US Media Deal

[Boston_Habs]

Looks like ESPN has won the biggest chunk of the new US television/media deal for $2.8 billion over 7 years. That's $400 million per year vs. the $200 million a year from the expiring NBC deal. And that's not the whole package so there is another contract coming to fill in the rest of the picture. Even if the other package is half as much as the ESPN contract, that's probably $600 million a year or a 3x increase from the old deal. I wouldn't be surprised if the other deal is $300 million a year, or $700 million in total.

So that means the cap is going up >10% once we get past Covid and fans are back in the stands.

$600 million / 32 teams = $18.75mn per team x 50% = $9.4 million for the players per team. This compares to the current US deal which accounts for about $3.2 million of the salary cap.

[Tankdriver]

And the players won't see a cent of that money for many many years. They should of taken a roll back this year because there is no way the league made 162 million per team (players get 50%)

[Boston_Habs]

Mar 11, 2021 12:21:17 GMT -5 Tankdriver said:

And the players won't see a cent of that money for many many years. They should of taken a roll back this year because there is no way the league made 162 million per team (players get 50%)

For sure there is going to be a Covid catch-up to get back to steady state. The players didn't take as much of a salary hit as they should have, which is fine as the same thing happened in the NBA. Better to smooth out the impact of the lost revenues over a period of time than to cut everyone's salary by 40% or whatever the revenue hit is for this year.

It's still good news. Maximizing the US media deal is a huge priority for the NHL, and really the only major revenue source that had a lot of upside.

Bettman gets trashed, but he's been an effective commissioner for the NHL. Expansion, revenue growth, rising franchise values, 50/50 split with the players. It was ugly at times but the league is in about as good a shape as you could hope for (absent a pandemic!!). The US media deal was really the last piece and by all accounts it will be a great deal for the NHL. I'm curious how much money the league makes in Europe from TV/streaming. You have to believe the NHL is pretty popular in Sweden, Finland, etc. Is the NHL maximizing the eyeballs there?

[Tankdriver]

That's a good question. I don't see the NHL deal as a big win compared to what the NBA got recently. Once upon a time they were the same deals. Side note. Fox pays 205 million and USA netowrk pays 265 million for 2 hrs of television for wrestling. NBC Peacock just paid around 500 million for streaming and for the WWE network. So yes while the 400 milion per year deal the NHL was good, I was expecting a little higher. I know there is still a chunk to be made from the other half of the deal and that NBC will most likely pay for, making it around 750-800 million a year deal. That's not too bad.

And yes, I agree. Bettman should deserve a lot of praise. Canadians just don't like him because they feel they are taking teams away from Canada. Ex: Quebec, Hamilton, TO (team 2).

Off topic: Now what should happen with the CFL and XFL merge and make a one league team, with Canadian division and US divison, keeping each trophy as their division championship and a trophy for the new league. Decide on a same set of rules, field size, schedule and roster ratio. If the CFL has a 21% canadian ratio, then drop it to 15%. It doesn't mean Candian players are less likely to play...there is just more teams for them to play on, increasing the amount of overall players in the game.

[Boston_Habs]

TBS ended up with the 'B' package for the US broadcast rights at $225 million a year. Between that and the ABC/ESPN deal that's $625 million a year or a 3x increase from the NBC deal. Equals $18.75 million per team (once Seattle joins) vs. $6.25 million currently.

Pretty good outcome in a pandemic and brings the US media deal up to market standards.

[Willie Dog]

Mar 11, 2021 16:36:31 GMT -5 Tankdriver said:

That's a good question. I don't see the NHL deal as a big win compared to what the NBA got recently. Once upon a time they were the same deals. Side note. Fox pays 205 million and USA netowrk pays 265 million for 2 hrs of television for wrestling. NBC Peacock just paid around 500 million for streaming and for the WWE network. So yes while the 400 milion per year deal the NHL was good, I was expecting a little higher. I know there is still a chunk to be made from the other half of the deal and that NBC will most likely pay for, making it around 750-800 million a year deal. That's not too bad.

The WWE and NHL have a lot in common... It's entertainment focused, the officiating leaves a lot to be desired, the owner doesn't care about the employees, the employees have no control over anything, it's all about the hype... on and on...