Non-traditional NHL fanbases can begin with something as small as a skate lace. On a hot April morning in Mexico City, Al Montoya helped children lace their skates.
There comes a point in learning hockey when somebody has to help you. Before the first clean turn or the first shot, you need equipment that fits and someone who makes falling feel survivable.
Montoya’s work with the Dallas Stars brings the sport close enough for children to try it. Getting families back takes more than an appearance by a former player. They need another session, somewhere reachable, at a price they can manage.
That challenge runs through hockey’s search for new supporters. In Dallas, it involves putting sticks in children’s hands. Vegas has invested in Spanish-language coverage, while Disney has brought Cricket Green onto an animated rink.
The approaches look different because the people do. Their shared challenge arrives after the first burst of excitement: when a new fan decides whether hockey deserves their Tuesday night.
New fans need somewhere to start
Someone wearing a Vegas Golden Knights jersey might know every defensive pairing. Another person might simply love the gold trim.
Both have somewhere to begin. Hockey gains little by making the second person feel embarrassed about asking a question.
The league’s expanding audience includes people with very different relationships to the sport. A Spanish-speaking parent might already love hockey but struggle to find suitable coverage. Their child might discover it through a cartoon without knowing an NHL team plays nearby.
The useful question concerns what each person needs next. Sometimes that means explaining icing without sounding irritated. Elsewhere, it means offering a broadcast someone can watch without purchasing an expensive television package.
These details lack the spectacle of an opening-night ceremony. They also determine whether the invitation amounts to anything once the lights come up.
Dallas puts a stick in a kid’s hands
Give a child a stick and a scuffed street hockey ball, and the instructions can stay wonderfully short. Find some space. Try to score.
No skates required. A patch of pavement can provide a beginning before a family commits to ice time, equipment, and the drive to a rink.
Montoya helped launch Future Stars in Dallas to introduce hockey in underrepresented neighborhoods. As he explained to USA Hockey, his own childhood included a parent who could get him to the rink. He wanted more children to have a chance to play.
The program’s early expansion gave that ambition a practical shape. NBC 5 documented Future Stars growing from two locations in 2023 to nine in 2024, with equipment and support for free weekly activities.
Weekly matters. A visiting player can make an afternoon memorable, but regular sessions give children time to improve and friendships time to form.
Those friendships can supply a connection that advertising cannot manufacture. A child has someone to pass to and someone expecting them next week.
What happens after the first six weeks
The Stars’ Mexico City program offered another example of making the first step affordable. Claro Sports reported that 54 children joined the April 2025 course, receiving full equipment and six weeks of instruction for $49.
An equipment bag changes the proposition. Parents can let their children try hockey without first buying every unfamiliar item themselves.
The harder question comes afterward. Where does a child play next, and what will that cost?
A sudden price jump or a rink an hour away can drain the excitement quickly. Teams should put as much care into explaining the next affordable option as they put into promoting the opening session.
That commitment also respects the families involved. Their children deserve a worthwhile experience whether or not anybody eventually buys NHL tickets.
Vegas lets the goal call sound like home
A goal call should give you goosebumps. Having to translate it in your head puts another task between the shot and the celebration.
Vegas built its LosVGK initiative around Spanish-speaking supporters. Its October 2023 launch included a dedicated Latino marketing director and bilingual content.
The club announced a Spanish-language website and Spanish audio options for home broadcasts in September 2024. Those additions gave supporters more ways to follow the team.
A translated billboard might catch someone’s eye. A useful website helps them find information when they actually need it.
For a curious newcomer, that distinction matters. Interest can disappear in the gap between wanting to watch and working out how.
Language choices should also remain choices. Latino supporters do not share one viewing habit, and bilingual households should not have to choose a single identity to follow hockey.
Someone can enjoy an English interview and prefer a Spanish game call. A team serves that person better by making both easy to find.
Keep showing up after heritage night
A themed jersey gives people something tangible to wear. The morning after the celebration reveals whether the club has built anything around it.
Can a new supporter still find relevant coverage? Will the organization keep working with the community partners who helped bring people through the doors?
Heritage nights can create a joyful first encounter. Their lasting value depends partly on the ordinary work between them: answering questions, maintaining coverage, and listening when something misses.
