Barely a week into the new NHL season, those ‘Hot for Hockey’ romance audiobooks the league just launched? Poof. Gone. One minute they’re all over Spotify, talking up teams like the Panthers and Hurricanes; the next, you search for “Hot for Hockey” and all you get is an error message. Talk about a swift exit, even if the Kraken’s brutal 6-2 loss to Vegas last night still stings way worse for us Emerald City faithful.
Poof! The ‘Hot for Hockey’ Hook Disappears
So what happened? The NHL quickly put out a statement this Wednesday, saying the episodes were “meant to be a limited-time offering.” They called it “one small way to give a playful nod to something that’s clearly going on in the cultural zeitgeist, among many different marketing activations.” Apparently, these were “start-of-the-season concept, these were matchup-specific posts designed to run during our opening games in the first week.” The league even bragged about partnering with “real hockey authors, illustrators and voice actors in the space.”
But let’s be real. “Limited-time offering” after barely a week, with no clear end date specified publicly beforehand? It feels more like a quick retreat. Melissa Burgess, a senior writer for “The IX Sports” PWHL, called the whole campaign a “misstep from the beginning.” She hit the nail on the head, saying, “If the NHL is trying to reach the female fan base, which is obviously what this is an attempt to do, there are so many better and stronger ways to do that.” It just didn’t seem to get positive interest, and now it’s vanished.
Bettman Wants New Fans, But Not *This* Way?
The interesting thing is, Commissioner Gary Bettman actually called the hockey romance genre a “cultural phenomenon” just last week in Philadelphia. He said shows like “Heated Rivalry” and “Off Campus” have sparked huge interest in the sport over the past year, especially “Heated Rivalry,” which got a ton of new fans hooked. Bettman was super clear, stating, “The data was overwhelming in terms of new fans that we acquired last year who first were introduced to hockey either through ‘Off Campus’ or ‘Heated Rivalry.’ And if new people want to come and be a part of game, we’re thrilled to have them.”
He’s got a point about the growth, though. Last year’s playoffs saw a huge surge in ratings, driven by women. TNT Sports reported female viewership was up a massive 66%, and ESPN saw a staggering 106% jump, with a huge chunk of that audience coming from 18-to-34-year-olds. Bettman and other officials pointed to hockey romance as one piece of that puzzle, along with the U.S. men’s and women’s gold medals at the Olympics in February, and the successful 4 Nations Face-Off in the winter of 2025. Bettman figures, “To the extent people find it interesting or are entertained or excited about and that acts as an impetus to them to take greater interest in the game, I think that’s great for the growth of the game.”
But even Bettman admitted that while hockey romance is “extraordinarily popular,” it’s “not necessarily everybody’s taste” and “not all of it is suitable for every audience or every age group.” Still, he added that “for the people who are connected to it, they’re also connecting to hockey and I think that’s great.”
So, the ‘Hot for Hockey’ chapter is closed, maybe for good. The league’s moving on to the “Hockey Hits Different” campaign and other initiatives. For us Kraken fans, we’re just hoping our actual hockey hits different in the next game, because that Vegas opener was a rough start to the season for Joey Daccord and the crew. We’ve got to bounce back!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
Leave a Reply