| NHL on NBC | |
|---|---|
 NHL on NBC logo from 2012–2021. | |
| Genre | NHL hockey telecasts |
| Created by | NBC |
| Directed by | Billy McCoy Ted Nathanson[1][2] Salvatore Nigita(technical director) Richard Sansevere(technical director) |
| Presented by | Mike Emrick Kenny Albert Eddie Olczyk Brian Boucher Pierre McGuire John Forslund Brendan Burke A. J. Mleczko Joe Micheletti NHL on NBC commentators |
| Theme music composer | William Goldstein (1973)[3] |
| Opening theme | tba |
| Ending theme | tba |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3(1972–75 run) 16(2006–21 run) 19(total) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Scotty Connal[4][5][6][7][8][9] Terry O'Neil[10] |
| Producers | Glenn Adamo[11][12] Mike Finnocchiaro John Shannon(feature producer) |
| Production location | California |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 150 minutes or until the game ends, with an option to terminate coverage at 180 minutes (after stoppage of play) |
| Production company | NBC Sports |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | April 10 (1966-04-10) – May 1, 1966 (1966-05-01) |
| Release | December 29, 1972 (1972-12-29) – May 25, 1975 (1975-05-25) |
| Release | January 14, 2006 (2006-01-14) – July 7, 2021 (2021-07-07) |
| Related | |
NHL on USA
| |
TheNHL on NBC is an American presentation ofNational Hockey League (NHL) games produced byNBC Sports, and televised onNBC properties, includingMSNBC,CNBC,Golf Channel,USA Network andNBCSN in the United States.
While NBC covered the league at various points in its history, the network's last relationship with the NHL is the result of NBC Sports acquiring the league's broadcast television rights fromABC in2005. Its most recent contract with the league ran until the end of the2020–21 NHL season; NHL broadcasting rights onward have been acquired byABC/ESPN andTurner Sports (now known asTNT Sports). Though the main NBC network no longer airs NHL games,NBC Sports Regional Networks currently airs some games in the form of game telecasts that air on a regional basis, featuring local NHL franchises that each of the regional networks has respective broadcast rights to air in their designated market.
From2008 until the end of theNHL on NBC in 2021, NBC's regular season coverage included the annualNHL Winter Classic, an outdoor game usually played onNew Year's Day; one national weekly regular season game eachSunday afternoon afterNew Year's Day;one week of nationally televised contests in February forHockey Day in America; and one nationally televised game one day afterThanksgiving. NBCSN's coverage included 90 regular season games that were mostly aired on Monday, Tuesday, andWednesday evenings, and later in the season onSunday nights. Coverage of theStanley Cup Playoffs was split between NBC and NBCSN, withCNBC and theUSA Network[13][14][15] (beginning in2015) airing selected playoff games during the first two rounds.
As part of a series of experimental broadcasts that W2XBS (now NBC'sflagship station,WNBC) produced between 1939 and 1940, the station broadcast a game between theNew York Rangers andMontreal Canadiens fromMadison Square Garden on February 25,1940. Bill Allen[16][17] provided the commentary. About 300 people in theNew York City area saw the Rangers win, 6–2. Over the next few years, W2XBS (later WNBT) carried some New York Rangers home games on a local basis. A fewNew York Americans andRangers games were on experimental TV stations in1940-41 and1941-42; then TV closed down until1945-46.
Regularly scheduled American network broadcasts of NHL games would not begin until the late 1950s, whenCBS began carrying regular season games, but no playoff games. The deal was terminated in1960, due to a combination of a dispute over the players receiving a share of the rights fee and the then-regional nature of the sport.
