{"id":590327,"date":"2026-06-03T17:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T17:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/590327\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T17:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T17:18:12","slug":"gary-bettman-updates-nhl-media-rights-negotiations-with-espn-tnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/590327\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Bettman updates NHL media rights negotiations with ESPN, TNT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this year, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman reportedly approached the league\u2019s current media rights partners, ESPN and TNT, about <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/nhl\/gary-bettman-approached-espn-tnt-sports-early-media-rights-renewals.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">negotiating new agreements early<\/a>. The league\u2019s current deals run through the 2027-28 season, but the threat of the NFL taking its rights to market early, and extracting even more capital out of the market for sports media rights, has the NHL and <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/golf\/pga-tour-renegotiate-media-rights-deals-early-beat-nfl.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">other leagues<\/a> interested in beating the NFL to the punch.<\/p>\n<p>During a press conference before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday, Bettman addressed where the league stands in terms of its media rights negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am excited about those prospects [in rights renegotiation], based on how well we\u2019re performing,\u201d Bettman said, <a href=\"https:\/\/frontofficesports.com\/nhl-set-to-enter-rights-talks-with-espn-tnt-as-ratings-climb\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">per Front Office Sports<\/a>, alluding to <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/nhl\/viewership-maintain-post-olympic-glow-conference-finals.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the viewership success the league has seen this season<\/a>. \u201cWhile there have been some casual discussions [with ESPN and TNT Sports], we\u2019re not at the point where we\u2019re in firm negotiations. We\u2019ll respect the rights that are in the contracts, and if things materialize sooner, great. If not, we\u2019re more than prepared to go through the usual routine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The league is reportedly \u201cabout to enter an exclusive renegotiation period\u201d with both ESPN and TNT Sports.<\/p>\n<p>The upcoming negotiations come at a critical time for the NHL as the league tries to capitalize on the increased interest the sport of hockey has seen in the United States following the nation\u2019s gold medal campaign in the Olympics earlier this year. The NHL currently brings in an average of $625 million per year from its deals with ESPN and TNT. In Canada, the league recently struck a new deal with Rogers Communications that earns it an average of $641.7 million per year.<\/p>\n<p>One wrinkle of the upcoming U.S. negotiations: TNT Sports will likely be operating under new ownership as the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery transaction looks to formally close later this year. Bettman has already <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/nhl\/gary-bettman-paramount-wbd-merger-potentially-very-good.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">been bullish on the opportunity for the NHL to work with Paramount<\/a>, particularly when it comes to the possibility of placing games on CBS.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would be very excited to see the opportunity that being with CBS and CBS Sports would present. I think for the NHL, what\u2019s happening with Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery is potentially very good for us. So, consider me a fan,\u201d the commissioner said during a March interview.<\/p>\n<p>Given Bettman\u2019s relatively tepid characterization of negotiations this week as \u201ccasual discussions,\u201d it appears the NHL will likely be on a more traditional timeline when it comes to renewing its media rights. Considering the NFL\u2019s own negotiations are hitting some speed bumps, it makes sense that Bettman would decide to pump the breaks and allow the normal proceedings to play out, at least for now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this year, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman reportedly approached the league\u2019s current media rights partners, ESPN and TNT,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[295,5,4,2722,1828],"class_list":["post-590327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-gary-bettman","tag-hockey","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-on-espn","tag-nhl-on-tnt"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116687320079494468","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}