As the RSN ecosystem winds down, more teams are being moved in-house with the major pro sports leagues with their local broadcasting rights. And in the NHL, that includes the reigning Stanley Cup champions.
The NBA, NHL, and MLB are faced with trying to navigate an entirely new paradigm with their local broadcast rights as regional sports networks around the country turn off the lights, most notably the FanDuel networks that carried dozens of teams. The solution that the leagues are finding is to centralize local broadcasts with the hopes of creating one hub for fans to access their local broadcasts, or compliment them locally with over-the-air exposure.
For the NHL, that operation will begin in the 2026-2027 season thanks to their newly created production unit. And according to Sports Business Journal, an initial group of four teams left behind by the closure of Main Street Sports Group, operator of the FanDuel RSNs, are going to jump on board. Those teams are the current NHL champion Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild, and St. Louis Blues.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman had gone on record to say that the league was hoping to take a mixed approach to their local broadcasts. Major League Baseball and the NBA have been much more aggressive in their hopes to bring all of their local broadcasts under one umbrella. In fact, the prospect of local revenue sharing will be one of the big sticking points in the upcoming MLB labor negotiations. Baseball is already up to 14 teams seeing their local broadcasts being produced in-house.
The NHL appears to be taking a slower approach than their pro sports counterparts in bringing teams on board the local broadcast hub, preferring for the moment to be there if and when their teams need them. SBJ reports others could soon follow including the Anaheim Ducks. Last week the Ducks left Victory+ and are looking for a new broadcast home for the upcoming season.
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