Nationally televised NHL games in the United States resumed for the1965–66 NHL season, but this time on NBC; the regional issues were settled by the league's pendingaddition of six new teams, which expanded the league's reach nationwide and into lucrative markets inPennsylvania andCalifornia (in addition to two other midwestern markets; NBC, however, would lose the broadcast rights before the six new teams would make it to play). In 1966, NBC became the first[18] television network in the United States to air a national broadcast of aStanley Cup Playoff game. The network provided coverage of four Sunday afternoon playoff games[19][20] during the1965–66 postseason.[21] On April 10[22] and April 17,[23] NBC aired semifinal games between theChicago Black Hawks and theDetroit Red Wings. On April 24[24] and May 1,[25] NBC aired Games 1 and 4[26] of theStanley Cup Finals between theMontreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings.Win Elliot served as the play-by-play man whileBill Mazer served as the color commentator for the games.[27]
NBC's coverage of the1966 Stanley Cup Finals marked the first time that hockey games were broadcast on network television incolor.[28][29][30] TheCBC would follow suit the following year. NBC's Stanley Cup coverage preempted a sportsanthology series calledNBC Sports in Action, hosted byJim Simpson andBill Cullen, who were between-periods co-hosts for the Stanley Cup broadcasts.
NHL broadcast rights returned to CBS thenext season, however due to other programming commitments, regular season games were handed off toRKO General.
| Year | Round | Teams | Games | Play-by-play | Color commentary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966[31][32][33] | Semifinals | Detroit-Chicago | Games 2, 5 | Win Elliot | Bill Mazer |
| Finals[34] | Detroit-Montreal | Games 1, 4 | Win Elliot[35] | Bill Mazer |
From1972–73[36]–1974–75,[37] NBC not only televised the Stanley Cup Finals[38] (including a couple of games inprime time[39]), but also weekly regular season games on Sunday afternoons. The previous contract with CBS was paying the NHL less than $2 million a year and NBC jumped in with an offer of $5.3 million.[40] NBC also aired one regular season and a couple of playoff games in prime time during the first couple of seasons.Tim Ryan[41] andTed Lindsay (withBrian McFarlane as the intermission host) served as the commentators for NBC's NHL coverage during this period.[42][43][44] Since most NHL teams still did not have players' names displayed on the backs of jerseys, NBC persuaded NHL commissionerClarence Campbell to make teams put on players' names on NBC telecasts beginning with the1973–74 season to help viewers identify them.
Peter Puck was introduced during NBC's NHL coverage in the 1970s.[45][46] The animated character, whose cartoon adventures (produced byHanna-Barbera) appeared on bothNBC's Hockey Game of the Week andCBC'sHockey Night in Canada, explained hockey rules to the home viewing audience.
Besides Peter Puck, the 1970s version ofThe NHL on NBC had a between-periods feature titledShowdown. The concept ofShowdown involved 20 of the NHL's greatest players (16 shooters and four goaltenders) going head-to-head in a tapedpenalty shot competition. After the NHL left NBC in 1975,[47][48][49]Showdown continued to be seen onHockey Night in Canada and local television broadcasts of U.S.-based NHL teams.
NBC did not broadcast the sixth game of the1975 Finals, in which thePhiladelphia Flyers defeated theBuffalo Sabres to clinch their second consecutive championship, played in prime time on a Tuesday night. Had the Finals gone to a seventh game, NBC would have pre-empted its prime-time lineup on a Thursday night to carry that deciding contest. But by that time, the network had informed the NHL that unlessratings[50] for the Finals spiked, it would drop the sport,[51] which it did at the end of the season. In1976, the NHL put together asyndication package that was carried in Chicago onWFLD.
Speaking of Chicago,WTTW carried the games of the1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup Finals that weren't on NBC. The feed was syndicated byHughes.WGN had picked it up in1970 and1972 (and originated Hawks road games in1971 and1973 unlessCBS, then NBC, carried them), but passed in 1974 and 1975. In New York, thePBS station carried Game 5 of the 1974 Finals at Boston and several of the games in 1975 that NBC did not have. While Hughes provided the hookup, it took the visiting team announcers likeGene Hart andDon Earle from Boston for theBruins-Flyers series, for instance.
For 17 years after the1975 Finals, there would be no national over-the-air network coverage of the NHL in the United States (with the exception of CBS' coverage of game two of the1979 Challenge Cup and game six of the1980 Stanley Cup Finals[52][53] and NBC's coverage of theNHL All-Star Game beginning in1990) and only spotty coverage on local TV stations and regional sports networks in markets that had NHL clubs. This was because no network was willing to commit to a large number of games, in turn, providing low ratings for NHL games.ABC would eventually resume broadcasting regular NHL games (on atime-buy basis throughESPN) for the1992–93 season (and continuing through the1993–94 season beforeFox took over the broadcast television league rights for the next five seasons).
