Minnesota Wild fans heading to their favorite sports bars to watch a game this season may want to pack a laptop along with their jerseys. The NHL team’s new Wild+ streaming service has left some establishments unable to show the games on their televisions, forcing patrons to watch on personal devices instead.
The problem stems from a distribution gap: Although fans can subscribe to Wild+ through Amazon Prime Video, businesses cannot purchase the same subscription through Amazon for commercial viewing. That has created an awkward situation for bars that want to offer the communal experience of watching hockey without running afoul of licensing restrictions.
At Tom Reid’s Hockey City Pub in St. Paul, the issue has been particularly frustrating. General manager Kathy Gosiger told the Pioneer Press that the bar was packed for the Wild’s first game, after being assured it would be available through DirecTV, only for the broadcast to prove inaccessible. Customers blamed the establishment, unaware that the problem was with distribution rather than the bar’s willingness to show the game.
By the Wild’s October 12th matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights, some fans were watching on their phones at the bar, while other patrons had to make do with television screens showing different sports. The workaround may keep individual fans connected to the action, but it falls short of the big-screen, shared viewing experience that has long been central to the sports-bar business.
The team’s new distribution model is part of a broader shift in how professional sports reach local audiences. The Wild launched its own multimedia television network this season, with broadcasts managed in-house in collaboration with NHL Productions. The network produces the team’s regular-season games that are not nationally televised by the NHL’s exclusive broadcast partners, including ABC, ESPN, ESPN+/Hulu and TNT.
The Wild’s official broadcast guide outlines several ways for fans within its local broadcast territory to watch. Wild+ is available as a standalone subscription through Prime Video, while Fubo offers the games through its Pro and Sports bundles. Spectrum carries the network for its television customers in the team’s local market, and select games are available free over the air through KSTP-TV and KSTC-TV, also known as 5 Eyewitness News and 45TV. The team says additional cable and satellite distribution agreements remain under discussion.
Wild+ on Prime Video carries 67 regular-season games, according to the team’s FAQ, covering games that are not nationally televised by the NHL’s exclusive partners. The standalone subscription costs $19.99 per month or $99.99 for the season, and viewers do not need a paid Amazon Prime membership to subscribe. Those household options, however, do not automatically provide a commercial license for a bar to show games to its customers.
The free over-the-air schedule offers a limited alternative. The Wild announced that 10 regular-season games would be carried on KSTP-TV and KSTC-TV during the 2026-27 season, with additional broadcasts available through Gray Media stations in parts of the Upper Midwest. The team has presented the arrangement as a way to expand access, but it does not solve the problem for businesses seeking a reliable way to show every game.
The NHL has said it is in discussions with additional cable and satellite providers about distributing Wild+. Until more agreements are announced, businesses face uncertainty over where games can be legally accessed, while fans may find themselves troubleshooting their own streams instead of watching the action on a bar’s main screens. The Wild’s public broadcast guide lists consumer viewing options but does not spell out a commercial subscription solution for bars.
The problem also illustrates the wider consequences of the fragmentation of regional sports broadcasting. The collapse of Main Street Sports Group, the parent company of FanDuel Sports Network, has sent Minnesota teams toward separate distribution arrangements. Following years in which fans could watch many local teams through one regional network, viewers may now need multiple apps and subscriptions to follow their favorite Minnesota franchises.
The shift affects more than convenience. For casual viewers, the cost and complexity of finding games can make it harder to follow a team, while sports bars must navigate their own mix of subscriptions and commercial rights. A service that works for a fan watching at home is not necessarily a service a business can use to draw customers on game night.
For now, the spectacle of a room full of hockey fans watching a game together has given way, in some Minnesota bars, to the incongruous sight of patrons hunched over phones and laptops. The Wild’s new streaming model may give the team more control over its broadcasts, but the early-season experience suggests that reaching fans at home and reaching them in the places where they gather to watch sports are two very different distribution challenges.