Quote:
Originally Posted by GordonBlue
I'm going to guess between $300 & 400M per year.
Can't see any world where a deal would go to 1 billion per year.
Hockey isn't that popular.
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I think this half package (ESPN) could be worth the upper end of that ($400-410) million and since they get 4 Cup Finals in 7 years, the other package may be worth about $300 million for a total of $700 million. That would be a really good improvement over the $200 million per year they were getting from NBC for the whole package.
If you combine that with the $400 million or so that Sportsnet gives the NHL each year, for the first time, NHL TV rights might exceed a billion dollars.
One key thing about this deal is it's seven years in length, which is pretty much the length of the CBA. This means that more of this money is going to end up in the owners' pockets as they try to claw back to 50/50.
As for what the other package might be, I wonder. I think NBC really wanted to continue with the NFL but word is that the NFL is asking for double their asking price which would mean almost $2 billion a year for their Sunday night package.
Maybe CBS might be an option. They've been really pushing their Paramount+ Streaming platform and this could be a good anchor for it. Not to mention, CBS Sports Network. Or maybe Turner/TNT as they've flirted in the past with an NHL deal. I guess we'll see.