CHL caps off season with strong viewership & sellout crowds at the 2023 Memorial Cup

In its first full season removed from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) enjoyed incredible fan support and large viewership numbers during the 2022-23 season, which was capped off by a memorable 2023 Memorial Cup presented by Kia. Specifically, over the course of the 11 days of the 2023 Memorial Cup in Kamloops, B.C., 4.5 million viewers tuned in to TSN and RDS to catch some or all of this year’s Memorial Cup, including an average audience of 687,000 who watched the event’s championship game between the Québec Remparts and the Seattle Thunderbirds.

The 2023 Memorial Cup followed what was a successful Championship Series in the Western Hockey League (WHL), Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) on TSN and RDS, where a total of 3.6 million fans tuned in to watch some or all of the CHL’s three member leagues crown a champion.

This type of viewership followed what was a great season for the CHL and its three member leagues. CHL TV, which is the CHL’s digital streaming service that offers fans access to more than 2,000 regular-season and playoff games from across the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL, totaled over 3.5 million views on its platform over the course of the 2022-2023 campaign — which represents a 25% increase from last season.

“The level of enthusiasm and excitement seen from fans from the Canadian Hockey League over this last year was just incredible to see, especially during what was our first full season removed from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dan MacKenzie, President of the CHL. “We truly have the best fans in the world, and for us to be able to welcome them back fully into our arenas and see attendance numbers across all three of our leagues return to pre-pandemic levels was outstanding.”

In terms of attendance, the CHL saw an increase in the last year of over 30%, having welcomed over 8.5 million fans to the arenas of its 60 member clubs over the course of the 2022-2023 season (playoffs included). Moreover, the 2023 Memorial Cup, which took place from May 25 – June 4, saw players competing in the CHL’s championship event treated to sellout crowds as a total of 48,405 fans came through the doors of the Sandman Centre to witness this one-of-a-kind event.

With significant fan support in Kamloops, the CHL alongside the Kamloops Blazers and the 2023 Memorial Cup Host Organizing Committee was able to raise over $180,000 for a number of worthy initiatives during this year’s Memorial Cup. This included over $106,000 raised for the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) in the CHL’s efforts to promote positive mental health and support the work of CMHA branches participating in Talk Today across Canada.

Some other notable highlights from this past season across the CHL included:

• The QMJHL had an attendance record broken for its Championship Series, as more than 85,300 fans attended the six-game series that saw the Québec Remparts top the Halifax Mooseheads for the Gilles-Courteau Trophy; the series also had an average attendance of 14,229 fans, which bested the QMJHL’s previous mark of 11,424 set in 1983

• OHL attendance figures returned to levels seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which had interrupted the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons; specifically, a total of 2,679,744 fans came through the turnstiles in 2022-23 for an average attendance of 3,941 – a figure that is just shy of the OHL’s 2018-19 mark of 3,944

• This past season, in what was the 30th year of the WHL Scholarship program, the WHL and its 22 clubs contributed more than $2.5 million to 365 WHL graduates who utilized WHL Scholarships across North America; since 1993, over 7,500 WHL Scholarships have been accessed, representing an investment of over $33 million by WHL clubs

(PHOTO CREDIT: CANDICE WARD/CHL)