NHL, Turner Sports reach 7 year TV deal for games on TNT, TBS

[ChompChomp]

I have asked you a few times to give me any stats/facts around your statement here. There are a lot of closeted Wrestling fans and I have seen families being a target demo for the WWE. I am sure there are those "hicks" that like it too but it's more entertainment than 1970s sideshow.

Again, I stopped watching wrestling years ago but started to again since I saw AEW on TSN. It's not that I disagree with you completely I am just looking for facts because WWE has been making money hand over fist the last decade.

I agree. Little odd to say advertisers don't value wrestling fans and FOX pays $205M/year to broadcast Friday Night Smackdown. FOX got Smackdown because Smackdown brings a live audience, who watches advertisements. Obviously FOX's advertisers that advertise during Smackdown do covet those viewers.

On the flip side, keep in mind that the Turner Sports is paying ($225M/year) A LOT more for their NHL rights than AEW rights ($45M/year). They are going to promote NHL hard to make sure they get their money's worth. The whole thing of, oh but what happens if/when AEW outdraws NHL on Turner? Well, they are going to work harder to get more people watching the NHL. The cost difference between NHL vs. AEW for Turner means AEW is the one that may move around the schedule more so than the NHL, even if AEW outdraws the NHL.

 

[edog37]

guys Original 6 take is stupid. no kidding everyone knows there were teams before. but these are the original 6 that kept the NHL alive. and the 6 teams before the big expansion.
SO like is just easier to call them
the 6 teams that survived?

these are the 6 teams which formed a hockey cartel. There was nothing altruistic about them. It took the WHL threatening to go big that convinced the NHL to expand. Had they had their way, the NHL would probably still be a 6 team league.

 

[OG6ix]

these are the 6 teams which formed a hockey cartel. There was nothing altruistic about them. It took the WHL threatening to go big that convinced the NHL to expand. Had they had their way, the NHL would probably still be a 6 team league.

WHA pushed them more than WHL

 

[eddygee]

So all in all for NHL, what do the final numbers come to for all their national TV contracts?

$420M from ESPN
$225M from TNT
$433M (CAD) from Sportsnet

So is that roughly $960,000,000 (USD) per year for the NHL or am I missing something?

NHL is at $1.03b yr once you include one of the leagues biggest sponsors Adidas. Major US leagues biggest sponsors outside of tv are Jersey deals. All in all outside of the specifics like only having Lord Stanley's Cup lifted on cable the NHL deal excellent. I said along I expected around $550m yr possibly $600m yr if things broke just right. Well things broke just right. Certainly not the $900m to 1bil some folks were thinking NHL would get but definitely not the low ball amounts some were thinking either. Bettman deserves a tip of the cap. They won the money game and we are back where we were right when ESPN paid that big money deal to the NHL back in the day. Lets hope it plays out differently this time guys. Cheers tip of the gap to you guys who spent days/months/years pondering what the new deal will be. I'll now turn my attention and angst to my other favorite league I follow MLS and see how their deal plays out over the next year and a half. They have Turner interest(signed a content deal with Bleacher Report last year), along with CBS interest too boot with their three existing partners.

 

[Djp]

I agree. Little odd to say advertisers don't value wrestling fans and FOX pays $205M/year to broadcast Friday Night Smackdown. FOX got Smackdown because Smackdown brings a live audience, who watches advertisements. Obviously FOX's advertisers that advertise during Smackdown do covet those viewers.

On the flip side, keep in mind that the Turner Sports is paying ($225M/year) A LOT more for their NHL rights than AEW rights ($45M/year). They are going to promote NHL hard to make sure they get their money's worth. The whole thing of, oh but what happens if/when AEW outdraws NHL on Turner? Well, they are going to work harder to get more people watching the NHL. The cost difference between NHL vs. AEW for Turner means AEW is the one that may move around the schedule more so than the NHL, even if AEW outdraws the NHL.

I don’t know the inner working on fox and profit..

NOWADAYS TARGETTED ADDS TO SPECIFIC AGE/ gender demographic carry a higherROI than a general audience.

in male 18-34 woukd be food, beer, mudic, movie, video game advertising. High buy in ads won’t run there such as cars unless the cater to audience are lower cost to but vehicles they could afford.

hockey audience is a broader fan base who generally has more disposable income

18-34 don’t have much disposable income to buy luxury items but will be computer stuff and smart phones.

 

[edog37]

WHA pushed them more than WHL

point is, it took an external influence to get the NHL dinosaurs to act.

 

[eddygee]

I don’t know the inner working on fox and profit..

