Record Revenues and Attendance: The business of the NHL was stronger than ever in calendar year 2023, and revenues for the 2023-24 season are projected to exceed $6 billion. Total attendance for the 2022-23 regular season was the highest ever and up 7.9% from 2021-22. NHL teams are playing to 96.3% capacity in 2023-24, the second highest rate at this stage of a season on record (behind 2012-13: 97.2%). Other top hits from 2023 from the business realm include:
There are now 70 corporate partners on the NHL roster, with AstraZeneca, PENN Entertainment (ESPN Bet & theScore Bet), Moosehead Breweries and Kal Tire added in 2023.
After generating over $40M in incremental revenue in 2022-23, Digitally Enhanced Dasherboards (DEDs) won the SBJ’s Sports Breakthrough of the Year award and were nominated for the George Wensel Technical Achievement Award at the 2023 Sports Emmys – where NHL Productions claimed the top honor for Outstanding Edited Event Coverage.
NHL Blast launched on the Roblox platform in April, another step for the NHL in immersive fan experience and connecting with younger fans. In its first four months, NHL Blast hosted nearly 15 million total visits from over 4.5 million unique users driving over one million hours of engagement – higher usage compared to other sports properties’ Roblox experiences at the same stage.
The NHL made history on March 14, in partnership with Disney and ESPN, with a national telecast of the *NHL Big City Greens Classic* – a first-of-its-kind live hockey game animated in real-time (leveraging NHL EDGE technology).