One of the more interesting stories this past week regarded the American sports television giant, ESPN. Over the past week, we have seen amazing resurgence with hockey, and bad news regarding baseball.
First. let’s get to hockey, where ESPN had remarkable television ratings for The Four Nations Faceoff final between Canada and the United States at the Toronto Dominion Garden in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday. A total of 9.3 million viewers watched Canada beat the United States 3-2 in overtime on a game-winning goal by reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers. This was the most viewed sporting event on ESPN+ (not including the National Football League) and the most viewed sporting event (besides the National Football League or College Football) since 2004. Twenty-one years ago ESPN had strong ratings for the 2004 NBA Finals as the Detroit Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one. It should be noted that the series was shown on ABC, which owns ESPN.
