![]() It’s being driven by league and player buy-in but also newer technologies and continued emphasis on social media platforms, that at least in ESPN’s case, were hardly existent during their last cycle of NHL rights. That starts with access, both on and off the ice, and it is one of the key facets of the strategy for both Disney and Turner Sports. “We’re storytellers,” said Linda Cohn, host of the ESPN+ nightly hockey show “In The Crease.” “We’re going to create those emotional connections that the casual sports fan may not have with an NHL player, with an NHL team, with an NHL coach. Tying in that kind of digital content, as well as emphasizing social media to enhance and complement game coverage exposing the NHL’s brand to new and younger fans and leaning into heightened access to players and coaches are all appealing elements to both networks’ plans. More than 1,000 out-of-market regular-season games will appear on ESPN+, as well as 75 contests on Hulu. “This really is what we hope will be a paradigm-shifting deal in how we acquire rights at The Walt Disney Company,” said Ilan Ben-Hanan, ESPN’s senior vice president of programming and acquisitions. Turner is starting its first season as a national partner with the league. 22) and Heritage Classic (Maple Leafs vs. That will include the NHL’s three outdoor games: Winter Classic (Wild vs. Meanwhile, Turner Sports, which has never had a deal with the NHL, boasts a 50-game regular-season slate starting Oct. ![]() ESPN’s first game back will be, appropriately, in Tampa, where the Lightning open defense of their title against the Penguins. In its first season back, Disney will broadcast 103 exclusive regular-season games across ABC, ESPN, ESPN+ and Hulu, while this season will mark the first of four Stanley Cup Finals aired over the deal’s term. home for the sport from 1992 to 2004 (viewers will be glad to know that the network’s iconic hockey theme music is returning). Before that, however, ESPN and ABC served as the U.S. “We’re going to be at the forefront in terms of how that is going to develop as a result of these deals.”įor the last 16 years, NBC exclusively held the NHL’s domestic media rights. ![]() “As someone who has been in the media business for quite a while, you can see the seismic shift that’s coming with digital,” said the NHL’s David Proper, executive vice president of international and media strategy. They start at a time that digital and social media are more a part of the strategy than ever before, and that will heavily influence how both properties present the sport to the public. Perhaps the broadest change for the NHL in this season of opportunity comes through its deals with Disney and Turner, which are separate seven-year, agreements that average up to $625 million annually, according to sources. If that weren’t enough, the league’s players will return to the Olympics for the first time since 2014, its three marquee stadium events and All-Star Game will take place for the first time in two years and its reigning champion will try to pull off the first three-peat in a major North American team sport since the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers won three straight from 1999-2000 through 2001-02. But the presence of Disney and Turner, the Seattle Kraken and Long Island’s UBS Arena also come in a season that would be critical for another reason: This will be the NHL’s first full 82-game schedule since 2018-19 and will take place against the ongoing realities of the pandemic. Never in recent memory has a major professional league introduced two new rights-paying TV partners, an expansion team and a new arena in the same season. It’s perhaps the biggest part of one of the most seismic business seasons one league has ever had. That also marked the last NHL game - shown on ABC to a reported 6.29 million people - to air on the Disney family of networks, and it is into that world that the NHL will embark on new media deals with not one but two partners: the resumption of a relationship with Disney and the launch of another with Turner Sports. (Some things remain the same: The Lightning are two-time defending Stanley Cup champions). Seventeen years ago none of those technological advancements that now seem so common existed. No rides home from Amalie Arena on Uber or Lyft to grab a late dinner from DoorDash paid for with Venmo. No championship merchandise to show off on Pinterest. No discussions about the Game 7 heroics of Tampa Bay goalie Nikolai Khabibulin on WhatsApp or Reddit. There were no posts from overjoyed Lightning fans on Instagram or TikTok. ![]() O n June 7, 2004, the Tampa Bay Lightning closed out the Stanley Cup Final with a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames in Game 7. John Buccigross will host “The Point” on ESPN2.
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