In November of 2003, history was made in the NHL as the Heritage Classic between the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens marked the first time in NHL history that a regular season game was played outdoors. For the CBC, this event was a giant success as the game averaged 2,747,000 viewers, which marks the second-highest audience for a regular-season NHL game in Canada. On the other hand, for viewers in the United States, this game was not treated as such an event like it was in Canada and was only made available to watch through the NHL’s Center Ice package.
It would not be until eight years later, in February of 2011, that the second edition of the Heritage Classic would be played. This time the event was held at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta with the game being between the Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens. For this second edition of the Heritage Classic, the CBC averaged 2,100,000 viewers, which was once again considered a massive success for the league in Canada. In addition to being nationally televised in Canada, this time the event was also on national television in the United States with the game being televised on Versus (eventually became NBCSN) and averaged 608,000 viewers throughout the window. For the NHL and NBC Sports, this was considered a success, and the game would also go on to become one of the most-watched on the year for Versus.
The third Heritage Classic was played in 2014 at BC Place in Vancouver, Canada. The teams for the game were the Vancouver Canucks and the Ottawa Senators. This was one of six outdoor games for the 2013-2014 NHL season, and the topic of over-saturation for these “spectacles” would begin to become mainstream. As of 2023, there are still no television numbers publicly available for this event in Canada or the United States.
For the 2016-2017 NHL season, the fourth Heritage Classic was played on October 22, 2016, in Winnipeg, Manitoba with the Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets being the teams in action. This time, the Heritage Classic would air on Sportsnet in Canada, which would mark the first time that the event would not air on the CBC. In the United States, the game would also take a setback as the event was simulcasted on NHL Network. There are currently no television numbers available for the event, but it is safe to assume that there was a reasonable decline compared to previous editions.
On October 26, 2019, the fifth edition of the Heritage Classic was played at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan with the game being between the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets. In Canada, the event would be aired as a part of Hockey Night in Canada with a 10:00p ET start time. Like the previous edition, in the United States, the event would be simulcasted on NBCSN. For the television numbers, the game averaged a record-low of 176,000 viewers on NBCSN, with Canadian television numbers not available. For NBCSN, the game received a lead-in of 389,000 viewers from a Stanley Cup Final rematch with the Blues-Bruins, which puts it more into perspective on how little this event was cared about for United States hockey fans.
In March of 2022, the sixth and latest edition of the Heritage Classic was held in Hamilton, Ontario with the game being between the Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs. This would be the first time that an American team would play in the Heritage Classic. In Canada, the game would move back to Sportsnet for the broadcast, and in the United States, with a new television deal, TNT would cover the event. For United States viewers, this would mark the first time that the event wasn’t simulcasted since 2014. The Sabres win would average 348,000 viewers for TNT, which marked a massive viewership increase of 98% compared to the previous Heritage Classic in 2019 (176K).
Now, in October of 2023, we are preparing for the seventh edition of the Heritage Classic with Warner Bros. Discovery Sports once again providing their own coverage for the event, so what type of viewership can we expect? Well, tonight’s game will be going head-to-head with NFL competition, unlike the 2022 edition, and there won’t be an American team involved this time around, so we are likely looking at somewhere lower than 300K for viewership, at the least. The only positive for viewership is that Connor McDavid will be returning tonight, and one would hope that drives some fans to watch. In the end, it is this simple, the Heritage Classic is an event for Canadian viewers, not for ones in the United States. With outdoor games being over-saturated and not drawing anywhere near the numbers they once were, it is good enough for us United States viewers to just see one of the NHL’s broadcast partners actually cover this event.
