For hockey fans, more bad news

[SteveMacD]

ESPN ends negotiations for NHL TV rights
CBC Sports


Even if NHL hockey is back in October, it won't be seen on American cable network ESPN.

The sports broadcaster, according to reports, has ended its negotiations with the NHL on television rights for next season.

The decision means the NHL will have no major source of exposure in the lucrative American market. It's a massive blow for a league which has already lost a full season because of a labour dispute with the players' union.

NHL's 30 clubs will lose $2-million in rights fees, because of ESPN's departure.

"Right now, we're done negotiating," Mark Shapiro, ESPN's executive president for programming and production, told the Globe and Mail.

"We held various discussions and had several meetings with [NHL commissioner Gary Bettman] and his team. And unfortunately, we were not able to get a deal done."

Over the weekend, ESPN announced it would not exercise its option on the NHL's broadcasting rights, which were worth $60 million US.

Many industry observers believed ESPN's decision to pass on its option didn't necessarily mean hockey wouldn't be aired on the network. Instead, many in the media saw it as a ploy by the network to negotiate more favourable terms with the league.

But, according to the New York Times, Bettman refused to lower the broadcasting fees below $60 million.

"When the now-expired contract was negotiated, the $60 million option price tag took a work stoppage – potentially a long-term work stoppage –into consideration," NHL spokesperson Frank Brown told the Times.

"We have no interest in further devaluing the product."

The NHL's five-year, $600-million deal with ABC/ESPN expired at the end of the 2004 playoffs. The league then re-negotiated a one-year contract with ESPN, with options to extend the deal for the 2005-06 and the 2006-07 seasons.

The league also signed a two-year, revenue-sharing agreement last May with NBC, which has a two-year option for 2006-07 and 2007-08 should it choose to exercise it.

The American network was planning to televise seven regular-season games and six Stanley Cup playoff games this past January. In addition, NBC would have shown Games 3-7 of the 2005 Stanley Cup finals.

Under the agreement, the league will not receive the kind of upfront fees that are common in most network television contracts. Instead, the NHL and NBC will share revenue, with the network covering its production and distribution costs.

The league and the NHL Players' Association have failed to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement since Bettman locked out the players last Sept. 15 and cancelled the 2004-05 season on Feb. 16.

The two sides have met regularly over the last month, and there is a growing sentiment a settlement that would end the near nine-month lockout is imminent.
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Hey Bettman, nice going. The NHL survived two world wars, the cold war, the turbulant '60s, and Reaganomics, but it appears it won't be able to survive you. Nice job, assbag. Hey Bettman, on behalf of hockey fans all over North America,