The ESPN family of networks have wrestled rights to broadcast the National Hockey League away from NBC Sports, with a seven-year contract that will include coverage of four Stanley Cup Finals. SportsNet in Canada was the first to report the deal.
NBC has been airing NHL games since 2005, and did put in a bid for a secondary deal, lesser than the ESPN agreement, that would allow NBC and its networks to air three Stanley Cup Finals. NBC is in the final year of a 10-year contract worth $2 billion dollars.
When ESPN first went on the air out of its studios in Bristol, Connecticut in 1979, one of the first moves the network made was to begin airing NHL games. The company, now owned by Disney, had national NHL rights from 1985-88 and 1992-2004.
In recent years, most NHL games had gone to the NBC Sports Network, which is shutting down operations by the end of the year, which will flip those events to the USA Network. FOX Sports and CBS were also expected to put in bids concerning the NHL.