After four generally unhappy seasons with SportsChannel America, the NHL signed a lucrative new five-year television deal with ESPN on Wednesday.
The agreement, believed to be worth $80 million, was announced in a conference call from Toronto with NHL acting president Gil Stein and Ed Durso, ESPN's executive vice president and general counsel.Although Stein would not confirm the $80 million figure, several sources close to the negotiations, speaking on the condition of anonymity, have confirmed the deal would bring in about $16 million a year for the length of the contract.
"It's not appropriate to discuss the amount involved," Stein said Wednesday night, but he indicated that the board of governors was very pleased with the contract.
Asked how the board voted on the deal, Stein said:
"There were very significant expressions of enthusiasm. I won't discuss it, but (the vote) wasn't even close."
The new contract will bring into the league about $1 million less per season than the previous three-year $51 million deal with SCA from 1988-91. Last year, the NHL had a one-year contract with SCA and received only $5.5 million.