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NBC Inks $2 Billion Sports Deal–But It’s Not for Football, Baseball or Basketball

Apr 20, 2011  •  Post A Comment

NBC Sports Group has won a 10-year rights deal with a major sports league, but it’s not for one of the so-called “big three” sports in the U.S.–football, baseball and basketball.

The deal is with the National Hockey League, and is believed to be worth $2 billion, reports Jon Lafayette at B&C.

NBC and league officials declined to reveal the amount, although they said that NBC is paying a rights fee instead of continuing a revenue-sharing arrangement, the story says.

Versus has been paying $77 million per year for the cable rights to NHL games, while NBC has held the broadcast rights with a revenue-sharing agreement. Under the new deal, the NHL is receiving at least double what it received under the previous agreement, the article says.

Versus and NBC became part of the same family when Versus’ owner, Comcast, closed its majority purchase of NBCUniversal earlier this year.

One Comment

  1. It is only $200 million a year. That is going to look really cheap when Comcast is broadcasting Hockey across a number of channels; especialy in the last five years.

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