Gary Bettman discusses cost management and the future of the league with the season starting on Wednesday.
The NHL will be back on ESPN.
On Wednesday, ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro announced that the network will regain broadcast rights to NHL games.
The self-proclaimed “world leader in sports” and the NHL have announced a seven-year deal that includes extensive streaming rights. The last time that ESPN aired NHL games was in 2004. According to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, discussions with the network have started to escalate in recent months.
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“This is a moment of transformation in the media, especially in the sports media. This puts us at the forefront of content distribution with a large linear package, as well as a future-oriented strategy, with a focus on the impact of streaming, ”said Bettman. “This is a win, win, win. A victory for ESPN and The Walt Disney Company, a victory for the NHL and, most importantly, a victory for fans ”.
In four of the seven years, the Stanley Cup final will air on ABC. The All-Star game and 25 regular season games, with an expected drop of 15 on ESPN and 10 on ABC, will also take place.
The games that will be broadcast on ABC are likely to air on Saturdays, with ESPN games shown on Thursdays. When playoff time comes, ESPN and ABC will have the first chance to determine which final series of the conference they want on their network, as well as half of the first and second round games.
“The NHL has a young audience and one of our main priorities is expanding the audience,” said Pitaro. “As we seek to attract the younger generation, we think that NHL content and live games will help us significantly.”
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ESPN is expected to produce 75 national games each season, which will be broadcast only on ESPN + and Hulu. The NHL TV package – which has more than 1,000 games off the market – will be transferred to ESPN + and will be part of the basic package.
In addition to the exclusive games, ESPN + will also offer subscribers 1,100 off-the-wall matches that previously took place on NHL.TV.
Bettman said the new deal with ESPN gives NHL the best of both worlds – a strong linear package and a forward-looking digital strategy.
“This agreement reflects the reality of how the media world is now. Everyone knows that cable cutting and streaming platforms are growing dramatically. This is an opportunity for our youngest fans to give them what they want in the places where they go in search of content, ”said Bettman.
Still, Bettman has not finished “shopping”. The NHL still has three years of Stanley Cup finals to sell, as well as a second game package. According to the New York Post, Fox Sports, owned by Fox Corp, and NBC Sports, owned by Comcast, are competing for these games.
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