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. 2022 Jun 30:4:890429.
doi: 10.3389/fspor.2022.890429. eCollection 2022.

National Hockey League Fights per Game and Viewership Trends: 2000-2020

Thomas A Fortney  1 , Liana J Tedesco  1 , Nathan J Kopydlowski  1 , Jack F Korzelius  1 , Sohil S Desai  1 , Charles A Popkin  1   2
Affiliations

National Hockey League Fights per Game and Viewership Trends: 2000-2020

Thomas A Fortney et al. Front Sports Act Living. .

Abstract

Background: Though once considered an integral part of professional hockey, fighting carries significant health risks to players. Fighting has remained legal in the National Hockey League (NHL) due to its purported economic and entertainment value. However, fights per game have diminished over the past 20 years, challenging the necessity of fighting to promote fan attendance.

Hypothesis: Despite decreasing fighting rates, attendance has been stable and is negatively associated with fights per game.

Methods: Two public databases were reviewed to determine attendance, fighting majors, goals scored, and games played for each NHL team from 2000 to 2020 and averaged on a per game basis. Univariate analysis was used to evaluate relationships between attendance and fights, attendance and goals, as well as goals and fights.

Results: Fights per game decreased from a peak of 0.64 in 2002 to a low of 0.18 in 2020, while average attendance increased from a low of 16,549 in 2004 to a peak of 17,768 in 2013, before settling between 17,400 and 17,500 during the final three seasons of the study period. A significant negative correlation was found between attendance and fights per game (R = -0.6617, p = 0.0020). There was a positive, but not significant correlation between attendance and goals per game (R = 0.2457, p = 0.3105). A significant inverse correlation existed between goals per game and fights per game (R = -0.521, p = 0.0222).

Conclusions: NHL fighting rates have diminished during the past two decades, while fan attendance has increased. A significant negative correlation exists between fan attendance and fights per game, casting doubt on fighting's entertainment value. Meanwhile, a significant inverse correlation was noted between goals per game and fights per game. Taken together, these findings suggest fans may prefer higher scoring and less violent competitions. We conclude by suggesting that prohibiting fights in the NHL could improve player safety without negatively impacting fan attendance.

Keywords: National Hockey League (NHL); concussion; fighting; hockey; ice hockey injuries.

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Conflict of interest statement

CP is a team physician for USA Hockey and a member of the USA Hockey Safety and Protective Equipment Committee. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Graph comparing rates attendance and fighting in the NHL during the period of 2000–2020. Average attendance per game is reported on the first Y-axis while the number of fights per game is denoted on the second Y-axis. The NHL season is listed on the X-axis with the year representing when the Stanley Cup championship was held for each season. For example, the 2000–2001 NHL season is listed as 2001, as the Stanley Cup championship for that season was held in the spring of 2001. This plot demonstrates the trend of decreasing fighting rates and increasing attendance during the last 20 years. Note the entire 2005 season was canceled due to a lock-out.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Graph and table reporting the average fights per game by decade in the NHL.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Graph demonstrating historical rates of fighting in the NHL from 1953 to 2020. This figure demonstrates average fights per game from the 1953 to 2020 seasons. Only the average value was included as the number of games played in each season was dependent on the number of NHL teams and length of the season, which has varied over the decades.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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