyond next season, the NHL is making some media news as well. The NHL’s Eastern Conference Final featuring the New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers is up 42% over last year’s Western Conference Final on the ESPN Networks, averaging 2.2 million total viewers through three games. Currently the Rangers lead the series two games to one.
Sunday’s Game 3 of the Easter Conference Final saw the Rangers win 5-4 in overtime. The game was carried by ABC and averaged 2.4 million total viewers and peaked at 3.81 million viewers. That number is up 94% over last year’s Western Conference Final Game 3, which was carried by ESPN, and up 59% over last year’s ECF on TNT.
Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch notes viewership for the ECF is just about even with two years ago, the last time the Rangers were in the series. He also pointed out Sunday’s ECF game 3 was the second largest audience of the postseason so far, with Game 7 of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins first round series taking the top spot.
Overall, through 38 games, the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the ESPN Networks are averaging 1.32 million viewers which is up 19% versus the same time a year ago.
