Details of the news leaked Tuesday afternoon, but ESPN and the NHL officially confirmed that hockey would be heading back to the World Wide Leader Wednesday afternoon.
According to ESPN, the NHL and the Walt Disney Company have reached a seven-year television, streaming and media rights deal, extending through the 2027-28 season. Among other things, the deal includes exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Final on ABC for four of the seven years, 25 regular season games on ABC or ESPN, 75 national regular-season games that will stream exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu, plus more than 1,100 games streamed on ESPN+.
The last time hockey was on ESPN was in 2004.
It’s not just great news for hockey fans who have thus far had to deal with being relegated mostly to the NBC Sports Network, but for the NHL as well, which has struggled for relevancy in a sports climate dominated by highlights shown on well, ESPN.
So many great @NHL memories on ESPN.
So many more to come! pic.twitter.com/AoblbN2ky2
— ESPN (@espn) March 10, 2021
While the televised and streaming rights are a huge deal, a lesser lauded but significant boon to the sport will be that the new agreement between the NHL and ESPN also includes “extensive highlight rights that will add to coverage across ESPN’s year-round news and highlights programming, and to coverage on the ESPN App and social media.”
What this means is that ESPN might actually start talking about hockey on their shows and featuring it on their social media channels, all of which will be crucial to growing casual interest in the game. So much of sports consumption, especially for a digitally native audience, is driven by what gets featured on ESPN, or what the network’s talking heads decide to prioritize on their shows.
The network is, for better or worse, a leader in sports conversation, and now they are contractually obligated to talk about hockey and promote hockey. The reach that ESPN’s combined social media channels have is staggering, well into the millions. For a sport that has struggled to make its game appealing to an audience that thrives on quick, digestible chunks of highlights, this is a potential game changer.
Already, ESPN has hyped the deal with social media packages cut to capitalize on the nostalgia factor.
The old “This is SportsCenter” hockey commercials are great 🤣
The @NHL returns to ESPN this fall! pic.twitter.com/JiGRcuPXuz
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 10, 2021
For so long, hockey and the NHL has been stuck in their own NBC bubble, not really talked about in the same breath as the other major sports. The new ESPN agreement will do much to change that. Imagine if you will, SportCenter regularly showing hockey highlights! Or talking about Connor McDavid or Alex Ovechkin or, just acknowledging that the Stanley Cup Playoffs are an actual thing.
Repeated casual exposure is going to help build up a new fan base, and that more than anything, is what the NHL really needs. The sport right now thrives on a dedicated fan base that has been willing to scrounge around, at least outside of Canada, for information and highlights. With ESPN back in the mix, hockey becomes part of the sports ecosystem again.
People can debate the financials of the deal, but in a bid for relevancy, being back on ESPN is key. ESPN going all in on the NHL welcomes the sport back into the fold and it couldn’t have come at a better time.