Hockey is one of the most popular sports in the world, with billions of fans across the globe. But for many years, hockey has been declining in interest, especially among younger people. With the world’s top hockey players commanding huge paychecks and the sport’s popularity in America on the wane, many people are wondering if hockey will end up as just a niche sport for older generations.
The Hockey Writers’ Association tracked hockey interest across 55 nations between the ages of 15 and 24. The study found that interest in hockey is at an all-time low, with just 16 percent of respondents citing the sport as one of their top three preferences. Only the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. have seen a sharp decline in hockey interest, with Mexico, China, and Japan bucking the trend.
One of the primary reasons for this decline is that many of today’s top players are making six- and seven-figure salaries and are therefore unable to play for less than the top international teams. For instance, Alex Ovechkin, the captain of the Washington Capitals, is one of the highest-paid athletes in the world and earns an estimated US$10 million per year. In 2022, he will become a free agent and is expected to eventually sign a contract with the U.S. The Hockey Writers’ Association found that only 1 percent of respondents cite money as the primary reason for not watching or playing hockey.
Hockey has been around for more than a century and continues to be a popular sport across the globe, so much so that it became the first Winter Olympic sport in 1928. But if today’s players are looking for less traditional hockey experiences, and with professional sports leagues investing heavily in equipment and facilities, might the traditional hockey game be on the decline?
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The Decline Of American Hockey
Although hockey has been around for more than a century, America has always been the center of the sport’s popularity. In fact, according to the Sports & Recreation Industry Association, 20 percent of American adults play hockey. That’s compared to 16 percent who play golf, 8 percent who participate in swimming pools, and 7 percent who play tennis. It’s clear that even those who don’t play hockey enjoy the sport and its associated culture.
Hockey has largely remained a tradition in the U.S. Over the past century, the sport’s popularity ebbed and flowed, with periods of increased interest leading to major league expansion and World War II. The tide turned in the 1970s, with the creation of the World Hockey Association and the growth of the modern NHL. Since then, interest in hockey has mostly remained stagnant.
The United States is a major market for hockey players and fans, and for decades, the sport was a unifying force in American culture, helping to connect people of all races and regions. With the rise of big business and interest in sports decreasing, might hockey find itself in the same predicament as so many other traditional American pastimes: losing its luster as a popular sport among the young?
The Growth Of Global Hockey
While baseball, golf, and tennis remain the most popular sports in the U.S., hockey’s popularity has been booming across the globe. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) recorded over 200 million game views on its website in 2022, compared to just 100 million in 2020. At least 7.7 million people tuned in to the Capitals’ 10th game of the season, setting a record for the most watched ice hockey match in U.S. history. More people are becoming hockey fans as the game continues to grow in popularity around the world.
It’s not just the U.S. Interest in hockey is at an all-time high internationally, with fans frequently tuning in to watch top players from Canada, the U.K., and Finland compete against one another. In addition to the IIHF’s website, other popular platforms like Twitch and YouTube are providing platforms for fans to engage with their favorite hockey players and teams. In fact, the video-sharing site TikTok banned sports media from using its platform to promote any sports-related content due to concerns about promoting unhealthy sports behavior among its young audience. The platform’s cofounder, Rebekah Graham, stated: “Sports fans on TikTok are more than twice as likely as fans of other genres to watch or play sports (25% vs. 11%), and they are 3x more likely to like a team they follow online. But that doesn’t mean that all of this activity is healthy. Watching hours of sports can be physically demanding, and it can distract users from other priorities in life. It’s not just a competition of who can shout the most colorful curses at the opposing players, which can sometimes lead to verbal confrontations. Playing aggressive sports like hockey puts you at risk of getting hurt, which is why we need to be more aware of the types of content we’re exposing our users to, and how much time they’re spending in front of the screen.”
Hockey players are well known for their gritty, physical style of play, which continues to attract fans across the globe. The IIHF reports that there were 1.45 million hockey tickets sold in China in 2022, while Germany’s Bundesliga averaged 7,300 fans per game in a renovated Olympic stadium in the summer of 2022. The trend of fans flocking to see top-notch hockey players is evident. If you want to catch one of the world’s greatest hockey games, you’ll need to find a TV and settle down in front of it, as only a few hundred lucky fans are likely to see the action live due to time constraints and high demand for tickets. The demand for tickets is so great in some cases (the NHL’s New York Rangers), that the team has had to implement a lottery system to determine who gets to see their games.
It’s not just the demand for tickets that’s driving the growth of hockey internationally, but the opportunity to make a bit of extra cash. Many countries, especially in Europe, have professional leagues that pay their players fairly well. In the Czech Republic, for example, players command 300,000 crowns per month (approximately $17,000 per year), while the Swedish Hockey League pays its players about 735,000 Swedish Kronors per month (approximately $45,400 per year). In Germany, the average Bundesliga salary is 250,000 Euros per month (approximately $165,000 per year), with the most expensive player earning 5.5 million Euros per year. For comparison, the average NFL player earns around $280,000 per year, with the Minnesota Vikings’ Mike Hughes making $28.5 million in the next three years (2023-25) on his contract.
The Changing Demographics Of Hockey
Hockey is a game that has changed significantly over the years, evolving alongside the increased popularity of video games and the internet. In the U.S., one of the primary reasons for the sport’s declining interest among younger people is that they are largely uninterested in watching traditional hockey games on TV due to time constraints. Thanks to the internet, they can now follow all the action from their mobile phones, making it easier to find a game and easier to stay interested in a sport they’ve never really shown an interest in.
The generation of digitally-native millennials and Generation Z are much more focused on their phones than their TVs, leading to fewer people being interested in watching TV shows about sports. As a result, the viewership for ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series dropped by 43 percent between 2020 and 2025, from 734,000 to 360,000 viewers per episode. Other traditional sports networks have seen similar drops in audience, with Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the NCAA’s Football Championship Series (formerly known as the Super Bowl) having their ratings decline by 25%, 20%, and 14%, respectively.
As the audience for traditional sports drops and the digital natives take over, new forms of entertainment are emerging, with eSports, or competitive gaming, becoming an international phenomenon and an important part of the esports scene. According to gaming research company Newzoo, by 2022 the esports market will be worth $14.9 billion globally and will grow to $26.9 billion by 2027.
With the rise of esports, it’s not just the interest in sports that’s changing but the way fans consume content as well. Thanks to the increased popularity of battle royales within the Fortnite community and the explosive growth of Call of Duty in the 2020s, tens of millions of people will be watching competitive gaming this year, driving the market value of esports-related merchandise and digital goods to $21.6 billion by 2025.
The Future Of Hockey
While there are a number of factors that could cause the demise of hockey, particularly among younger generations, it seems unlikely that the game will disappear entirely. Like many other sports, the speed, competitiveness, and violence of the sport make it a fascinating game to watch and participate in, attracting a diverse audience globally and keeping the sport alive.