Which game drew the largest global TV audience in NHL history?
The largest global audience for an NHL game was game 7 of last year’s NHL Stanley Cup final (31.4MM global viewers compared to 23.6MM for the NBA final) The largest TV audience for an NHL game in the US was game 6 of the 1973 Stanley Cup playoffs The largest TV audience foir an NHL game in Canada was game 7 of the Toronto/Los Angeles series in 1993 (4.37MM) The 2002 Gold Medal Game between Canada and the US (Salt Lake City) drew the largest global audience (44.8MM viewers), and the largest US audience (22.56MM viewers) – again a larger audience than any of the NBA’s dream team finals (16.8MM watched the 1996 Gold Medal Basketball game in Atlanta) Game 8 of the 1972 Summit Series drew the largest Canadian audience (5.6MM people) Some things to keep in mind In 1975, there were 77MM TVs in the US and the average person had access to 11.2 channels (from A.C. Neilson) In 2005 there were 183MM TVs in the US, and the average person has access to 117.6 channels The highest average US audience
