Yesterday, the NHL and ESPN announced a new media rights deal that is finally bringing the league into the TV world through Disney and Hulu. With the $400 million per year deal plus about half the American pot still to be bought, many people expected the current flat cap to skyrocket, at least a little bit.
Unfortunately, since we’re still in the middle of a pandemic (maybe you’ve heard about it), league revenues last season and this season are massively down. The NHL, like most sports leagues, are ticket sales driven, and there’s been very little of that this year.