NOWADAYS TARGETTED ADDS TO SPECIFIC AGE/ gender demographic carry a higherROI than a general audience.

in male 18-34 woukd be food, beer, mudic, movie, video game advertising. High buy in ads won’t run there such as cars unless the cater to audience are lower cost to but vehicles they could afford.

hockey audience is a broader fan base who generally has more disposable income

18-34 don’t have much disposable income to buy luxury items but will be computer stuff and smart phones.

Thats the thing lots of folks miss, unless you are the NFL getting 25m per game advertisers care more about what you bring to the table with 18-34 and 18-49 demos. Especially the 18-34 demo because young people spend money on stuff that older folks shake their head at "you don't need that youngster put that money here invest it" Older audiences have developed brand loyalty and aren't spending as much, they make one time big life purchases ie. $40-60k lexus or $250k home. Young folks are buying what advertisers are selling, older folks not as much. They know what they like through years of experience and will buy that and move along with their business.

 

[ChompChomp]

I don’t know the inner working on fox and profit..

NOWADAYS TARGETTED ADDS TO SPECIFIC AGE/ gender demographic carry a higherROI than a general audience.

in male 18-34 woukd be food, beer, mudic, movie, video game advertising. High buy in ads won’t run there such as cars unless the cater to audience are lower cost to but vehicles they could afford.

hockey audience is a broader fan base who generally has more disposable income

18-34 don’t have much disposable income to buy luxury items but will be computer stuff and smart phones.

I don't have a link, but from everything I've read (and especially listened to with the former Wrestlenomics podcast), the WWE audience actually skews older, that the actual audience are primarily the people who grew up on attitude era and are now in their 40's and 50's. (aside: supposedly this is the reason WWE relies so heavily on bringing in older stars instead of promoting new ones) I'm guessing FOX wanted that demo when they plunked down the cash for Smackdown.

 

[OG6ix]

So AEW's audience is that coveted 18-34 demo in which they do pretty good in.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

If the CW isn't utilized, I could see an NFL-like requirement of simulcasting a TNT-aired Stanley Cup Finals over the air in the home markets of participating American teams (meaning the markets they are physically located in, not their entire blackout territory).

CW affiliates would have right of first refusal.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

If the CW isn't utilized, I could see an NFL-like requirement of simulcasting a TNT-aired Stanley Cup Finals over the air in the home markets of participating American teams (meaning the markets they are physically located in, not their entire blackout territory).

CW affiliates would have right of first refusal.

Jeff said nope......

 

[IU Hawks fan]

If the CW isn't utilized, I could see an NFL-like requirement of simulcasting a TNT-aired Stanley Cup Finals over the air in the home markets of participating American teams (meaning the markets they are physically located in, not their entire blackout territory).

CW affiliates would have right of first refusal.

That's not happening.

 

[Price is Wright]

Tony Khan Comments On The Possibility Of AEW Moving Off Wednesday Due To NHL On TNT Deal | Fightful News

 

[NextBigThing]

So AEW's audience is that coveted 18-34 demo in which they do pretty good in.

Same with WWE RAW. Was 1,2,3 in the demo this past week. Don’t think AEW has ever placed 1 in the demo.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

I feel the NHL should put the Cup finals exclusively on over the air television in the US to help the league's popularity become on par with the NBA, NFL, and MLB. They have had their final rounds exclusively on OTA TV for decades (and even though ESPN is getting some Super Bowls, those games are also going to be on ABC, with the ABC broadcasts preferably catering to people that grew up on Frank and Al and Dan on MNF, while a contemporary-style broadcast would be on ESPN, which would apply to all games where ABC and ESPN share the broadcast rights).

The NHL has only had the Cup Finals on OTA TV in Canada for the entire TV era. So if the Cup Finals can be on CBC only in Canada, then they can certainly alternate between ABC and the CW in the US.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

I feel the NHL should put the Cup finals exclusively on over the air television in the US to help the league's popularity become on par with the NBA, NFL, and MLB. They have had their final rounds exclusively on OTA TV for decades (and even though ESPN is getting some Super Bowls, those games are also going to be on ABC, with the ABC broadcasts preferably catering to people that grew up on Frank and Al and Dan on MNF, while a contemporary-style broadcast would be on ESPN, which would apply to all games where ABC and ESPN share the broadcast rights).

The NHL has only had the Cup Finals on OTA TV in Canada for the entire TV era. So if the Cup Finals can be on CBC only in Canada, then they can certainly alternate between ABC and the CW in the US.

We get it. It's not happening.

The deal is signed. They got way more money to go to cable every other year. College Football Playoff is on cable and they're surviving just fine.

 

[Spydey629]

We get it. It's not happening.

