The NHL to Return to ESPN Next Season
After months of speculation, the Walt Disney Company, ESPN, and the NHL announced today that they have reached a historic seven-year TV, streaming, and media rights deal. The deal will begin in the 2021-22 season and run through 2027-28 season. This first-of-its-kind agreement will bring the NHL back to ESPN for the first time in 17 years.
Key Features
There’s a lot going on in this deal, so let’s break it down a bit.
Playoffs
As a part of this deal, ABC will have exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Final (with the ability to simulcast/megacast on ESPN+ and additional ESPN networks) in four out of the seven years of it. On top of that, half of the Stanley Cup playoffs will be featured on ABC and ESPN each year. This will include one full Conference Final series. These games will be simulcast on ESPN+.
Regular Season
In addition to playoffs, there will be 25 regular-season games aired nationally on ABC or ESPN each year. According to Sean Shapiro of The Athletic, there is a plan for a weekly national broadcast on Thursdays, so one can assume that’s the plan for those 25 games. There will also be 75 other national regular-season games each season that’ll stream exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu.
On top of all this, the NHL’s out-of-market streaming package will only be available as part of ESPN+. That means the current one, NHL.tv, will cease to exist in the U.S. next season. Even though the press releases only state that more than 1,000 games will be available, given the wording and that NHL.tv will no longer exist, I think it’s reasonable to assume that all 2,624 regular-season games (except those that are broadcast nationally) will be available through the service. Unfortunately, this likely also means blackouts are sticking around, which is bad news for cord-cutters.
Special Events/Other
Last but not least, there will be annual coverage of NHL Face-off (which are the opening night games), the All-Star Game and Skills Competition, as well as any of special events that the NHL events. While not specifically named, I assume this means that the Winter Classic and Stadium Series games will now be on ABC or ESPN.
The deal also includes extensive highlight rights, which ESPN will use in their news and highlights programming (namely SportsCenter), and across their app and social media channels. International media rights are also a part of the package, including (but likely not limited to) Latin America, parts of Europe, and the Caribbean.
Live game coverage as well as studio, surround, and original programming will be announced in the coming months. These programs will take place across all of the Walt Disney Company’s networks and streaming services. This will include a weekly studio show during the NHL season that will be broadcast on ABC, ESPN, or ESPN2.
Will Any Other Company Have Broadcast Rights?
While ESPN appears to be taking over as the majority owner of the NHL’s broadcast and media rights, there will still be another company involved that has yet to be announced. They will carry the other half of the playoffs and the other three Stanley Cup Finals, as well as a to-be-announced number of regular-season games. All signs point to that company being NBC. It would frankly be shocking if it wasn’t. NBC is still interested in retaining rights to the NHL. But, they were not willing to pay what ESPN did (more on that later). But, they’d be stupid to pass on the rest of the deal, and they know that.
The NHL was negotiating with NBC first, as part of the current deal gave NBC first negotiation rights. But, once they realized they weren’t going to get what they wanted, they moved on to ESPN. But, now that that’s done, look for them to circle back. With the folding of NBCSN this summer, this would mean that the NHL games broadcasted by NBC would be on NBC, USA Network, and Peacock (NBC’s streaming service).
Is This Good For the NHL?
This is an incredible deal for the NHL. They’re gaining access to the unparalleled power and reach of the Walt Disney Company. Plus, they’re also going to be bringing in significantly more money per season. Sources told The Athletic that ESPN will be paying the NHL $400 million a season as part of this deal ($2.8 billion total). That’s double the current $200 million a season with NBC. That alone is huge. But, it’s even more so when you consider the NHL is still negotiating with another company.
Even if NBC doesn’t budge from their current $200 million a season (although I think they’ll have to go up some), that’ll make it so the NHL is bringing in $600 million a season, just from broadcast rights. The importance of that really can’t be understated. All of this extra money will allow the league to raise the salary cap, and likely by a significant amount. That’s great news, especially coming out of this pandemic.
The Game Will Grow to New Heights
Perhaps even more important than the money is the opportunity to grow the game. As I said above, the power and reach of Disney are unmatched. Having them back in the NHL will do wonders for growing the fanbase.
Even if we solely think about trying to get kids interested in hockey, they could do a kids-centered show on Disney Channel or even ESPN, or create Disney-themed hockey camps to get young kids interested in playing, and so much more. Then, for adults, you just made it a lot easier to watch and follow the game. ESPN reaches a far greater audience than NBCSN, so a lot more people will be able to watch. This isn’t just a North American thing either. With ESPN getting the media rights in Latin America and the Caribbean, which are not exactly places that come to mind when you think about hockey, they’ll be able to reach a whole new audience of people that have previously not been considered. The possibilities here are endless, and all of them are good.
My Personal Feelings
I’m personally extremely excited about this. I firmly believe that hockey is the best sport in world (and certainly the most exciting to watch). I want nothing more than to see it grow and see it get the love it deserves. Disney and ESPN, plus NBC (most likely), will allow them to do that at a rate we’ve never seen before.
While ESPN’s current hockey coverage is not my favorite, I know it’ll get better now that they hold broadcast rights to it. They’ll attract more experienced people in and around the sport as well as new faces to bring new perspectives to the game. I can’t wait to see what they do to make their game coverage and programming unique.
I was a mere year old the last time an NHL game was broadcast on ESPN (feel old yet?). So, I don’t exactly remember how they did back then. But I’m certainly looking forward to finding out what they do now. There’s a reason that ESPN is widely regarded as the top place for sports. Oh, and for those of you who do remember it, get excited because the iconic theme music from back then (which even I know) will be back!
All in all, this is a great day for the game of hockey, and things will surely only get better from here. So, get excited hockey fans!
-Lydia Murray (@lydia_murray12)
Featured image courtesy of @NHL/Twitter.
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