The welcome needs to survive the end of the promotion. Otherwise, the souvenir outlasts the relationship.
Cricket Green gives children a way into the game
A child does not need to recognize Sidney Crosby to recognize Cricket Green. That familiarity gives the NHL Big City Greens Classic its starting advantage.
For the 2024 edition, ESPN and Disney combined live hockey tracking data with animation, placing versions of NHL players alongside characters from the series. ESPN’s announcement supplied a particularly playful detail: Cricket would coach the Penguins, while Gramma would coach the Bruins.
The joke gave children something to follow before they understood every whistle. Beneath the cartoon setting, an actual NHL game supplied the action.
The inaugural 2023 presentation offered encouraging audience figures. Sports Business Journal reported 143,000 viewers on Disney Channel and another 33,000 on Disney XD, with median ages of 14 and 12, respectively. Both audiences were 59% female.
Those numbers establish who watched that presentation. They cannot tell us how many viewers returned for a conventional broadcast.
Still, the experiment gives hockey a useful opening. Children can discover the pleasure of a breakaway before learning the vocabulary surrounding it.
The next step should preserve that pleasure. Short player introductions, friendly rules explanations, and clear viewing information could help curious children follow the sport further.
Reaching younger viewers requires room for incomplete knowledge. Nobody should need to pass a quiz before enjoying a desperate glove save.
Florida puts the games within reach
Florida’s answer involved something less elaborate than an animated rink: making the real one easier to see.
In July 2024, the Panthers partnered with Scripps Sports, which carries games through local television stations. Their joint announcement brought free over-the-air local broadcasts to the Miami/Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Fort Myers markets.
That gave households another way to encounter the team without buying an arena ticket or maintaining a cable subscription. The Panthers could invite people to watch and offer a practical route to doing so.
The early results drew attention. The team reported a 170% viewership increase in Miami/Fort Lauderdale through the first 14 games of 2024–25 compared with the same stretch a year earlier.
Florida had also just won the Stanley Cup. The reported update offered no breakdown separating the effect of easier television access from the excitement of a championship.
That leaves the size of each contribution unresolved. Crediting free television with the entire increase would go beyond the evidence.
The opportunity remains clear enough. Winning can make people curious; an accessible broadcast gives them somewhere to take that curiosity.
Give them a reason to watch again
The strongest test for these efforts arrives on a night without a giveaway. No special jersey waits at the entrance, and no cartoon character promises an appearance.
There is simply another game. Someone must choose it over everything else competing for the evening.
That choice should shape how teams judge their progress in building lasting support. Count the first visits, but follow what happens afterward. Ask whether children continue playing, whether families watch again, and whether newcomers find the experience worth repeating.
The answers may require quieter work. A parent might need clearer directions to practice or an affordable follow-on program. Another supporter might need a reliable place to find the Spanish broadcast.
Teams should let those answers change what they offer. Listening means little if the same obstacle greets the family next month.
Hockey also needs to leave room for supporters to bring their own habits into the building. A new fan can love the noise, the colors, or one player long before developing an opinion about the power play.
Over time, that attachment might become part of a household’s routine: checking the score, recognizing a voice, saving an evening for a game.
A child does not need to dream of reaching the NHL for the invitation to matter. Sometimes the lasting achievement is giving that child a team they want to grow old watching.
READ MORE: The cultural traditions defining the top ten NHL fanbases
FAQs
How is the NHL reaching new fans?
Teams offer youth programs, Spanish-language coverage, and easier access to broadcasts. Animated games also introduce hockey to children through familiar characters.
What is the Dallas Stars’ Future Stars program?
Future Stars introduces hockey to children in underrepresented Dallas neighborhoods. It supports free weekly activities with equipment and instruction.
What is LosVGK?
LosVGK is the Golden Knights’ initiative for Spanish-speaking supporters. Its offerings include bilingual content, community outreach, and Spanish-language viewing options.
What is the NHL Big City Greens Classic?
The broadcast recreates a live NHL game with animation and Disney characters. Tracking technology connects the cartoon action to the real game.
Did free television cause the Panthers’ 170% viewership increase?
The reported figures do not separate easier television access from championship excitement. Florida changed its broadcasts after winning the Stanley Cup.
