The NHL is officially returning to ESPN.
ESPN announced Wednesday that it has reached a seven-year media rights deal with the NHL that goes into effect next season. The news was first reported by Canada’s SportsNet and the New York Post on Tuesday.
According the Post and Associated Press, ESPN’s deal is worth in the neighborhood of $400 million per year for what the Post terms the NHL’s “A” package. ESPN was already paying $100 million/year for its streaming package of games on ESPN+.
As previously reported, ESPN will carry the Stanley Cup Final exclusively in four of the seven years. In a first for the NHL, all seven games would air on the ABC broadcast network, with simulcasts on ESPN+ and additional ESPN networks.
ESPN and ABC are set for 25 regular season games per year. Per the AP, ABC is likely to carry 10 of those games on Saturdays and ESPN 15 on Thursdays.
The ESPN networks will also carry one conference final per year, the NHL’s annual Opening Night games, the All-Star Game and Skills Challenge, and “other NHL special events.” It was not clear whether the latter designation would include the Winter Classic, though ESPN’s college football bowl commitments would seem to rule that out.
Linear television is just one part of the deal. ESPN+ and Hulu are slated to carry 75 ESPN-produced regular season games per season, marking the first NHL games set aside exclusively for an over-the-top platform. ESPN+ currently streams games that are available on local RSNs.
ESPN+ will also be the home of the NHL out-of-market package currently branded NHL.TV, which includes 1,000 games per season.
ESPN said Wednesday that it will bring back its old NHL theme music.
[News from ESPN PR 3.10, ESPN Front Row/Twitter 3.10, Andrew Marchand/Twitter 3.10, AP 3.10]
