J
Joseph_Gallant
Guest
With yesterday's (July 13th) announcement that the National Hockey league and it's players' union have reached tentative agreement on a new labor deal that should insure (barring a very unexpected development) that a 2005/2006 season will begin on-time, Broadcasting and Cable is reporting (registration may be required) that ESPN may yet be interested in televising NHL games.
You'll recall that in late May, ESPN decided to walk away from a contract they had signed with the NHL a year earlier, one which would have paid the league $60 million a year.
The article reports that ESPN is still interested, but at a much lower price.
Given the marketplace at the moment, I don't think any cable network would want to pay the NHL $60 million---or even anything more than $10 million, if that--a year. And I think ESPN is probably the only national cable network who would be interested in showing some NHL games, even under a revenue-sharing deal similar to that between NBC and the league.
My guess: The NHL will take a big hit in both rights fees and exposure under their next U.S. national cable-TV deal. You will see the NHL on ESPN in 2005/2006, but not until playoff time. I think ESPN will either pay a token rights fee or make a revenue-sharing deal with the league for between sixteen and twenty playoff games a year: one game a week through the first two rounds, midweek games of the Eastern and Western Conference finals (with weekend games on NBC), and also the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals. Most or all of these games will likely be shown on ESPN2. You will not see any regular-season NHL games on ESPN or ESPN2 in 2005/2006 or beyond; look for more college basketball on the ESPN networks in timeslots where regular-season hockey used to be.
You'll recall that in late May, ESPN decided to walk away from a contract they had signed with the NHL a year earlier, one which would have paid the league $60 million a year.
The article reports that ESPN is still interested, but at a much lower price.
Given the marketplace at the moment, I don't think any cable network would want to pay the NHL $60 million---or even anything more than $10 million, if that--a year. And I think ESPN is probably the only national cable network who would be interested in showing some NHL games, even under a revenue-sharing deal similar to that between NBC and the league.
My guess: The NHL will take a big hit in both rights fees and exposure under their next U.S. national cable-TV deal. You will see the NHL on ESPN in 2005/2006, but not until playoff time. I think ESPN will either pay a token rights fee or make a revenue-sharing deal with the league for between sixteen and twenty playoff games a year: one game a week through the first two rounds, midweek games of the Eastern and Western Conference finals (with weekend games on NBC), and also the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals. Most or all of these games will likely be shown on ESPN2. You will not see any regular-season NHL games on ESPN or ESPN2 in 2005/2006 or beyond; look for more college basketball on the ESPN networks in timeslots where regular-season hockey used to be.