The deal is signed. They got way more money to go to cable every other year. College Football Playoff is on cable and they're surviving just fine.

Moreover, the NCAAs got over a billion dollars to do the exact same thing.

 

[FLHabs]

I think it's a good thing they made that Andrew Ference mistake this early. While not a big deal, it's an embarassing enough situation to take a good look at your NHL department and maybe hire people that actually know and watch hockey which will improve the product on TV imo

 

[sh724]

ESPN+ also sucks, so they can't do that right either. I have nearly zero issues streaming on any application aside from good ol' ESPN+ which regularly freezes, pixelates, or disconnects entirely. I've had to switch to "free" streams several times in order to get better quality than what the ESPN+ service I was actually paying for provided.

What are you watching ESPN+ on?

I have ESPN+ more than any other streaming option and dont think i have ever had it freeze or disconnect or any other issue. I work from home and will stream the previous nights NHL games while working. If I am home during the evening ESPN+ is this first app i go to to find something to watch.

The fox sports, now Ballys, app freezes at least once (usually more) during every Blues game i stream. Its virtually impossible to fast forward or rewind since the only option is 10 seconds at a time.

The NBCSN, and website, are basically worthless for streaming. The NBCSN app for andoid TV is not capable of playing live events. I have to log in on my computer then stream through Chromecast. Streaming is loaded with extra adds and i usually have to click the stream button a few times before the game actually loads, even though the ads have no problem playing every time.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

We get it. It's not happening.

The deal is signed. They got way more money to go to cable every other year. College Football Playoff is on cable and they're surviving just fine.

I think this a potential test run for Turner to possibly get 1-2 possible NBA Finals exclusively on cable in next TV deal if Silver is receptive to it and they pay a high premium. Turner coverage is well regarded and they have been a great TV partner for decades. I don’t think a NBA Finals on TNT would have a big drop in ratings. I think SCF on TNT will be the test on how the ratings will do on cable exclusively vs broadcast.

 

[John Price]

 

[sh724]

guys Original 6 take is stupid. no kidding everyone knows there were teams before. but these are the original 6 that kept the NHL alive. and the 6 teams before the big expansion.
SO like is just easier to call them
the 6 teams that survived?

When 'O6' is mentioned in my mind i read it as 'oldest 6' as in the oldest remaining

 

[GKJ]

Same with WWE RAW. Was 1,2,3 in the demo this past week. Don’t think AEW has ever placed 1 in the demo.

There's been weeks recently where AEW beat Raw in the demo. I don't believe that was before NXT moved to Tuesdays.

As for AEW, this from Postwrestling today:

POLLOCK'S NEWS UPDATE: Tony Khan comments on NHL-Turner deal (postwrestling.com)

On Wednesday, Tony Khan spoke to Busted Open Radio and addressed the NHL deal and what it could mean for AEW (Transcribed by Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert):

I know Wednesday night is our slot and our home. I’m thrilled with our partnership with TNT. It’s the lifeblood of our company and our primary revenue source. It’s the way most fans get exposed to AEW and see our show. Every Wednesday that we do Dynamite, for a lot of wrestling fans, it’s a really important night of the week. I want everyone rest assured that they’re not going to have to worry about these kind of major….we have a contract with over two and a half years left for Wednesday nights in this slot. If there was ever an opportunity to move or a deal to be had, I would consider it. If we did something, it would have to be a really good deal for AEW and make sense for us. As it stands right now, that is the spot we’re in. If we move, I would certainly consider a deal if there was something in it for AEW. ​

So it sounds like that if they want to move their night of the week, AEW has to sign off. Now, that hasn't stopped them from being pre-empted by NBA playoffs.​

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

We get it. It's not happening.

The deal is signed. They got way more money to go to cable every other year. College Football Playoff is on cable and they're surviving just fine.

The CFP just might move to ABC in the next contract. ABC's sports offerings look like they are rebounding even if their broadcasts carry ESPN branding, if getting the NHL and NFL back, along with ESPN being allowed to put more MLB games on ABC, is any indication.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

There's been weeks recently where AEW beat Raw in the demo. I don't believe that was before NXT moved to Tuesdays.

As for AEW, this from Postwrestling today:

POLLOCK'S NEWS UPDATE: Tony Khan comments on NHL-Turner deal (postwrestling.com)

So it sounds like that if they want to move their night of the week, AEW has to sign off. Now, that hasn't stopped them from being pre-empted by NBA playoffs.​

Yeah but that's for a couple of weeks, now we're talking about months or maybe a whole network change. It's different but i think Turner can get around these stuff until 2022 when the new MLB kicks in and they get their first NBA/NHL playoffs. Those months from march to june are going to be huge for TNT/TBS.