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NHL needs to stagger start times to make 16-game slates viable

By Josh Kestenbaum | Last updated 3/29/23

More marketing innovation could be on the way from the NHL, but for it to be positive, it needs to be done right.

On a segment of TSN’s Insider Trading on Tuesday, Darren Dreger reported that the NHL is contemplating new ways to market its product and brought up two possibilities. According to Dreger, the league is weighing planning a weeknight where all 32 teams are in action as well as the possibility of breaking the world record for continually-running games.

The latter would lean into the NHL’s Global Series bringing regular season games to Australia for the first time ever, which would allow for nearly around-the-clock action. But the success of both ideas hinges especially on one aspect: staggering start times.

In recent history, the league has been criticized by the media and its fans for scheduling most of its games to start at the same time. On most nights, games start on the hours with some variation. Last season, on April 29, 2022, there were 30 teams in action. With 15 games on the docket, seven of them began at 7 p.m. Eastern and another three all started at 8 p.m.

And they will all start at the same time. https://t.co/g1Bl91Og9y
— BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) March 29, 2023

The NHL will have 32 teams in action in one day for the first time ever next week on Saturday, April 8. Because that is a Saturday, it would be easier to stagger the start times but the league still found a way to fumble the situation.

While the first five games each have unique start times, there are still five games starting at 7 p.m., two at 8 p.m. and two at 10 p.m. If the league scheduled each game to start half an hour after the previous one with the first game still at 12:30 pm., the latest puck drop would be at 8 p.m. on a 16-game slate.

This is only a good idea if they start the games at like 9 AM and stagger them throughout the day. The COVID bubble days were insane https://t.co/TC4Ccxoz5c
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) March 28, 2023

When multiple games start at the same time, they go to intermission at the same time. It is harder to get viewers to tune in to other games and see other teams if every game is on a break.

Part of what makes the NFL so successful is that the league owns a day of the week and they stagger their kick-off times to fill that time. There are some weeks when football fans can watch games without interruption from 10 a.m. to midnight.

It is exciting for fans to hear that the NHL is continuing to research ways to market and grow its product, especially after the success of the Big City Greens Classic earlier this month. But unless the league and its partners go all in and do it right, it will fall flat.

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