There are a number of different topics that I could've blogged about today (MLB taking over control of the Dodgers, the baseball playoffs likely expanding to 10 teams, the NFL claiming it can still get the whole season in), but we'll touch on those another day. Instead I want to talk about something that most likely flew under most people's radar. Seeing as it involves the NHL, that's probably a pretty safe bet.
The piece of news that you missed out on was the announcement that the NHL will be staying on NBC and Versus for the next 10 years. Of course, there weren't really any other bidders (ESPN allegedly was interested, but I don't buy it, since that means they would've had to scale back their obssesion with the NBA and actually show some hockey), but that's not really the point. This is a very good business move for all involved.
When the lockout ended, nobody wanted the NHL. Versus was looking to establish itself as a legitimate player in the competition for the TV deals in all four major leagues and was willing to give the NHL something nobody else would give (guaranteed money), so the marriage was a perfect fit for both. NBC signed on as the broadcast partner, mainly because NBC had just lost the NBA and NBC Sports at the time consisted of the Olympics and NASCAR. That was the perfect marriage, too, since nobody watches NBC and nobody watches the NHL.
The Versus-NBC thing worked out well for everybody, and all three partners wanted to renew the deal. (The fact that Comcast, which owns Versus, recently bought a majority share of NBC certainly helped, too.) But no one could've expected that the new agreement would be for 10 years, keeping the NHL on NBC and Versus through the 2020-21 season. Here's the catch: NBC will give the NHL a rights fee, which it didn't do in the previous deal, and the deal is going to be worth nearly $2 billion during the life of the contract.
There are also some other little perks in the deal. Versus keeps the All-Star Game, Heritage Classic and two games of the Finals. The number of regular season games on the network will increase from 50 to 90, and all playoff games are exculsive after the first round. NBC keeps the Winter Classic, the national "Game of the Week" on Sunday afternoons after football season ends, and most of the Finals. They also get an increased number of games in the earlier rounds of the playoffs and a new national game on the day after Thanksgiving, presumably in the afternoon (once again, going against college football and nothing else). In short, the NHL's new TV deal is win-win-win for NBC, Versus and hockey fans.
But the NBC-Comcast merger goes beyond the NHL. NBC's Olympic rights are up for renewal, and FOX and ESPN are expected to present competing bids. There's some speculation that Comcast might not want to commit the same amount of money for Olympic rights as GE did, but the Olympics have become such a part of NBC Sports' identity (not to mention the only thing on NBC that people watch), I just don't think that will be the case. (More on this as we get closer to the IOC choosing a U.S. rights holder.)
Anyway, back to the point. Versus is going to rebranded sometime soon to reflect its place in the NBC Universal family. Think about next year's London Olympics for a minute. There's obviously going to be a ton of coverage on the broadcast network, but now you're adding Versus to the ridiculous number of cable channels at NBC's disposal. In addition to the coverage on NBC itself, the London Olympics will probably be on FIVE! cable networks (if not more). CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo and USA have already been utilized to cover the team sports and less marquee events, and that's likely to expand even more if they're smart enough to also use Versus in London (and I know for a fact that Dick Ebersol IS that smart).
I know most of you don't care about the Olympics anywhere near as much as I do. I also know that there aren't really that many of you that care enough about the NHL either. But as a fan of both, I'm excited about the NBC-Comcast merger and the possibilities it has created.
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