NHL cancels viewing party for ratings boost, and fans aren't very happy.

The National Hockey League has made a very unpopular reason, and even the financial implications don't seem to make a great deal of sense.

The League has threatened to fine the Tampa Bay Lightning after they team announced a viewing party for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final, this off the heals of an extremely successful viewing party for Game 5.

However the league's broadcasting partner, NBC, has reportedly pressure the NHL to shut down these viewing parties because they don't want to take the hit to their ratings for the playoffs. While in the short term this makes sense from NBS's perspective, it's events like viewing parties that help grow the game, leading to more viewers in the long-term.

Deadspin broke the news, and received comment from the NHL on the matter. From the Deeadspin report:

The NHL told Deadspin that the Lightning were only allowed to host one official event per series, and that they’d already used up their slot on the Game 5 party. But the Sharks and Blues have each hosted multiple parties during the Western Conference Finals, and sources tell us that the NHL and NBC pressured the team to cancel tonight’s event because of worries about low TV ratings.

We’ve also heard the NHL is threatening to fine teams for violating the watch party rule, again at NBC’s behest. The NHL is most likely enforcing this policy with such vigor because of the disastrous TV ratings these playoffs have drawn.

This sounds like the kind of move that is bound to backfire.

[pub]