Yahoo Sports’s Chris Cwik says later today Major League Baseball will announce a wide ranging deal that will see the NHL get a chunk of cash and a seven to ten per cent interest in MLB Advanced Media.
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Under the terms of the pact, MLBAM will pay the NHL about $100 per year for the rights to distribute the league’s out-of-market telecasts in the U.S. and certain global markets, while the NHL will receive an equity stake in MLBAM of between 7% and 10%. This means that MLBAM will also be given exclusive rights to distribute live, out-of-market NHL games via the subscription services NHL GameCenter Live and NHL Center Ice, and will bring video, live game streaming, social media, fantasy sports, statistical and analytical content, and apps all under one digital hub.
NHL Network, previously based in Toronto, now will operate out of the Emmy-Award-winning MLB Network’s headquarters in Secaucus, N.J. The NHL wants “an emphasis on deeper access into the game and telling the stories of NHL players”, and MLBAM’s reach will be widespread. The league is expected to spin off MLB Advanced Media, headed by president Bob Bowman, into a separate entity at some point. The league’s website is informative, interactive and packed with information and highlights, but its television network is not as well respected or established. Besides the streaming video products, MLBAM also developed Statcast, an innovative way of tracking on-field statistics, like how fast a are running. The National Hockey League and its Clubs retain editorial control across all platforms.
MLBAM expects to launch its National Hockey League presence in January 2016.
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NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred came together at the NHL offices in New York to announce a digital partnership that Bettman deemed “transformational”.
