Queering the Audience Commodity: Political Economy and the Articulation of Desire in NHL Pride Nights

Background: This article refines and expands critical perspectives on the political economy of communication in Canada by Queering the concept of the audience commodity. Analysis: I interrogate the National Hockey League’s Pride Nights controversy in 2023 as a case study and entry point into Queering the audience commodity, drawing from media coverage of the Pride Nights controversy during the second half of the 2022–2023 season and the first half of the 2023–2024 season. Conclusions and implications: By centring desire as the foundation of both Queer studies and the political economy of communication, this article argues for the need to further develop and explore a distinctly Queer political economy of communication.