NHL commissioner Gary Bettman gets awful news on playoffs in USA

On the other hand, the Edmonton Oilers ratings are increasing and hockey in Canada is doing exceptionally well. The Oilers second round ratings in Canada increased by 700,000 views in average minutely audience.

According to a new report from Front Office Sports, playoff viewership in the USA is down by 28% from last year, and are drawing less than 1M viewers per game.

Former Oiler communications director Allan Walsh says this is a massive problem for Gary Bettman and the NHL.

It's wild to think that the Edmonton Oilers nearly added as many second round viewers as the average American team is drawing for a playoff game at all.

Front Office Sports names the 5 Canadian teams in the playoffs as the biggest reason for the decline. It could also be the lack of older American franchises - with teams like the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers missing the playoffs.

The decline in viewership is a major concern for the NHL, because plenty of their revenue relies on television deals particularly in the USA. Their standing is already the lowest among other major sports, and declining viewership makes it more difficult to grow the league financially.

Some fans even mention other reasons for tuning out of the NHL playoffs, including repetitive playoff matchups, poor broadcasts and blackouts, and much more.

Commissioner Gary Bettman certainly won't be happy to see this. Clearly, the NHL still has a lot of work to do creating diehard hockey fans in the South.