Canadian NHL TV Broadcaster expected to sell off games right after 12 year deal

Rogers and the NHL struck a 12 year at $11B CAD to keep the rights to national games on Sportsnet. However, it still may not be 100% Sportsnet for all games over those 12 years.

According to an industry source at YYZSportsMedia, the amount Rogers paid for the rights to games makes no sense if they aren't planning to sell a significant portion of those games to another broadcaster.

As per Sportico's report yesterday, the price tag 11 billion Canadian dollars is more than twice of the cost of the current Rogers deal. That's pretty crazy inflation even for Rogers, which may mean it makes sense for them to offload some games to other broadcasters.

Rogers also has the rights to most regional games for West Coast teams, and in conjunction with their national rights deal, they'll have a stockpile to sell off.

TSN doesn't appear to be in the game of broadcasting hockey much anymore, so in their decline, Amazon is expected to continue to expand their broadcasting operation. They may be the primary buyers of any extra games from Rogers - and it will be very interesting to see what collection of games will be included.

Currently, Amazon only airs on Mondays, but if they want a bigger position in the industry, they'll be making a play for a higher profile night and a much higher amount of games.