Gary Bettman wants better timeslot for Olympic hockey gold medal game
Awful Announcing • • sports
Key Points:
- The U.S.-Canada men's hockey gold medal game at the 2026 Olympics drew 18.6 million viewers on NBC, peaking at 26 million during overtime, marking NBC’s second-best Olympic hockey rating ever and validating the NHL's decision to send players to the Games.
- NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman criticized the early 8:10 a.m. ET start time, attributing it to lower viewership than possible, and suggested the rating could have been twice as high if the game aired later in the day like in 2010.
- The early start was due to Olympic scheduling constraints, with the Closing Ceremony in Verona requiring teams to finish the game by mid-afternoon; the IOC prioritized event logistics over U.S. broadcast
