The NHL will have another home for broadcasting its games and the Stanley Cup. The NHL and Turner Sports have agreed to a seven-year rights agreement that will begin in the 2021-22 season.
The deal is worth $225 million per year, and it will effectively end the league’s 16-year partnership with NBC. Not only that, but the NHL had previously signed a seven-year deal worth $400 million per year with ESPN. The deal made ESPN its primary rights holder next season.
Regarding the departure of the league from NBC Sports, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman explained, “Despite a lot of speculation to the contrary, we part friends, each understanding why we made the decisions that we both made to reach this point,” Bettman said.
The latest deal with Turner Sports means that the league has increased its rights fees to more than $625 million per year. This is an increase compared to its previous value of $300 million in agreements with NBCUniversal and, for streaming, Disney.
Turner Sports will present up to 72 regular-season games and half of the first three Stanley Cup playoffs rounds each season. The Stanley Cups that Turner will host will air on TNT. ESPN will air the Stanley Cup on ABC when it hosts the big event. Part of the deals made will assure live streaming and simulcast rights for HBO Max and expansive digital and highlights rights for Bleacher Report.
Turner Sports will also have “TV Everywhere” rights that will enable subscribers across all WarnerMedia platforms to access NHL games and related programming. The NHL’s streaming package, NHL.TV is also moving to ESPN+ as part of the deal.
Bettman stated that the rights for the World Cup of Hockey will be negotiated with media partners when the league and the NHLPA jointly decide to move forward with the next edition. ESPN last hosted the 2016 edition of the World Cup of Hockey.
While the NHL is set to depart from NBC, it will still retain the rights to air the next two winter games. “There are still a lot of things that have nothing to do with NBC that will have to be resolved before we go to the Olympics in Beijing [in 2022],” Bettman said.
