The 2025 Four Nations Face-Off was a thrilling event, with the players enthralling the fans with their glorious displays on the ice. With national pride at stake, it was Canada who clinched the elite title, defeating the United States in the decisive clash. Going by the immense success of the event both on and off the ice, there might be a huge decision coming out for the future of this tournament.

Earlier today, NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman confirmed that the NHL hasn’t fully committed to holding the 2026 All-Star game yet. Instead, talks are ongoing as to what the NHL can do next, as per NHL Insider, Chris Johnston, as the 4 Nations Face-Off raised the bar high in every aspect of the game. The best-on-best tournament was conducted as a trial instead of their traditional All-Star game, to overwhelming fan approval. Thus, with the huge success seen this year with the international tournament, the league writing anything off for next year.

Bettman appeared on “The Rich Eisen Show” during which he was all praise for the Four Nations tournament held this year. He revealed, “The success has been so quick and overwhelming. We’ve got a lot of things to consider and sort out, including what our All-Star game looks like going forward. But, look, it was all good.”

However, Bettman doesn’t want to just stop at the Four Nations tournament. Going by its success, the NHL Commissioner wants to replicate the model and expand it. Comparing hockey to that of soccer, he further added, “We’re looking to do a full World Cup, like you see in soccer.” This would bring a new revolution in hockey, something that would do the sport a whole lot of good.

Meanwhile, the success of the Four Nations Face-Off was backed by the numbers and statistics. The event shattered many records and even drew in massive TV ratings.

Staggering numbers behind the success of the 4 Nations Face-Off

With the United States renewing their age-old rivalry with Canada in the climactic clash of the tournament, the game was bound to draw in a large number of viewers. However, to everyone’s surprise, the response of the tournament was so good that it broke several viewership records.

With 16.1 Million people tuning in to watch the summit clash between Canada and the United States, it became the one of the most viewed games ever on ESPN+. In fact, it brought in numbers comparable to an NBA All Star game, something the regular NHL All Star hasn’t come close to achieving.

Speaking about the success of the tournament, Canadian star, Cale Makar said, “I mean, it’s incredible. I just hope everybody enjoyed watching the game. It was a lot of fun for us to play in. I think it’s a huge and awesome lead-up to the Olympics hopefully next year. They did a really good job of putting it on. It was exciting hockey. Everybody really put everything they had into it passion-wise, and it was a lot of fun.”

Additionally, each game in the Four Nations Face-Off averaged about 6.5 million viewers, which is up 256% from the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Given this massive success and the tournament being widely enjoyed by the audience, it makes perfect sense for the NHL to continue the event instead of their traditional All-Star game. However, with Milano Cortina occurring next year too, it’s likely we won’t see a repeat next year though it’s clear the NHL is reluctant to simply return to the All Star game too.