Stanley Cup Scores Largest U.S. Audience in 36 Years

NEW YORK: Last night’s Stanley Cup championship final between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Philadelphia Flyers pulled in the event’s largest U.S. audience since 1974, according to The Wrap. The hockey match pulled in a 5.8 rating with a 12 share in Nielsen overnights, up from a 4.1/7 last year.

Stanley Cup officials said the U.S. TV audience for the first five games was the largest in eight years. Played out over NBC and cable sports network Versus, the first five games averaged 4.6 million viewers each, up 10 percent from last year, and the most since ABC and ESPN averaged 5.1 million for the first five games in 2002.

NBC averaged a 3.0 household rating with 5.4 million viewers per broadcast for the first three games of this year’s finals, up 15 and 14 percent respectively from a year ago.