As the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs get underway, many fans are watching first round matchups on regional sports networks. That’s one element of the league’s current set of media rights agreements with ESPN and TNT Sports. Until those deals expire in 2028, first round games during the playoffs are non-exclusive, meaning that, while ESPN and TNT will air the games to a national audience, fans in the teams’ local markets can watch on their RSNs.
That creates issues for ESPN and TNT, who see much of their potential audience during the first round opt to watch on the local networks they’ve been accustomed to all season. One ESPN anchor thinks this needs to change during the NHL’s next set of media rights deals.
John Buccigross, appearing on a recent episode of Sports Business Journal’s The Sports Media Podcast, implored the league to change its exclusivity arrangements.
“Again, the first round we’re not exclusive. I’m surprised, and I would think that next time, whether it’s us or TNT, we need exclusive playoff games,” Buccigross said. “I mean, we just can’t sacrifice a round where these big markets can watch on their regional sports network, whether it’s Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, New York especially.”
From a network perspective, of course ESPN and TNT would want to have exclusivity over the first round. That change, however, might perturb fans who enjoy being able to watch games with their local broadcast teams for the first round. Removing these games would also significantly hurt the RSNs, who rely on this valuable inventory to strike carriage agreements with distributors.
It should be noted, the NBA did away with non-exclusive first round broadcasts as part of its new set of agreements with Amazon, NBC, and ESPN beginning next season. So it’s not out of the question that the NHL could follow suit in a few years’ time.
ESPN, TNT, and the NHL all declined comment on the future of non-exclusive broadcasts during the first round, per Sports Media Watch.