North American ice hockey league the NHL has struck a 12-year broadcast and multimedia rights agreement, from 2014-15 to 2025-26, with Canadian telecommunications company Rogers Communications.
The deal is worth C$5.232bn (€3.72bn/$5.06bn), or an average of C$436m per season.
The league described the agreement as "the largest media rights deal in NHL history and one of the largest media rights deals in Canadian history, including the largest-ever sports-media rights agreement."
Under the terms of the deal, Rogers holds national rights to all NHL games, including the Stanley Cup playoffs and Stanley Cup final, on all of its platforms in all languages.
As part of the agreement, Rogers said that public-service broadcaster CBC would continue to broadcast Hockey Night in Canada – a programme it has produced since 1953. Privately-owned network TVA has secured all of the Canadian French-language multimedia rights.
In addition to its exclusive rights for all playoff and Stanley Cup final games, Rogers has exclusive rights to special events such as future NHL All-Star Games and NHL Drafts.
The two parties said the agreement guarantees that there will be no further regionalisation of games or local blackouts.
Rogers has three exclusive windows to broadcast any game involving a Canadian team – Wednesday nights; Saturday nights, along with CBC; and Sunday nights.
Viewers on Saturday nights will receive every game regardless of where they reside and certain games involving two US-based teams. The new Sunday night national broadcast will feature marquee matchups.
In addition, Rogers has secured the rights to stream games on the internet and via wireless and mobile devices.
“Sports content is a key strategic asset and we've been investing significantly to strengthen our sports offering to Canadians,” Nadir Mohamed, president and chief executive of Rogers Communications, said.
The agreement is subject to approval by the NHL’s Board of Governors, which next meets on December 9-10.