Incumbent TNT Sports wants to stay in the NHL business and is ready to talk whenever commissioner Gary Bettman is ready.
TNT Sports is “extremely interested” in extending its relationship with the NHL, CEO Luis Silberwasser told John Ourand of Puck in a conversation published Thursday, and is willing to meet whatever timeline commissioner Gary Bettman desires. Silberwasser: “If Gary wants to engage early, great. If he wants to wait, that’s fine, too.”
In a podcast published last month, Bettman told Ourand that the league’s timing would be dependent in part on how the NFL proceeds with its own expedited media rights negotiations. The NFL is already in talks with Paramount and is said to want new deals in place by the start of next season in September. The NHL has two more seasons left on its current rights deals, with incumbent rightsholders TNT Sports and ESPN having exclusive negotiating periods toward the end of that period.
Bettman said the league could begin its renewal talks ahead of those exclusive negotiating periods, but also floated the possibility that it could “tuck under” and wait until the NFL is done.
Ourand previously reported that Bettman had approached TNT and ESPN about renewing early, but that the networks did not seem “willing to commit to any kind of long-term deal” absent clarity on the NFL’s asking price. That is starting to come into focus, with CNBC’s Alex Sherman reporting last month that a rights fee hike of 50-60 percent is the “midpoint” between what the NFL is seeking from Paramount and what it is presently being offered.
An increase of that magnitude would mean that Paramount would pay north of $3 billion/year for NFL rights. Paramount, of course, is poised to assume ownership of TNT if its bid to acquire parent company Warner Bros. Discovery is approved by regulators. Officially, any increase in its NFL price tag will not have any implications for TNT Sports and its properties until the deal closes. “[W]e are operating as two separate companies until the transaction is completed,” Silberwasser told Ourand. “In the meantime, there’s no discussion about the future or what happens. All those things are being decided later.”
In the event that Bettman and the NHL wait to renegotiate until after the NFL talks are complete, it is possible that TNT will have already been absorbed by Paramount — meaning the league would be potentially negotiating with entirely new leadership and dealing with a company that has an entirely different budget and priorities.
On top of the NHL package that expires after the 2027-28 season, TNT Sports also owns rights to a Major League Baseball package that expires in 2028. Though he was not quoted directly, Silberwasser is said to have told Ourand that TNT Sports is “staying close with MLB about re-upping their agreement.” There is no indication that MLB is planning to expedite its negotiations, meaning future renegotiations would likely take place under Paramount ownership — again assuming that agreement is approved.