Does it really take marketing queerness to sell seats at the hockey rink?
The hit Crave show Heated Rivalry premiered on the small screen in late November of last year. In six episodes, the show garnered a massive viewership and following. Data from the research group, Luminate, says the show debuted with 30 million streaming minutes in it’s first week; jumping to 324 million after the release of the season finale.
Since then, multiple NHL teams have embraced the show’s popularity, and the ticket sales prove it.
(x.com/@NHLBruins)
Ticketing giant StubHub posted on X that “Interest in hockey tickets on StubHub increased 40% during Heated Rivalry’s run.” This includes a 35 per cent ticket sale surge during a late December matchup between the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens- 82 per cent of purchased tickets are from first-time buyers.
The show is now a talking point in queer, and hockey centric spaces.
Ella Brown is a master’s student at the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at Western University. They said the NHL’s engagement with the queer community comes off as performative, “It made very clear the power of the gay dollar and also of the pink dollar.”
Master’s student, Ella Brown, at Western University’s Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies.
While NHL commissioner Gary Bettman reinforces that the league has “meaningfully embraced” LGBTQ+ communities, hockey player Jenelle Lewis from Queer Hockey Hamilton thinks otherwise.
“They have a game and they call it their pride night game. Why? Because during warmups the players wear a rainbow on their shirt? That’s it?” Lewis continues, “Are you hosting this night to promote inclusivity or are you hosting this night for the rainbow tax?”
Lewis is an executive at Queer Hockey Hamilton. They found that there was a need for a hockey community where 2SLGBTQIA+ people could feel truly safe and included. Their colleague and fellow executive Alex Kaulback had a similar sentiment saying, “The NHL is huge and they have a lot of money. They could also like donate money to other local queer leagues or like you know, supply their jerseys or just do something to kind of showcase them.”
Kaulback helped develop a queer hockey community in Hamilton after noticing how playing on queer hockey leagues in other major cities impacted him. Having played in many minor leagues as a transgender individual, he’s committed himself to uniting the LGBTQ+ community through a shared love for hockey.
Clearly having a long way to go in queer inclusion, having NHL players make a point to openly elevate queer voices and stories makes a big difference.
Charlie McAvoy repping pride tape at Boston Bruins pride night. (x.com/NHLBruins)
Boston Bruins defenseman, Charlie McAvoy, who’s also on the US Olympic slate, made a point to journalists when asked about queer acceptance in hockey,
I feel like I see it in here, and I think you see it in the game too, with initiatives like this. I’ve heard so much support from people within those communities that it means a lot to them. So, it’s the least that we can do to show our support and show that we’re all on the same team.
While there’s more to be done to make hockey a more accepting space, there is hope in the future of the sport and the culture. Changes are happening within the biggest pro league in North America, the minor teams, and in hockey development camps- and these steps are far from nothing.
