NHL, Disney Strike 7-Year Hockey Rights Deal for Linear and Streaming Platforms

As the next round of NFL TV deals are still being finalized, another top professional sports league—the NHL—has struck a new agreement with Disney to become the primary TV and streaming home for professional hockey over the next seven years. The seven-year TV, streaming and media rights deal—which brings games to ESPN, ABC, ESPN+ and Hulu—will start with the National Hockey League’s upcoming 2021-22 season, and extend through the 2027-28 season. The agreement is structured in a way that will bolster Disney’s linear and streaming properties. ABC will air the Stanley Cup Final exclusively during four of the deal’s seven years, and will have the ability to simulcast the games on ESPN+ and other ESPN networks. In each season of the agreement, ESPN and ABC will have live, exclusive coverage of one Conference Final series and half of all first and second round playoff games—meaning that half of the Stanley Cup Playoffs will air on the two networks. During each year of the deal, 25 national regular-season games will air exclusively on ABC or ESPN. Additionally, 75 national regular-season games each season will be produced on ESPN and stream exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu. The NHL’s out-of-market streaming package of more than 1,000 games, which had been available on NHL.TV, will now only be open to fans with an ESPN+ subscription. The deal also includes annual coverage of NHL’s Face-off opening night games, the NHL All-Star Game and Skills Challenge, and other NHL events each season. Disney also gets international media rights in Latin America, the Carribean and parts of Europe. “Not only will this groundbreaking, seven-year deal enable the NHL to benefit from the incomparable power, reach and influence of The Walt Disney Company and ABC/ESPN, it sets a new standard in delivering our game to the most passionate and tech-savvy fans in sports in the ways they now demand and on the platforms they use,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN and sports content, said in a statement that the agreement “serves as a blueprint for sports deals in the future. We know the power of the NHL and are thrilled to welcome it back as a significant new pillar across our platforms.” Step aside, NBCUniversal With the agreement, Disney will overtake NBCUniversal as the NHL’s top television partner. NBCUniversal’s 10-year, $2 billion deal with the league ends following this season, and NBC Sports did not respond to a comment about the future of hockey on its platforms in light of the Disney deal. In January, NBCUniversal said it will shut down NBCSN, its cable sports network, later this year, and migrate its sports programming, including NHL games, to USA Network and the Peacock streaming service. The NHL agreement comes the same day that Disney rolled out ESPN+ on Hulu, integrating two of its streamers in an effort to boost its sports footprint. Meanwhile, the NFL is finalizing its next round of TV rights deals, which is expected to include agreements with Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN/ABC and Amazon Prime Video.