There was also some tetchy Canadian chauvinism in the media reaction to the wildly popular outdoor game between Montreal and Calgary. While fans ate up the spectacle, domestic press harrumphed over poor ice quality, the Flames’ retro jerseys, the life expectancy of the promotion, lack of other venues in Canada and U.S. TV imperatives. TV ratings gave them a big “Shut Up, Lucy” with 2.087 million in English. (RDS number pas disponible at time of writing.)
RDS averages about 800k for a regular saturday habs game so total viewership is probably a little above 3 mill for canada
Well, it's a huge money maker for the league, so using that logic, these outdoor games will continue for the foreseeable future. It's too bad that it wasn't warmer and there were some issues with the ice.
The Hitmen - Pats WHL game drew over 21,000 people on Monday afternoon.