Team USA Hockey’s Olympic Gold Medal Victory Brings In Largest Pre-9AM Ratings Of All-Time

Team USA isn’t just about patriotism, they’re good for business too.

The overtime goal from United States center Jack Hughes, which delivered the Americans their first gold medal in the Olympics for men’s hockey since 1980, brought in an average audience of 26 million viewers for NBC and Peacock here in the U.S., per digital data from Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel ratings and Adobe Analytics via ESPN. (RELATED: ‘Stupid, Self-Absorbed And Misogynistic’: Keith Olbermann Crashes Out About Team USA Hockey, President Trump Invite)

Broadcasting on NBC and Peacock from 8:15-11:00 a.m. ET, the 2-1 overtime win Sunday for Team USA against Canada had an average of 18.6 million live viewers. That number increased to 20.7 million due to the encore specials that were broadcasted Sunday afternoon (USA Network) and late Sunday night (NBC).

The game is the most-viewed sporting event of all-time in United States history that had a start time prior to 9:00 a.m. ET, according to Nielsen per ESPN.

GOLDEN FINISH — USA-Canada Olympic Men’s Gold Medal Hockey Game Delivers Audience Milestones

More: https://t.co/ooXPrkDaLn pic.twitter.com/Uck5k4w6cn

— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) February 24, 2026

Lord have mercy, what can this Team USA hockey squad not do?

By the way, did you guys catch them at the State of the Union?

🚨 WOW! Absolutely EPIC WALKOUT for Team USA Men’s Hockey team at President Trump’s State of the Union — they’re all holding up their gold medals

The room is going haywire!

🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/XaWB9aKKyD

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 25, 2026

Damn, I love this team … it’s a shame that we can’t see more games from these guys.