Back in 2013, the Canadian media landscape saw a sea change when Sportsnet parent Rogers signed a 12-year deal for national NHL rights. Many figured Sportsnet wouldn’t be able to keep those rights following their expiration after the 2025-26 season with competition from cable rivals like Bell Media’s TSN and streaming companies such as Amazon.
That was proven wrong on Monday. Sportico’s Eben Novy-Williams and Scott Soshnick reported that a new NHL-Rogers deal for national Canadian rights is set to be submitted for owner approval this week.
That 2013 agreement displaced Sportsnet’s cable sports rival TSN, which wound up airing only regional NHL games and pivoting more to live games in both Canadian and American football. It also meant that while Hockey Night In Canada broadcasts continued on CBC, they were editorially controlled (and selected) by Rogers. And Rogers also gained the advertising revenue from those broadcasts.
The current 2013-signed Rogers-NHL agreement was for $5.2 billion Canadian over 12 years. That was worth $4.9 billion USD that December, and $3.9 billion USD in 2019 given the exchange rate then. Thus, it’s worth noting that while this new agreement (detailed further by Novy-Williams and Soshnick here) more than doubles the Canadian dollar value of the 2013-signed deal, it’s only 1.57 times as much USD per year (on an averaged basis) as the past deal given the current exchange rate.
Another thing worth mentioning is that the original Rogers-NHL deal saw the company paying the league significantly more in the last few seasons of the contract. Therefore, while this seems like a staggering jump based on average annual value, it’s nowhere near as much of a rise in terms of how much they’re transferring to the NHL each season. And while there were many questions about how well that deal worked for Rogers, especially in the last few seasons with high escalation numbers, it apparently worked well enough for them to be ready to raise it in this extension.
With the current Rogers-NHL deal having been set to expire after the 2025-26 season, there was a lot of talk that Amazon, which picked up a Monday Night Hockey package this fall, might take over the main Canadian national rights. There was also talk that TSN and parent Bell Media might swoop back in, despite their recent divestment in sports (including selling their stake in the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Argonauts, and Toronto FC parent Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment).
In the end, Rogers kept the rights. That means the next 12 years of national Canadian NHL broadcasting may continue somewhat similarly to what we’ve seen under the current deal. There are benefits to that continuity, with Sportsnet currently employing well-beloved figures such as Chris Cuthbert, but also negatives considering the amount of criticism aimed at Rogers for emphasizing positive on-ice coverage and diminishing the coverage of notable off-ice stories.
The largest takeaway from this news seems like a general continuation of the status quo in Canadian NHL broadcasting. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing depends on any particular viewer’s thoughts on Rogers’ presentation of the NHL. But it is at least somewhat surprising, considering the amount of discussion from those who thought the Rogers package would be reduced or eliminated in favor of Amazon, TSN, or others in this next go-round.
It was instead extended, and it will be interesting to see how that works out for them and the league.