The following lists final national Nielsen ratings for the '98-99 NHL season on Fox, ESPN and ESPN2 compared to '97-98 final ratings. The number of games broadcast represents total regional telecasts (THE DAILY):
| NET | '98-'99
RAT/SHR(HH) | # OF
GAMES | '97-'98
RAT/SHR | # OF
GAMES | % +/- |
| Fox | 1.4/4 | 30 | 1.4/4 | 66 | 0% |
| ESPN | .59/(447,000) | 27 | .67/(490,000) | 26 | -12% |
| ESPN2 | .32/(201,000) | 75 | .38/(203,000) | 78 | -16% |
TOP DRAWS: Fox's broadcast of Wayne Gretzky's finale (Penguins-Rangers, 4/18) delivered the network's highest NHL rating of the season, a 2.2/6 (Fox)....ESPN's highest rated NHL broadcast was a Red Wings-Blackhawks game on January 3, which earned a 1.02 ESPN rating. ESPN2 had multiple games hit its highest-rated NHL broadcast with a .48 (ESPN). LAMB'S CHOP: ESPN Manager of Communications Diane Lamb: "We're disappointed with the NHL ratings for this season but we are confident that next year's regular season numbers will increase because of ESPN's exclusivity and the extensive promotion among ABC and all of the ESPN platforms. We are also encouraged with the significant increase on ESPN2's coverage of the NHL playoffs" (THE DAILY). ONE SKEPTIC: In Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley: "Cross-promote, cross-pollinate, cross-dress if you wish, but regular-season hockey ratings on over-the-air TV will never deliver big audiences. There isn't enough synergy in the Walt Disney Co., or anywhere else in the universe, to bring large numbers of people to free TV to watch hockey." More Wolfley: "The reason hockey didn't flourish on Fox had nothing to do with lack of promotion. That suggestion is ludicrous" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 5/27).
