A Delicate Balancing Act
Hatten's article takes a look at the relationship that the NCAA's St. Cloud State has with television with respect to fans attending games in-person. The first line of his article reads, "St. Cloud State University Athletic Director Holly Schreiner is trying to find the right balance for the TV coverage of the school's men's hockey program," and that's an interesting premise coming out of the State of Hockey if the Huskies are struggling to attract and retain in-arena fans.
There's no doubt that NCAA hockey teams makes money off their streaming services, but there is a major asterisk on the totals they generate. League members received a combined $1.19 million in profit from NCHC TV, via Sidearm, during the 2025 fiscal year, but $704,705.50 went to the University of North Dakota. In fact, they dwarf everyone else COMBINED in the top-ten school revenues by nearly $217,000, so let's be brutally honest and say that UND benefits almost exclusively from NCHC TV. No other program hit six-digits in revenue in 2025, and 59.2% of all streaming revenue went to UND.
With costs escalating across all facets of hockey, NCAA teams have to be mindful of generating revenue in order to help offset their budgeted amounts of money they receive from their respective schools. Having fans in seats helps to sell concessions, merchandise, and parking which, in turn, helps those teams. But if games are available via streaming and television platforms, the convenience often outweighs the effort it takes to head out to the hockey game.
"Do you lose more than you gain if you get rid of it?" Schreiner asked Hatten rhetorically. "That's a hard one. We know that the university does a great service through Husky Productions and what these students can do and put out a broadcast that is so high quality.
"It's going to be hard to say that we're not going to do that live," she continued. "I think they deserve to have that on live TV. But maybe it's too good of a job. That's a good problem to have. In a perfect world, we have it broadcast live, lots of viewership and yet we have a nice, full crowd every weekend."
The NHCH also seems to recognize that only one team has a solid revenue stream combined with solid attendance as North Dakota led both categories, causing NCHC Commissioner Heather Weems to tell Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald in April that "the league will hire a consultant to help schools navigate their options".
"I'd expect in the next six to nine months, we'll go through the process with the consultant and we'll have an announcement in the spring or the late winter," Weems told Schlossman at that time. Obviously, there won't be any changes made for the 2026-27 season based on Weems' timeline, and any chamges recommended will still need some time to be implemented. For St. Cloud State who averaged just 3561 fans per game last season, that's valuable time where they can make their own changes to bring more fans to games.
"I think anyone who was at games this year would look at us and say that butts in seats weren't good," Schreiner admitted. "But I go back to streaming... that's a hard conversation to have. When it's 20-below zero, or even just zero, and you can watch a stream from home — what's the incentive to come and be here in person? That's the one thing that we're working on this summer."
The one thing that always puts people in seats is winning hockey. St. Cloud State was 9-14-1 in-conference and 16-19-1 overall. That's not winning hockey when one considers they missed the playoffs, so making the trek to see the Huskies play when there's a likely chance that they'll lose doesn't make for a fun night out in the dead of winter. However, as an illustration, consider the following:
- 2025-26: 9-14-1 (7th in NCHC attendance - 3658)
- 2024-25: 7-16-1 (9th - 3046)
- 2023-24: 11-9-4 (6th - 3540)
- 2022-23: 12-9-3 (6th - 4206)
- 2021-22: 10-10-4 (6th - 3981)
- 2020-21: 15-9-0 (4th - 404**)
- 2019-20: 10-12-2 (6th - 3981)
- 2018-19: 19-2-3 (6th - 4260)
- 2017-18: 16-4-4 (7th - 3995)
St. Cloud State has seen nearly 550 fans stop buying tickets since 2023, and that has to be concerning. Is that due to games being availabl e via streaming services and/or television? I'm not so sure that those two things are correlated unless there's some sort of examination where viewers are going up for the televised games, but Schreiner's asking that question based on the empty seats she sees.
"Does having our games televised live help us or hurt us?" she asked. "At the same time, we get sponsorships that advertise during that time that we otherwise won't have without that partnership. Being on TV, we have great viewership in the Twin Cities metro areas. It's hard to say you want to give that up. Yet there are days when you see almost no one at a game and I say, 'Let's get rid of that opportunity.' That's a hard one. I'm not sure what the right answer is."
Therein lies the problem: the right answer isn't clearly evident. We heard the same argument about UMFM's radio broadcasts taking money out of the pocket of the Manitoba Bisons due to how good our production was compared to what was being streamed. That was part of the reason that the Bisons walked away from renewing the contract with UMFM. They'll never reveal their numbers, but I can't imagine that their Canada West TV numbers went up once they ditched the radio broadcast. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.
So how do schools balance putting people in seats with the need for television exposure? Again, there is no eas answer. A winning culture combined with high standards and a pedigree of developing high-end talent would help. There are no big-name CHL players headed to St. Cloud State this fall to play hockey, so the Huskies won't have a must-see player on their roster. I'm not saying that will solve their attendance problems in one season, but it would be a good start.
Schreiner is aware of the changing sports landscape regarding how people watch, telling Hatten, "I think the way sports are now, it has shifted who our target audience is. Youth hockey parents are never free on weekends. We've been brainstorming a bunch of different things. Whether it's getting more season tickets sold, or whether it's single-game tickets from promotions to the way we advertise and see our information. It all needs to be looked at differently."
Schreiner is entirely right with her last sentence as attending games is more of an experience now than just being the game. Vegas has their elaborate productions before every game. Nashville has intermission concerts with well-known musicians and bands. Carolina does the tailgating experience before games. Each of these unique attractions help to sell the hockey experience, and this is what St. Cloud State has to tap into: find something fun and unique they can build on. Once they have that, winning hockey brings people back.
As much as it seems sensible that abandoning television and streaming services would drive people back to the rink, I'd argue the opposite is never truer than before, and the Chicago Blackhawks are the perfect example of how not being on television hurt their attendance at games. Of course, playing winning hockey helped, but, as the old saying goes, "the worst thing about being talked about is not being talked about." I can't tell St. Cloud State what to do nor do I have a crystal ball to tell the future, but abandoning video media would be the wrong direction to take if they want to sell tickets.
As I said off the top, it's a delicate balancing act for teams.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment