NHL Opens 2013 Season with 13 Sellouts and Record Ratings

The new NHL season began this weekend, and the fans who have helped make the league a $3.3 billion business showed their support by watching the games on television and buying tickets in impressive numbers.

One of the biggest winners of opening weekend was NBC Sports, evidenced by the network's stellar ratings on Saturday:

"

NBC's NHL coverage yesterday scores 2.0 overnight rating, best for non-Winter Classic regular-season game in decade (2002-ABC) #hockeyisback

— NBCSportsPR (@NBCSportsPR) January 20, 2013"

"

2.0 o'night for 2-game regional cov of Chi-LA & Pit-Phi is best 4 non-Winter Classic reg-season gm ever on NBC & up 67% vs '12 reg-seas avg

— NBCSportsPR (@NBCSportsPR) January 20, 2013"

While the impressive ratings are a good sign for NBC, it's not a huge surprise that so many fans were interested in the start of the new season since the opening day schedule was packed with rivalry games.

Giving fans exciting rivalry matchups to enjoy on the first day of the season not only helped the national ratings, several local markets also had very high ratings (via NBC Sports PR):

"

Pittsburgh (19.4), Philadelphia (7.8) & Chicago (6.6) local ratings r best-ever for non-WC reg-season gms on NBC. LA (1.5) is best since '07

— NBCSportsPR (@NBCSportsPR) January 20, 2013"

The Pittsburgh number, in particular, was just amazing. Penguins fans love their team, and they proved it on Saturday by watching Sidney Crosby and Co. defeat the rival Philadelphia Flyers.

During the 113-day lockout that wiped out almost half of the 2012-13 season, many people understood the fans' frustration, but were confident that they would come back and support the league whenever the labor struggle was over.

Not only did fans watch games on television, they bought lots of tickets and helped many teams sell out on opening day

Every NHL team that played at home on Saturday had an attendance percentage of 100 percent or higher.

Game	Arena	Attendance	100%
Pens vs. Flyers	Wells Fargo Center	19,994	19,537
Senators vs. Jets	MTS Centre	15,004	15,004
Blackhawks vs. Kings	Staples Center	18,545	18,118
Rangers vs. Bruins	TD Garden	17,565	17,565
Leafs at Canadiens	Bell Centre	21,273	21,273
Devils vs. Islanders	Nassau Coliseum	16,170	16,170
Hurricanes vs. Panthers	BB&T Center	19,204	19,204
Capitals vs. Lightning	Tampa Bay Times Forum	19,688	19,250
Red Wings vs Blues	Scottrade Center	20,035	19,150
Blue Jackets vs. Predators	Bridgestone Arena	17,113	17,113
Coyotes vs. Stars	American Airlines Arena	18,532	18,532
Avalanche vs. Wild	Xcel Energy Center	19,298	18,064
Ducks vs. Canucks	Rogers Arena	18,910	18,910

In addition to giving fans the opportunity to finally watch their favorite NHL players again, many teams thanked fans for their support by organizing a number of different promotions, giveaways and discounts on merchandise and concessions.

Buffalo Sabres fans were able to meet players, coaches and even team owner Terry Pegula before Sunday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers at the First Niagara Center:

"

Sabres Owner Terry Pegula and Sabres fans! #WeLiveHockey twitter.com/BuffaloSabres/…

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) January 20, 2013"

Montreal Canadiens gave away one free beer at the Bell Centre on Saturday during the team's matchup against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs (via Renaud Lavoie of RDS):

"

Every fan at Bell Center can have a free beer tonight.

— Renaud Lavoie (@RenLavoieRDS) January 19, 2013"

While the large amount of fan support on opening day from both from television and attendance perspectives is a great sign for the NHL, it would be unwise to expect this much support for every game.

These promotions and fan events won't last for the entire season, and when teams start to struggle, it will be interesting to see if fans continue to show a high level of support.

Fans in the large and traditional hockey markets will likely support their teams throughout the entire season, and it will be the support seen in the nontraditional markets that will really show the health of the league following the lockout.

The amount of support from the fans on opening weekend was great for the NHL, but for the league to fully recover from the most recent lockout, it needs the fans to continue to support the game for the entire season.

Follow @NicholasGoss35