Blackhawks broadcast blunder: Fans tune out in record numbers
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Television analyst Darren Pang interviews Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks prior to the start of a game in 2024. Photo: Bill Smith/NHLI via Getty Images
The Chicago Blackhawks are in the midst of a rebuild on the ice, and new ratings suggest they may have to rebuild their audience, too.
The big picture: A new report by the Sports Business Journal says the television ratings for the 2024/25 Blackhawks were down 78% from the previous year.
- That amounts to about 40,000 fewer households watching.
Between the lines: The ratings drop could be from poor play on the ice, but it's likely due to viewers having difficulty finding a way to watch the games.
Context: The Chicago Sports Network (CHSN), owned by the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families, launched last October but stumbled early, failing to secure a distribution deal with Comcast.
- Comcast holds the largest market share in local cable television, representing over a million television viewers.
- Without Comcast, the network secured secondary deals with DirecTV and others and made the channel available for free for viewers with digital antennas. Later, it offered its streaming app.
Yes, but: It's clear that none of the secondary moves have moved the needle.
What they're saying: Blackhawks owner Danny Wirtz complained that the report didn't take into account all the metrics, but still recognized the problem.
- "At the end of the day, the availability of our games on TV this past season was unacceptable — and our fans deserve better," Wirtz said in a recent statement.
Flashback: This isn't the first time the 'Hawks have fumbled with airing games. Former owner Bill Wirtz (Danny Wirtz's grandfather) notoriously kept the Blackhawks off television because he believed that if people watched games on television, they wouldn't buy tickets to see them at the stadium.
What's next: There may be hope for Comcast fans. The Sun-Times reported that WGN-TV is open to airing some of the CHSN games if the fledgling network can't secure a Comcast deal, which looks more and more unlikely.
- A return to WGN-TV would be massive for the onetime superstation that rid itself of live sports programming in 2019. Any move would only broadcast select games, not an entire season.
- "I am focused on finding potential solutions for next season with our partners at CHSN," Wirtz said. "We are about to celebrate 100 years of hockey as well as usher in the next generation on the ice. I am committed to ensuring our fans can see that."
The bottom line: It's not easy to watch the Blackhawks as they struggle through an exhausting rebuild, but it's even harder if you do want to watch. And that's a problem.