NHL on ESPN returning

IlliniFaninHoosierLand · Mar 10, 2021

7-year deal agreed to between both parties. Among the details of the 7-year deal:

-25 regular season games on ESPN or ABC
-Early-round playoff series and one conference final each year on ESPN or ABC
-Four Stanley Cup Final series on ABC
-1000+ games per season streaming on ESPN+
-ESPN+ and Hulu will be home to 75 ESPN-produced telecasts each season
-Opening-night games, the All-Star Game and Skills Challenge and other special events will be moving to ESPN as well
-NHL.TV (which is the NHL's out-of-market streaming package) also gets moved to ESPN+

bdutts · Mar 11, 2021

Yeah so you have to pay the 6/month then pay for the streaming package. If the streaming package is the same price as this year, I will not be renewing. If it’s 6 bucks per month less, then I’ll get it. But I think I already know the answer as to what the price for the streaming package will be...

IlliniwekKDR · Mar 11, 2021

ESPN ruins everything it touches these days, so.....yay.....

jrmarcus · Mar 11, 2021

Maybe there won't be as many blackouts on ESPN+ as there are on NHL.TV.

SnakePlissken · Mar 11, 2021

jrmarcus said:
Maybe there won't be as many blackouts on ESPN+ as there are on NHL.TV.

I read that NHL.tv will cease to exist and the regional sports networks will still have exclusive rights, so I don't think there will be any change to local blackouts.

Joel Goodson · Mar 11, 2021

jrmarcus said:
Maybe there won't be as many blackouts on ESPN+ as there are on NHL.TV.

Highly doubt it. The carrier(s) will change, but the local blackout rule still holds.

For cable subscribers (with sports packages), the new landscape is gonna suck. Going to have to subscribe to Peacock and ESPN+ to watch one's team (in addition to the cable subscription). Money grab, pure and simple.

bdutts · Mar 11, 2021

Joel Goodson said:
Highly doubt it. The carrier(s) will change, but the local blackout rule still holds.

For cable subscribers (with sports packages), the new landscape is gonna suck. Going to have to subscribe to Peacock and ESPN+ to watch one's team (in addition to the cable subscription). Money grab, pure and simple.

Money grab indeed. UFC did the same thing for their PPV events in that they can only be ordered through ESPN+. So, 6/month plus the 60 or whatever a PPV fight costs. I suppose one could just keep canceling then reordering if you want to view a specific PPV but that’s not convenient for the consumer.

IlliniFaninHoosierLand · Mar 11, 2021

I already have ESPN+ for EIU stuff so this works out perfectly for me. And I'll having to be adding Peacock here soon since WWE Network in the U.S. is gonna be moving over there in the coming weeks.

IlliniFaninHoosierLand · Apr 26, 2021

Interesting if this ends up being true:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1386716678160007171

IlliniFaninHoosierLand · Apr 26, 2021

And now that I've looked into it further, it appears that Turner Sports has won the bidding for the remainder of the NHL contract:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1386773198218350600

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1386774193346383876

Turner gets the other 3 Stanley Cup Finals. NBC's bid reportedly came in below $100 million. It also sounds like HBO Max may be getting into sports for the first time as well.

suburbanILLINI · Apr 26, 2021

IlliniFaninHoosierLand said:
And now that I've looked into it further, it appears that Turner Sports has won the bidding for the remainder of the NHL contract:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1386773198218350600

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1386774193346383876

Turner gets the other 3 Stanley Cup Finals. NBC's bid reportedly came in below $100 million. It also sounds like HBO Max may be getting into sports for the first time as well.

Hopefully they don't bring over the folks from NBC. This seems like a good deal for the NHL and should allow the salary cap to rise substantially

Joel Goodson · Apr 26, 2021

IlliniFaninHoosierLand said:
Interesting if this ends up being true:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1386716678160007171

ugh

To be clear, clearly a no-brainer for the NHL. Happy about the increased revenue. Just have doubts about TNT/ESPN's coverage.

IlliniFaninHoosierLand · Apr 26, 2021

suburbanILLINI said:
Hopefully they don't bring over the folks from NBC. This seems like a good deal for the NHL and should allow the salary cap to rise substantially

If we're talking Pierre McGuire, I'd agree. Most of the other folks they have on there, especially the game commentators, are pretty good.

IlliniFaninHoosierLand · Apr 26, 2021

Joel Goodson said:
ugh

To be clear, clearly a no-brainer for the NHL. Happy about the increased revenue. Just have doubts about TNT/ESPN's coverage.

ESPN has proven in the past that they'll cover the NHL on a similar level to the other sports, if given the opportunity.

If Turner Sports can get the right people involved (which was the biggest issue with their Champions League coverage), I have no doubts they can do well with it.

Joel Goodson · Apr 26, 2021

IlliniFaninHoosierLand said:
ESPN has proven in the past that they'll cover the NHL on a similar level to the other sports, if given the opportunity.

If Turner Sports can get the right people involved (which was the biggest issue with their Champions League coverage), I have no doubts they can do well with it.

Doing it and doing it well are two separate things. Am not a fan of ESPN. Turner could be anywhere from good to bad. We'll see.

illiniguy · Apr 26, 2021

Joel Goodson said:
Doing it and doing it well are two separate things. Am not a fan of ESPN. Turner could be anywhere from good to bad. We'll see.