Dylan Kimbleton Editorial Essay 6 3-1-24 Playoff Push Hockey is by far my favorite sport, and since watching playoff hockey every single year, I’ve noticed something recently. The current playoffs feel a little bland and in need of a touch up. The covid year changes added the spice the league needs and since going back to old ways I miss these new rules..The NHL should change their playoff format to a 24 team format with a wild card round, similar to what they did in the covid year, to increase viewership, enjoyment from a fan perspective, and increase competitiveness during the regular season and in the playoffs. Changing the playoff format to a 24 team playoff will increase viewership. Josh Sims says, “Viewership for the 2023 final averaged 2 million viewers less than last year’s series”. There is a clear downfall right now which means it’s the perfect time to make a change.I don’t think this change would be too big or change much, I think it’s perfect for right now. Jon Lewis says this about the viewership” ABC’s ten-game average of 857,000 viewers was the lowest ever for the NHL on broadcast television”. The finals are not the …show more content…
As a long time fan of hockey I can tell you that playoff hockey has always had an edge to it that the players bring that they just don’t bring to a normal regular season game, because of this watching playoff hockey is very fun and much better than watching the regular season. I got the chance to go to a playoff game in real life and the fans there were crazy and it just had an edge to it and it was awesome. In a paper by Braylon Breeze, he says, “the NHL is averaging 468,000 viewers across the networks of ESPN, TNT, and TBS”. There is almost a $2 million increase for the playoffs. With my idea you would be adding more playoff time for the fans. This would definitely add enjoyment for the fans who would get an extra round of playoff hockey, which everyone