The Toronto Maple Leafs or the Blue Jays? Toronto sport fans were almost faced with this very decision: the Blue Jays are going to their first World Series in 32 years, and the Maple Leafs were playing at home on the same nights. If the games were at the same time, it could hurt both events, affecting attendance, TV ratings, and overall excitement. Surely, no one wants that, and fortunately, the teams were able to work together to fix it.

Toronto sports fans were facing a potential clash of historic proportions. The Maple Leafs were set to play the Buffalo Sabres on October 24 at 7:30 p.m. and October 25 at 7 p.m., while they were also scheduled to face the Calgary Flames on October 28 at 6:15 p.m. At the same time, the Blue Jays will be making history with their first World Series in 32 years, with Game 1 on October 24, Game 2 on October 25, and Game 4 on October 28 at the Rogers Centre. Luckily, a solution came through.

NHL insider Chris Johnston shared on X, “Hearing that the @MapleLeafs will adjust the start times of their games Saturday and Tuesday to avoid conflicts with @BlueJays  World Series games played those nights.”

Even the MLSE President & CEO, Keith Pelley, emphasized the teamwork behind the changes, saying, “Toronto sports fans are some of the most passionate in the world. Bringing the city’s teams together to make this historic moment accessible for everyone took cooperation from leagues, coaches, players, and broadcasters, and we’re grateful to all of them.” So, what’s the new schedule?

Toronto fans can finally breathe easy. The game against Buffalo on October 24 now starts at 7 p.m., the game against Buffalo on October 25 moves to 5 p.m., and the game against Calgary on October 28 moves to 6 p.m. The Raptors even got in on the fun by moving two of their home games to earlier times.

They will also turn the Scotiabank Arena into a mini viewing party by showing the Blue Jays’ World Series Games 1 and 2 right after. Hence, Toronto is about to have one of the most exciting sports weekends in years, with the Dodgers in town and the Fall Classic lighting up the city. But what lessons had the NHL learned from past scheduling missteps?

Lessons from the NHL’s past mistakes

Remember in 2023, when ESPN drew criticism from both baseball and hockey fans. They aired a blowout MLB game between the Cardinals and Red Sox on their main channel. Meanwhile, a thrilling Stanley Cup Playoff game between the Golden Knights and Oilers was pushed to ESPN2. The network attempted to use a split screen to cover both events.

But this approach was criticized for not adequately showing the excitement of the hockey game. As one fan said at that time, “Baseball has never looked worse than when the ninth inning of a premier game was split screened next to back-to-back Stanley Cup Hockey goals .”

Even earlier this month, the NHL decided to schedule all 32 teams to play on the same night: October 11 and again on October 28, while skipping Friday night games. This led to an overloaded Saturday with 16 matchups and a lackluster Sunday. This strategy was widely criticized by fans as “f***ing weird,” sparking widespread debate at the season’s outset.

However, a study published in 2018 found that the NHL loses much viewership when its games compete against NBA and MLB games. Specifically, the NHL loses 30.3% of its audience for games that compete against the NBA regular season, 22.6% against the MLB regular season, and 20.1% against the NBA playoffs. And now this time, cooperation won. Three teams, one city, and a weekend full of sports – minus the scheduling chaos.