After suggesting in March that the NHL may attempt to beat the NFL to market for new media rights deals, commissioner Gary Bettman is readjusting those expectations.
In March, about one month after Puck sports correspondent John Ourand reported the NHL had already engaged ESPN and TNT Sports — its two active broadcast partners — about potentially reaching new media rights agreements early, before the NFL strikes its expected early renewals, Bettman lent credence to the report by saying in an interview: “Obviously, the NFL gets to call the shots in this marketplace. …If the NFL is serious and is in the marketplace now, maybe we tuck under, maybe we wait til they’re done.”
Now, the commissioner is taking a more measured approach. During an interview with CNBC at the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on Wednesday, Bettman said the NHL does not “feel any time pressure” to complete its deals before the NFL.
“The NFL is a great property and we understand it is prominent in the media landscape. But interestingly enough, the last time we had to negotiate the current deals, it was in the wake of what the NFL had done and we managed to triple what we were currently getting,” Bettman added.
Prior reports indicate that the NHL will have an exclusive negotiating period with ESPN and TNT Sports before hitting the open market.
In one question during CNBC’s interview with Bettman on Wednesday, reporter Julia Boorstin noted “a source tells [her] that ESPN is looking to close its deal with [the NHL] early,” but Bettman declined to confirm that report or get into specifics. “We’ll be ready to go at any time,” the commissioner said.
Whereas earlier this year, leagues might have seen the NFL’s early negotiations as more imminent, with contemporaneous reporting suggesting the NFL wished to have new deals in place prior to the upcoming season, such a quick timeline has not come to pass, perhaps allowing other leagues that were angling to beat the NFL to market an opportunity to pump the breaks. Per reports, the NFL has yet to formally engage any of its current broadcast partners aside from CBS owner Paramount.
Speaking of Paramount, Bettman reiterated an optimistic outlook on the company’s impending merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns TNT Sports. Bettman classifies the transaction as an “opportunity” for the NHL, particularly if the merger opens a pathway for the league to broadcast games on CBS. Next year’s Stanley Cup Final is the last that is slated to air on TNT Sports under the league’s current seven-year pact. However, Stanley Cup Finals on TNT have historically lagged well behind those that air on ABC, a widely accessible broadcast network. CBS could provide more reach for the Final, should a combined Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery be able to move the property under terms of its current distribution agreements.
Between negotiating new deals and one of its incumbent partners merging into another company, the NHL has a lot on its plate from a media standpoint. But with the league’s recent ratings success, it should be entering negotiations from a position of relative strength.