Tom Mayenknecht: Strong sports spring reflected in big broadcast numbers

Montreal Canadiens fans stand for the Canadian national anthem prior to Game 4 of the National Hockey League Eastern Conference Final playoff against the Carolina Hurricanes in Montreal Monday. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

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Bulls of the Week

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In what has been a remarkable spring of sport television audiences in everything from the NCAA Final Four and the Masters in Augusta, Ga. to the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh and the record-setting Kentucky Derby in Louisville, the NHL and NBA continued to please rights-holders and advertisers alike with ratings for their shoulder-to-shoulder playoffs.

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The NBA has led in the category of seven-game series, and they will benefit again from the ratings spike that accompanies Game 7 on Saturday night when the defending Larry O’Brien Trophy holders — the Oklahoma City Thunder — host the San Antonio Spurs in a Western-Conference finale that is expected to deliver NBA Finals-type numbers well north of 10 million in average U.S. viewership.

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Fast-forward to next week when one of those two small-market clubs take on the Eastern Conference champion New York Knicks and we’ll record dramatic highs in get-in ticket prices, merchandise sales, social media impressions and television audiences. That’s what pent-up demand will do for you in the Big Apple, the biggest media market in North America. The Knicks haven’t been in the NBA Finals since 1999.

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The NHL could have used more game sevens in these playoffs, but the most recent one between the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres typified the kind of bull market it’s been for hockey ratings on both sides of the border this spring. That game seven drew a combined North American average viewership of eight million, five million of which tuned in in Canada on Sportsnet, CBC and TVA Sports. American TV audiences have been in the all-time high stratosphere but they still can’t compare with Canadian numbers. Using the Montreal-Buffalo Game 7 as an example, Canadians outwatched Americans 14:1 on a per-capita basis. That’s why Canada continues to drive a matter so profoundly to NHL economics. It also shows the power of heritage brands, with the Canadiens being the most-watched NHL playoff team this year, even in the U.S.

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Meanwhile, it was another feather-in-the-cap week for Bill Foley, the principal owner of the Vegas Golden Knights. With his team sweeping the heavily-favoured Colorado Avalanche from the NHL playoffs in the western conference final, Foley’s club has now reached the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in nine years of unrivalled expansion success. His mantlepiece features one Stanley Cup win over the Florida Panthers (2023), a berth in the final in their first year of play against the Washington Capitals (2018) and now another berth in their ninth year.

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The Golden Knights — who have only missed the playoffs in one of their nine seasons — await the winner of the eastern conference final between the favoured Carolina Hurricanes and the now heavy underdog Montreal Canadiens. Imagine those Vegas-like riches and rewards for a fan base in less than one decade of play when teams such as the 1970 expansion Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabres are both still waiting to cash for a first time in 56 years.

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Foley spoiled an otherwise terrific month for Avalanche owner Stan Kroenke, whose Arsenal FC won the English Premiership two weeks ago. Kroenke has won four of the five major North American men’s league championships and five different major global titles.