The Stanley Cup Final is NHL’s biggest event, but the league notably ignored a prime viewing slot by not schedule a game on Sunday.

Game 3 between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Vegas Golden Knights took place on Saturday, while Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday. As a result, hockey fans did not get a Stanley Cup Final game on one of the highest viewership slots for sports TV audiences.

The NBA also left Sunday open and followed its normal Finals schedule, even though the championship series started earlier than usual. As a result, neither league used a valuable Sunday night TV slot that could have attracted millions of viewers.

The situation looks even stranger for the NHL. 

According to Awful Announcing, the league could have scheduled Game 3 on Sunday, as the series had moved to a new city after Game 2. This would have allowed teams another day's rest and adhered to the Finals schedule.

Game 4 was already scheduled to be played on Tuesday. Instead, the NHL kept its regular every-other-day schedule and played Game 3 on Saturday.

Although Saturday night TV ratings have improved in recent years, Sunday night remains one of the strongest time slots for major sports events.

Regarding the Stanley Cup Final, some believe the league missed a chance to attract a larger audience by not scheduling a game on Sunday. 

With neither the NHL nor the NBA playing that night, there was a rare gap in the sports calendar. For a league looking to grow its fanbase, it may have been a missed opportunity to reach more viewers.

Did Other Sports Events Affect NHL Schedule?

The NHL was not the only league that skipped Sunday night. The NBA also left the night to keep its usual two-day break when the Finals move to a new city.

Since 2016, the league has regularly used a two-day travel break between Finals venues. This year's Finals kicked off on a Wednesday instead of a Thursday, to seemingly avoid a clash with the U.S. Men’s National Team’s World Cup opener.

By following the same schedule, the NBA had its first Finals without a Sunday game since 1970. As a result, Game 3 was moved to Monday.

The situation was even more surprising because ABC broadcasts both the Stanley Cup Final and the NBA Finals. Instead of showing a championship game on Sunday night, the network aired entertainment programs.

Sports fans had to watch other events, such as Sunday Night Baseball, an IndyCar race, and College World Series games.

Sunday was already packed with major events, including the French Open men’s final, the US Women’s Open, and the PGA Tour’s Memorial Tournament. But when primetime arrived, neither the NHL nor the NBA had a game on television.

Did the NHL miss a major opportunity by passing on Sunday’s prime championship television window? Comment your opinion below. 

Read more at the NHL Fan Central.

Written by

Kapil Manghnani

Edited by

Sijo Paul