This is an enormous day for the NHL.
Today, the league announced that they have reached a broadcast deal with ESPN and Disney that will run through the 2027-28 season. In four of the next seven seasons, the Stanley Cup will air on ABC, and half of the Stanley Cup Playoffs will air on ABC and ESPN for each of the next seven seasons.
There will be 25 exclusive nationally-broadcast regular-season games on ABC or ESPN, and 75 nationally-broadcast regular-season games will be available for streaming on both ESPN+ and Hulu.
NHL.TV will now be available only as part of an ESPN+ subscription, and the name will likely change, as well.
Going forward, this is fantastic for the NHL. This will allow the league to expand their audience significantly to a market that may not be too familiar with the game of hockey. To have playoff coverage on ESPN and ABC as well as nationally-broadcast regular-season games is a great step forward and will undoubtedly serve to grow the game significantly.
You can read the full press release here.
