{"id":430534,"date":"2026-01-22T18:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T18:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/430534\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T18:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T18:46:08","slug":"hbo-maxs-heated-rivalry-drives-spike-in-nhl-ticket-sales-first-time-buyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/430534\/","title":{"rendered":"HBO Max\u2019s \u2018Heated Rivalry\u2019 drives spike in NHL ticket sales, first-time buyers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ticket resellers say that interest in NHL games \u201chas surged\u201d thanks to HBO Max series \u201cHeated Rivalry,\u201d according to Joshua & He of BLOOMBERG NEWS. SeatGeek said that its weekly hockey ticket sales \u201cjumped more than 20% after the show\u2019s first episodes aired late last year,\u201d and revenue \u201csoared more than 30%.\u201d SeatGeek Dir of Marketing Chris Leyden said the series has \u201ccertainly piqued interest in hockey and the NHL.\u201d He added the platform has seen \u201ca pretty notable increase in single-ticket buyers as more people check out a game, often for the first time ever.\u201d At StubHub, searches for hockey tickets \u201cincreased 75% on the platform and purchases by first-time buyers rose 5%\u201d (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 1\/21<\/a>).<\/p>\n

FILLING THE SEATS: Brothers Dan and Chris Powers, who started hockey podcast \u201cEmpty Netters,\u201d said that what has been most exciting for them is to \u201csee support for the show actively impact attendance at games.\u201d Dan Powers said, \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot of subtle hints to it, where teams in stadiums are playing songs from the soundtrack in between plays.\u201d He added, \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a ton of signs, people in our DMs and messages sending us pictures of their first NHL game, and [saying] it\u2019s a direct result of\u202fHeated Rivalry. It\u2019s getting butts in seats.\u201d\u202fROLLING STONE\u2019s CT Jones noted teams like the Bruins and the Canadiens have \u201cincorporated Heated Rivalry into their social media promotions.\u201d The PWHL had \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d book author Rachel Reid read off the starting lineup for the Montreal Victoire. TikTok rapper bbno$ brought a \u201cI love\u202fHeated Rivalry\u201d sign to a recent Canucks game (ROLLING STONE, 1\/21<\/a>). <\/p>\n

REPPIN\u2019 THE STARS: CTVNEWS.ca\u2019s Kimberley Johnson noted the Senators are \u201cselling \u2018Heated Rivalry\u2019 inspired Senators jerseys, and fans are grabbing them up.\u201d Fans can now buy jerseys with the names \u201cHollander\u201d and \u201cRozanov,\u201d the last names of the two main characters in the show, written on the back at the Senators store. Senators VP\/Marketing Peter Shier said that \u201cany name can be ordered to be placed on the back of a Senators jersey.\u201d He noted that the store was \u201cgetting requests for the last names from Heated Rivalry fans, so they had some made up ahead of Saturday\u2019s game against Montreal.\u201d Shier: \u201cWe had the idea on Friday morning, and we had a whole bunch of jerseys in the store by Saturday night and our game and sold out within probably an hour before the first period was over.\u201d He added that \u201conline sales are also popular.\u201d Shier: \u201cWe woke up on Sunday morning, we had orders from, I think, Germany, Sweden, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, from all over the world. It\u2019s really great.\u201d In all, he said that \u201cabout 50 jerseys have already been sold and proceeds will be going towards Ottawa Pride Hockey\u201d (CTVNEWS.ca, 1\/19<\/a>). <\/p>\n

BREAKING THE ICE: In Boston, Christopher Muther writes some are \u201choping \u2018Heated Rivalry\u2019 may benefit members of the LGBTQ+ community who play the sport<\/a>.\u201d The NHL was formed in 1917, and never in its 100-plus-year history has it had an openly gay player, active or retired. Muther asks, \u201cCould the popularity of \u2018Heated Rivalry\u2019 embolden LGBTQ+ pro hockey players to finally break the ice and step out of the closet?\u201d Some hockey fans \u201cthink it\u2019s unlikely \u2018Heated Rivalry\u2019 will prompt NHL players to come out, particularly since that is such a highly personal decision it is unlikely to be hastened by a viral television show.\u201d Chowan Univ. professor of sport management Edward Kian said that even the show does not directly result in any NHL players coming out of the closet, it \u201ccould go a long way to changing attitudes within the sport.\u201d Kian: \u201cIt could possibly help alter some antiquated attitudes in the NHL and amongst hockey fans. If the show can get more hockey fans to accept that some of the 736 athletes on NHL active rosters must be gay, then that, in turn, could theoretically lead to more gay hockey players feeling welcomed enough to come out publicly\u201d (BOSTON GLOBE, 1\/22<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ticket resellers say that interest in NHL games \u201chas surged\u201d thanks to HBO Max series \u201cHeated Rivalry,\u201d according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,2331,134,575,85],"class_list":["post-430534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-culture","tag-entertainment","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}