The NHL has reached an agreement with Rogers Communications on a new 12-year Canadian TV deal that will pay the league about $7.7 billion ($11 billion CAD), according to multiple people familiar with the details.
The total and per-year averages are more than double the league’s current agreement with Rogers. The league’s media and executive committees have recommended that owners approve the deal in a vote in the coming days, said the people, who were granted anonymity because the details are private. Should that happen, it could be announced as early as this week.
The deal will kick in for the 2026-27 season. Representatives for Rogers (NYSE: RCI) and the NHL didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
The deal will follow the league’s current 12-year deal with Rogers, which it signed in 2013. That deal was worth $5.2 billion CAD, or about $4.9 billion based on the exchange rate at the time. That total is now $3.64 billion based on today’s rates. That change highlights just one of the many ways that the NHL’s business is impacted by swings in the USD-CAD exchange rate, a metric under further pressure thanks to new tensions between the countries.
Rogers’ sports assets include the Toronto Blue Jays and 37.5% of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the parent of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, NBA’s Toronto Raptors and MLS’ Toronto FC. It is in the process of buying another 37.5% of MLSE at a roughly $3.48 billion ($4.7 billion CAD) valuation.
The NHL’s current seven-year U.S. TV deals with ESPN and Turner run through the 2027-28 season. They pay the NHL about $600 million per year.
Rogers’ exclusive window to negotiate this deal opened earlier this year.
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