The future of NHL hockey on Rogers Sports & Media is on the clock, with exclusive renewal negotiations now underway between Rogers and the National Hockey League.
As of January 1, Rogers has opened talks with the NHL to extend its national Canadian TV rights deal, reports the Globe and Mail. The current 12-year, $5.2-billion agreement, signed in 2013, made Rogers the exclusive home for NHL broadcasts across TV and digital platforms. That deal is set to expire at the end of the next NHL season.
Both sides have hinted at interest in continuing the partnership, but the landscape has shifted dramatically since the original agreement. Rising broadcast rights fees are squeezing Sportsnet’s profitability, while the NHL must balance maximizing revenue with ensuring broad TV accessibility for fans—something Commissioner Gary Bettman has described as a key priority (just look at the NHL on Prime Video in Canada on Mondays).
If a new deal is not reached during the two-month exclusive window, the NHL will be free to open negotiations with other broadcasters, potentially reshaping the way hockey is televised in Canada. The deal being negotiated is for rights to stream or air games nationally. As for regional games, Rogers and Bell Media have separate agreements with Canadian NHL teams for packages (hence the dreaded and despised regional blackouts).
Looking at what the NHL has recently signed in the U.S. back in 2021, it’s going to cost Rogers a lot more this time around. The NHL signed a reported $625 million (USD) annual deal for national broadcasting rights, across channels ABC, ESPN, HBO Max and TNT. Prior to that, NBC was charged $200 million US annually by the league—that’s a steep price increase. With the Canadian dollar currently in the tank, whatever price agreed upon with Rogers is going to cost a lot. And that might result in price increases for consumers to pay for the deal.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to The Globe and Mail in an interview last fall he believes their “valuable rights” have only “gotten increasingly valuable.”
“If you look at Sportsnet, before they had our rights, TSN was No. 1. They got our rights, and immediately Sportsnet became No. 1 and has been for the last 11 years. So we’ll see. I think we’re in a very good position. To the extent that the marketplace is expanding, that’s a good thing as a rights holder,” said Bettman to the Globe.
We’ve seen Amazon’s Prime Video get NHL broadcasts as part of ‘Monday Night Hockey’. The NFL also showed live Christmas Day games on Netflix, with the latter also leveraging an exclusive WWE partnership. Apple has rights to MLS. It’s clear that if Rogers wants to renew its NHL rights deal, it’s going to have be ready to open its wallet even more than the last time.
Where do you want the NHL broadcasting rights to land in Canada?
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Regardless if its Rogers again or TSN that gets the rights to the NHL games the NHL needs to end this whole black out region lock, In todays day and age we should be able to watch any and or every game if its being offered on a channel or in the app and not be blacked out just because we live a little out side said region. example I live in Ontario but because I am northern Ontario my region is leaf's only and if I want to get my sens games i am expected to pay extra in the sportsnet app so I can watch the game.
The Amazon Prime or AppleTV+ (MLS) experiences are significantly better than the garbage Rogers has been peddling for the last 11 or whatever years.
I know Apple will never get it since they only buy global rights and it’s not for sale in US right now but damn… please not Rogers.