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If you missed it, the Griffins have locked into the post season. Several of you (myself included) are waiting to see who may be available to play for the team in terms of prospects or eligible players in the NHL. I was told yesterday it doesn’t look like Kasper can go, but Soderblom and Watson are open. Sandin-Pellikka and Brandsegg-Nygard should also be available as long as they make the trek over. The blue line could get a big boost.
In NHL news, the structure of the new Rogers 12 year deal was laid out. From the PHR write up:
The NHL has reportedly agreed to a new, 12-year contract worth $7.7B USD, or $11B CAD, with Rogers Communication to maintain Canadian TV rights, per Sportico’s Scott Soshnick. The total and per-year evaluations of the deal are more than double the total value of the NHL and Rogers’ current contract. NHL owners will reportedly vote on approving the new contract later this week. Should it be approved, the deal would go into effect for the 2026-27 season.
Some of you see it right away. 11b CAD equal roughly to 7.7B USD. Essentially, just under 642m per year. The current ESPN/TNT deals are roughly 600m per year. Looking at 1.2B with ESPN up for renegotiation. Sounds pretty good, right? I’ve been holding off on this and will do a video to explain a bit more. ESPN/Disney had their shareholder call last week. The network continues to lose viewers and is pushing hard to get onto streaming. They also lost the MLB after offering them about half of their current contract. Why?
The NBA is going to be making between 6 and 7 B for the next 11 years. The bidding war got so intense that TNT lost the broadcast rights to NBC. Now ESPN is offering 2B to the NFL for some exclusive content. TNT lost its #1 property and once Fan Duel contracts up the rest of Baseball will be leaving them. Not great for the NHL.
Most of you know the pecking order. NFL games average around 17m. The NBA averages around 1.4 (way down). The NHL entered the year at around 500k. Now the partnerships with ESPN/Fan Duel and TNT are dealing with a scenario with less money to play with. But, the 4 nations right? Opening weekend for March Madness drew 9 million. 4 nations had the boom of 2 well watched games, but it’s not cracking the levels of US viewership it needs to see the raises that are hoped for especially by a league that wants to go to 34 teams.
We’re seeing cost cutting changes behind the scenes. The Canadian dollar has hovered around 70 cents for a long time but all players are paid in US dollars. Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton have a lot of cash to make up that difference, but that’s isn’t far off from the exchange rate that saw Winnipeg and Quebec both have to relocate. As per usual, you won’t hear about the issues until the very last minute. The league is very tight lipped about it.
Personal opinion, having 32 teams has already diluted the season for far too many teams. Toronto and New York can draw over 1 million viewers, but that’s offset hard with Utah games drawing 174k. Fewer teams carrying full rosters, the change to the draft, the end of the prospects tournament in Traverse City etc.
This is, opinion of course, the greatest sport in the world. The speed, skill and strength continue to just baffle in the rise of each generation. At some point, the viewership has to support the very real expense of maintaining ice, cost of equipment, charter flights making sure all 32 teams play each other once etc. Advertisers have made a huge difference, but they watch the numbers carefully. For the health and future of the game, it may behoove the league to make games easier to catch (with fewer subscriptions) and maximize viewership. Only time will tell, but it seems that the NHL may be looking for table scraps at ESPN and need a stronger partnership. As always, let me know your thoughts.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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