The NHL moved this year’s Winter Classic from New Year’s Day to New Year’s Eve in an apparent effort to avoid college football playoff games. Hockey fans responded by tuning into the annual outdoor game with record-low viewership.
The 2025 Winter Classic pitted the St. Louis Blues against the NHL’s worst team, the Chicago Blackhawks, at Wrigley Field. The Blues trounced the Blackhawks 6-2 in front of 40,933 — the NHL’s second sellout at the Cubs’ historic baseball stadium. Puck drop occurred in the afternoon at 4 pm.
Tuesday’s Blues-Blackhawks NHL Winter Classic from Wrigley Field in Chicago averaged 920,000 viewers across TNT and truTV, marking the smallest audience in the history of the annual outdoor game. The Blues’ win, which peaked with 1.2 million in the 6:45 PM ET quarter-hour, declined 16% from the previous low set last year (Golden Knights-Kraken: 1.10M) and 48% from Penguins-Bruins two years ago (1.78M).
After generating huge ratings in its debut — 3.75 million in 2008 as the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres played in the snow at Ralph Wilson Stadium on NBC — more and more hockey and national sports fans have tuned out as the outdoor game’s media rights changed, the date and time have fluctuated, and the novelty wore off.
Winter Classic viewers per year
| Year | Teams | Ratings (Avg. Viewers) |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | PIT/BUF | 3.75 million |
| 2009 | DET/CHI | 4.40 million |
| 2010 | PHI/BOS | 3.68 million |
| 2011 | WSH/PIT | 4.50 million |
| 2012 | NYR/PHI | 3.73 million |
| 2014 | TOR/DET | 4.40 million |
| 2015 | CHI/WSH; | 3.47 million |
| 2016 | MTL/BOS | 2.78 million |
| 2017 | CHI/STL | 2.56 million |
| 2018 | NYR/BUF | 1.4 million |
| 2019 | CHI/BOS | 2.97 million |
| 2020 | NSH/DAL | 1.96 million |
| 2022 | STL/MIN | 1.4 million |
| 2023 | PIT/BOS | 1.78 million |
| 2024 | VGK/SEA | 1.10 million |
| 2025 | STL/CHI | 920,000 |
While the 2025 Winter Classic avoided two big college football games on January 1 — the Peach Bowl between No. 4 Arizona State vs. No. 5 Texas and the Rose Bowl featuring No. 1 Oregon against No. 8 Ohio State — the NHL’s signature event overlapped with the Fiesta Bowl between No. 6 Penn State and No. 3 Boise State and the Citrus Bowl that featured No. 15 South Carolina vs No. 20 Illinois.
The Fighting Illini playing at the same time appears to have taken away viewers in the host market of Chicago. In 2019, the Winter Classic pulled in a 5.8 rating from the Chicago market during their previous appearance in the game. This year sank to 2.5 — more than half off. The Blackhawks’ lowly record and performance in the game likely also played a factor.
While the league saw the Winter Classic continue to erode its viewership, the outdoor game still delivered the NHL its largest audience of the season, beating out the Boston Bruins vs. Florida Panthers banner-raising night (790k) on ESPN.
Looking forward, next year’s Winter Classic could end up being played in the Sun Belt as the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning are both expected to host outdoor games next season, per Sportsnet.
The most tuned-in Winter Classic in history was the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals rivalry game held at Heinz Field in 2011. Elliotte Friedman floated a “goodbye” outdoor game between Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby — both players are nearing the ends of their legendary careers — though there’s been no reporting of the NHL having an interest in the two teams playing again soon.
