[Mazrim]

I enjoyed Ray Ratto's take on this.

https://defector.com/nhl-ratings-are-not-your-problem

Why would anyone who isn't a network executive (ick) or Bettman (bleargh) care? This is always a stupid hill for anyone else to even stub their toe on, let alone die. Nobody defends hills to the death any more—they level them and then put an unnecessary 21,000-seat arena on top of them.

The ratings aren't your problem, ever. If you want to watch a game, you can find it. You can decide whether you want to pay for it, convince your friends or your bar to pay for it, or just pirate outright, but it will be there. And that's what you're in it for.

It's their issue, and if the regionals die off, the teams will come up with some other way to crowbar your wallet out of your hands. They're better at that than making the playoffs.

That's the real problem that the leagues are struggling with: finding the price point that actually chases people away. You all know what a price point is—it's that red flag in your rear-view mirror, stuck in that abandoned hill upon which nobody has ever died.