On Wednesday, ESPN and NHL announced a new, comprehensive TV deal that, among other details, would bring 25 exclusive regular season games to ABC or ESPN, along with four Stanley Cup finals and half of the playoffs on next seven seasons.
There was a lot of enthusiasm for the new contract, along with some expected caution and disappointment. And all these feelings are justified: there is a lot to undo in the business, with clear advantages and disadvantages.
As with most contracts and deals in the sports media scene (and beyond), there are winners and losers in this business. Here is our best attempt to identify them in this business.
Winner: ESPN. This is obvious. ESPN wanted hockey back, and they got hockey back. The network adds the NHL to its hectic winter schedule with the NBA, college basketball and the ever-present UFC. Another championship event, the Stanley Cup Final, will be added to ESPN’s portfolio (broadcast on ABC), along with a litany of playoff games. The fact that this is also supposed to be the main NHL package, rather than a secondary one, puts ESPN in a privileged position among NHL’s TV partners. It is also huge for ESPN to have rights agreements with all “Big Four” (regardless of whether or not you think a Big Four still exists, but that’s another conversation), giving the network an incentive to provide airtime for others sports other than the NFL or NBA.
Loser: NBC Sports. NBC is still expected to be one of the NHL’s TV partners (although a deal has not yet been announced), but that is still a blow after staying with the NHL after all these years, going through the good and the bad. bad. Although NBC retains the Stanley Cup final every other year and half the playoff series each year, it loses its status as the NHL’s main broadcast partner. In addition, many of the NHL regular season media events are also leaving NBC for ABC / ESPN in the new TV deal, including Faceoff’s opening night games, the All-Star Game and Skills contest and potentially (though not officially designated) the outdoor games as well.
Sure, NBC would still have some regular season games if it gets a new TV deal with the NHL, but with NBCSN’s imminent closure, those games will be on Peacock, USA, or NBC itself, rather than a focused network. in sports like ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN +. Considering how closely connected the NHL was with NBCSN, it would be almost like starting from scratch with the same TV partner.
Winner: The NHL. Duh. Of course the NHL is a winner: they are making a lot more money! Although the rate of specific duties has not been announced, was reported that the NHL will receive an average of $ 400 million a year from Disney. The average duty rate under the previous agreement with NBC is $ 200 million per year. This is a considerable increase (although Disney was already paying NHL as part of the sale of BAMTech – more on that later), and with a second TV package also up for grabs, NHL will likely be in a position to end up with a considerable increase in the inflow of extra money.
Loser: Fox Sports. Fox really wanted the NHL, how was it rumored? In that case, they have been eliminated, and their live winter content for the foreseeable future will be limited to college basketball and post-Super Bowl NASCAR. This leaves many holes to fill, and Skip Bayless and Colin Cowherd can fill only a few hours of content a day. Fox has a lot of fun personalities and talented hosts, but how much does it matter if there are no striking live events to draw viewers to networks outside of the NFL season?
Winner: fans out of the market. As part of the deal, the NHL off-the-shelf streaming package is switching to ESPN +, with NHL.tv following the dodo’s path. ESPN + is (currently, at least) cheaper for an entire year than NHL.tv is for the season, meaning fans who want to watch games off the market will end up saving money while having access to a lot of other content that you may or may not be interested in.
Loser: Some fans in the market. Sorry, guys: if you want to watch each of your local team’s games this season, you’ll not only need a cable or satellite subscription to access your team’s RSN and ESPN, but you’ll also need an ESPN + subscription or Hulu. 75 games will be broadcast exclusively on this TV deal and, although you have already got everything you need with the cable subwoofer, you will now need to jump into the streaming waters to see all the games. I personally don’t think this is the worst thing in the world, but launching another paid game access always bothers people.
Winner: fans of nostalgia. This ESPN tweet made me laugh. Yes, the theme * is * incredible, but this is a very small part of a much bigger puzzle.
And yes, is the theme song back? pic.twitter.com/6HSQiyKRGs
– ESPN (@espn) March 10, 2021
Loser: fans of nostalgia. Although the NHL is returning to ESPN with the same song, it may still not sound the same. Longtime analyst Bill Clement retired earlier this year. John Davidson left broadcasting to the front office a decade and a half ago and is currently the president of the New York Rangers. Gary Thorne, who will turn 73 in June, expressed some interest in an interview for The Athletic, but reading between the lines, it seems that if he returned, he would not be the main full-time NHL announcer on ESPN and ABC. ESPN has many options, both internal and external, for its regular NHL coverage and, most importantly, they have plenty of time to put all of their ducks in a row. I wouldn’t freak out just because the broadcast team is different than it was two decades ago.
Winner: ESPN hockey-friendly employees. Regardless of how involved they are with live play or studio coverage, this is a great day for people like John Buccigross, Linda Cohn, Emily Kaplan, Steve Levy, Barry Melrose and Greg Wyshynski. ESPN’s return to the NHL game is not only good for the network, it is good for the profiles of these employees (and anyone else they bring to the coverage). In the first month of the NHL season in the fall, Wyshynski alone may have more air time on air than in his entire career so far.
The jury is still decided: Spectacles of debate and general programming. Will the various ESPN general debates and talk shows talk about hockey now that the NHL is back? If not, it will look like a slap. If they do, and it’s horrible, it will still look like a slap in the face … but at least we will get good content from it. Yes, it would be a disaster, but Stephen A. Smith shouting loudly about Andrei Vasilevskiy sounds more fun than 95% of the content of the hug debate.
Image via ESPN and NHL.