After missing out on the playoffs in 2017-18, it’s difficult to find too many positives from the St. Louis Blues this season. As disappointing as the year was, there were a few notable positives, including Vince Dunn’s strong play, Brayden Schenn’s offensive production and some impressive local TV ratings.
According to the SportsBusiness Journal, the Blues had the third-highest local television ratings of any U.S. NHL team.
No U.S.-based NHL team had higher local reg.-season TV ratings than the Pittsburgh Penguins this year.
Lowest TV ratings? Anaheim.
Biggest gainer? Preds.
Biggest decline? NY Rangers.
Interesting data from team at @sbjsbd pic.twitter.com/oM0CRvHDPz— Rick Westhead (@rwesthead) April 24, 2018
Aside from calling the Minnesota Wild the Minneapolis Wild, the charts above are pretty interesting.
Here’s the highest local rankings:
Pittsburgh Penguins: 5.81%
Buffalo Sabres: 4.62%
St. Louis Blues: 3.93%
Minnesota Wild: 3.43%
Boston Bruins: 2.95%
The Blues finishing third in local ratings shouldn’t be a surprise. For years they’ve drawn some large numbers on Fox Sports Midwest, and that trend appears to be continuing. The Blues have passionate fans in St. Louis and appear to be slowly gaining a larger profile in the city.
However, it will be interesting to see how the ratings shape up in 2018-19 coming off of a disappointing season. The ratings should remain strong, but the team will need to make some moves to create some buzz around the lineup.
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