The upcoming NHL media rights deals could result in more money for the league, more games for ESPN and potentially more partners.
Alex Sherman of CNBC reported Friday that the NHL is seeking to increase its total U.S. media rights fees by 50-100 percent in its next rights deal that begins with the 2028-29 season. That figure would amount to $6.75 to $9 billion over the deal term, compared to the $4.5 billion the league is reportedly earning over the life of its current seven-year contracts with Disney-owned ESPN and now Skydance-owned TNT.
On an annual basis, the league currently averages around $625-640 million/year between the Disney “A” package ($400 million/year) and the TNT “B” package ($225 million/year). Assuming the new deal would last over a similar seven-year term, the league could approach or even exceed the billion mark in annual U.S. rights fees if it receives the increase it is seeking. (Already, its combined U.S. and Canadian rights fees exceed the billion mark.)
According to Sherman, both Disney and Skydance are interested in renewing their deals, as is the NHL. Preliminary talks have already begun, with about six weeks left before negotiations can formally begin on January 1. But the parties are not entering negotiations with the same level of interest.
Disney, per Sherman, is “particularly interested” in adding more playoff inventory. Currently, ESPN/ABC airs half of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and alternates coverage of the Stanley Cup Final every-other-year with TNT. One might assume that the additional playoff inventory Disney is seeking would be full ownership of the Stanley Cup Final in every year, though Sherman did not suggest as much.
By contrast, Skydance is said to be more ambivalent about retaining the NHL package it inherited as part of its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. While sources at the company and league told Sherman that Skydance would like to renew, the NHL is not considered a “must-have” at a time when the company is seeking to hold onto its NFL rights package, which Sherman said it is “dead set on renewing.”
Sherman suggested that Skydance could opt for a reduced NHL package, and that the leftover inventory could be shopped to a third company — specifically mentioning his own employer, Versant, as being interested. Nexstar-owned CW has previously gone on the record to express its interest in the rights, as its SVP/sports Michael Perman told Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports last week that the company is “taking a look at” the TNT NHL package.
Presumably, a reduced TNT package could also help satisfy Disney’s desire for additional playoff games.
The dynamic is not too dissimilar from that of the NBA media rights negotiations in 2024. ESPN and TNT were the incumbents then as well, with ESPN prioritizing its exclusive rights to the NBA Finals and TNT clearly lukewarm about retaining the rights — with then-WBD CEO David Zaslav pointedly (and infamously) saying that the company did not “have to have” the NBA. ESPN kept its rights package, while TNT ended up on the outside looking in, replaced by NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video.
Prime, it should be noted, carries NHL games in Canada via a sublicensing agreement with the league’s Canadian broadcast partner Rogers.
