Alan Pergament: US hockey gold medal win has huge local rating
It may be very difficult for any TV market in the country to get a higher rating for the United States men’s gold medal victory over Canada. Its unofficial rating of 18.4 on WGRZ-TV (Channel 2) is in the ballpark of Buffalo Bills preseason games.
Jack Hughes celebrates after scoring the winning goal against Canada during the overtime period
of the men's ice hockey gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics last Sunday in Milan, Italy. Associated Press
Buffalo armchair hockey fans can shout, "We're No. 1, "we're No. 1."
The Buffalo television market had the highest rating in the country for the United States men’s gold medal victory over Canada Sunday in the Winter Olympics carried on WGRZ-TV (Channel 2), NBC confirmed late Wednesday afternoon.
The game that ended with the golden goal by Jack Hughes in overtime to give the U.S. a 2-1 victory averaged a 17.9 rating and 50 share of the audience in Buffalo.
NBC confirmed Buffalo was No.1, but added the ratings for the Top 10 markets may not arrive for a day or two.
The rating local for the women’s gold medal hockey victory in overtime on Feb. 19 over Canada, 2-1, carried on USA Network hasn't arrived yet.
The huge local rating – or should I say the Hughes' rating? – for the U.S. men's first hockey gold medal since the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" title game is in the ballpark of Buffalo Bills preseason games and likely will be higher than any primetime telecast in Western New York during the current February sweeps, which include the Olympics from Milan and Cortina in Italy.
The Bills averaged a 21.8 rating for three preseason games in 2025, two of which were at night, when more viewers are available than in the early morning.
The local rating for the men's hockey win didn’t include viewership on NBC Universal’s streaming site Peacock, in area bars that were opened early so fans could watch together, or on CBC coverage out of Toronto, whose audience isn’t measured in the U.S.
If you added all those viewers, the rating could approach the low or mid-20s.
The game had a 15.5 rating at the start at 8:15 a.m. and built to a peak rating of 21.1 during the sudden-death overtime.
United States' Megan Keller (5) scores the winning goal Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, against Canada goalkeeper Ann-Renee Desbiens (35)
during the overtime period of the women's ice hockey gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. Carolyn Kaster, Associated Press
The 2-1 U.S. women’s victory on Megan Keller’s overtime goal on Thursday afternoon averaged an unofficial 6.3 local rating on cable’s USA Network, peaking at 8.5 at 4 p.m., when the game was in overtime. That is without its viewership on Peacock, in bars or on CBC.
Since the women’s game was played on a weekday afternoon and carried on cable, and the men’s game was carried early Sunday morning on a broadcast station, it isn’t a fair comparison.
I would expect the Buffalo market to be at the very least in the Top 3 among NBC affiliates across the country for the women’s gold medal game.
One rating point in Western New York is equivalent to 6,370 households.
Nationally, the USA’s overtime victory had an average live audience of 18.6 million viewers across NBC and Peacock and peaked at 26.0 million live viewers on NBC and Peacock for Hughes’ game-winning goal.
Networks prefer to announce viewership, rather than ratings, partly because there are more viewers available annually with population gains.
The game ranks as NBC Sports’ second-most-watched hockey game ever, behind only the USA-Canada men’s gold medal game at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. It had 27.6 million viewers in a game that started at 3:15 p.m. Eastern time, when more viewers are available than at 8:15 a.m. (An 8:15 a.m. game on the East Coast is carried at 5:15 a.m. on the West Coast).
Sunday's game was also the most-streamed non-NFL event on Peacock, with 3.7 million viewers.
Nationally, the U.S.’s 2-1 victory over Canada in the gold medal women’s hockey game is the most-watched women’s hockey game on record, with an average of 5.3 million viewers on USA Network and Peacock. Hilary Knight tied the game at 1-1 with just over two minutes remaining, with Keller’s scoring on the Golden Goal for the 2-1 win in overtime. The game’s audience peaked at 7.7 million viewers in overtime.
One final Olympic ratings note: The Olympic closing ceremonies Sunday had a combined 11.4 rating on Channel 2, with it getting an 8.3 rating during the live afternoon coverage and a 3.1 rating for the primetime repeat. That doesn’t include viewership on Peacock.