Rogers Communications’ reported 12-year, $7.7B extension with the NHL for the league’s broadcasting rights is the “latest move by Rogers to tighten its stranglehold on the Canadian sports scene,” though the deal still “needs to be approved by NHL owners,” according to Rob Longley of the TORONTO SUN. The league’s media and executive committees have “recommended to rubber stamp the deal.” The contract, which will begin in the 2026-2027 season, is a “hefty jump” from the current Rogers deal that was signed in 2013. Longley wrote in an era where traditional broadcast rights deals are “changing rapidly,” a “guaranteed haul of this magnitude for owners, one that is a significant escalation from the previous one, would be difficult to pass up.” With another full season before the current 12-year, $5.2B deal expires after the 2025-26 season, Rogers was “said to have an exclusive window to negotiate on an extension.” There had been “speculation that the NHL would have preferred parcelling off the rights to multiple networks and streaming services but presumably at that price Rogers blew that idea out of the water” (TORONTO SUN, 3/31).
BOOSTING VALUE: In Toronto, Kevin McGran noted the deal “does not include rights to the World Cup of Hockey,” set for February 2028, but Rogers is “believed to have the rights of first refusal.” The Rogers-NHL deal “makes it likely” that Amazon Prime Video, which began streaming games on Monday nights this year, will “continue its deal to sublease games from Sportsnet.” It also “freezes out TSN from national broadcast rights again,” though the network has secured regional rights to the Maple Leafs, Canadiens, Senators and Jets. A source said that the run to the Stanley Cup final by the Oilers “went a long way to convincing Rogers to reinvest in the NHL’s national broadcast rights.” It “dominated not just ratings, which helps ad revenue, but helped get new customers to sign up.” The state of Canada’s hockey teams is “much stronger than in Rogers’ first year broadcasting all of the playoffs,” when no Canadian teams made the post-season. Now the Leafs, Oilers and Jets are “perennial playoff contenders,” with young teams in the Canadiens and Senators looking to return to the post-season this season. The Canucks and Flames also “aren’t that far off” (TORONTO STAR, 3/31).
GETTING THEIR MONEY’S WORTH: The GLOBE & MAIL’s Kiladze & Galea noted Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri has been “vocal about wanting to renew.” Investors and analysts have “questioned how much value Rogers gets out of the contract.” Throughout the current 12-year deal, Canadian NHL teams have also “often struggled to make deep runs in the playoffs, which is when TV rights are the most valuable because advertisers pay up when more people are watching.” For Rogers, paying more for TV rights “could boost the value” of the Maple Leafs, but “its impact on Sportsnet will depend on the details” (GLOBE & MAIL, 3/31).