From1990[54][55] through1994,[56] NBC only televised theAll Star Game.[57][58][59][60] NBC reportedly wanted to test the appeal of hockey,[61] having recently lost[62] theMajor League Baseballpackage toCBS. Shortly thereafter however,NBC would gain the broadcast television rights to theNational Basketball Association (NBA) fromCBS, thus there was a bit of a notion that NBC no longer really needed.
Marv Albert,[63][64] andJohn Davidson[65] called the action, whileMike Emrick[66] served as an ice-level reporter in1990. Meanwhile,Bill Clement served as an ice-level reporter in1991,[67][68]1992[69] and1994.[70] Also,Hockey Night in Canada'sRon MacLean[71] helped out with NBC's coverage of the1993 All-Star Game, as wouldBrenda Brenon for the 1994 All-Star Game. In August 1989,The New York Times[72] asked Marv Albert why had hockey lacked the popularity of other team sports in the United States. According to Albert, not many people have played hockey, and it was very difficult to capture as a televised sport. WhileWayne Gretzky, playing for theLos Angeles Kings, had to help, there was according to Albert, also the impression thatthe owners encouragedfighting because they felt that the fans wanted it.
TheMontreal Canadiens[73] were slated to host the 1990 All-Star Game, but the team withdrew their bid to considerations due to the superb hosting byQuebec City ofRendez-vous '87. This had allowed thePittsburgh Penguins, which wanted to host an All-Star Game in 1993,[74] to move up three years early. For its part, Pittsburgh's organizers added much more to previous games, creating the first "true" All-Star weekend.[75] Firstly was the addition of theHeroes of Hockey[76][77] game, a two-period oldtimers' game between past NHL greats. The second was the addition of theNational Hockey League All-Star Skills Competition, a competition between the players invited to the All-Star Game. The Skills competition was created by Paul Palmer, who adapted theShowdown feature seen onHockey Night in Canada from1972–73 to1979–80. All-Star players would be rewarded with US$2,500 for any win in the skills competition.
As previously mentioned, when NBC broadcast the 1990 NHL All-Star Game, it marked the first time that a National Hockey League game of any kind was aired on American network television, since CBS aired Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup Finals.[78][79][53] To accommodate the altered activities, the game itself was played on a Sunday afternoon[80] instead of a Tuesday night,[81] as was the case in previous years. This allowed NBC to air the game live across the United States – marking (surprisingly) the first time that a national audience would seeWayne Gretzky[82][83] andMario Lemieux[84][85] play. Referees and other officials were also wired with microphones in this game, as were the two head coaches. Finally, NBC was also allowed to conduct interviews with players during stoppages in play, to the chagrin of theHockey Night in Canada crew, whose attempts to do likewise were repeatedly denied by the league in previous years. NBC ultimately earned a 4.4rating[86] for the 1990 All-Star Game.
In1991,[87] NBC broke away[88][89] from the telecast in the third period[90] to televise a briefing fromThe Pentagon involving theGulf War.SportsChannel America[91][92] included the missing coverage in a replay of NBC's telecast (NBC owned 50%[93][94][95][96][97] ofRainbow Enterprises, the parent of SportsChannel America).[98]
There were reports[99] about NBC making an arrangement to air four to eight[100] regular season games for the1992–93 season[101] but nothing materialized. More specifically, NHL officials had arranged a four-to eight-game,time-buy package on NBC, but that fell through when the NHL wanted assurance that allNBC affiliates would carry the games[102] (by 2006, NBC had generally gotten all but a couple of affiliates in the Top-50 markets to carry the games). For instance, in1990, NBC's affiliates inAtlanta (NBC's coverage of the 1992 All-Star Game aired on theindependent stationWTLK in that market),Charlotte,Memphis,New Orleans,Indianapolis andPhoenix did not clear the game (Atlanta andPhoenix would eventually receive NHL teams, however the Atlanta franchise relocated toWinnipeg in 2011). Ultimately, roughly 15% of the nation did not have access to the game. As previously mentioned,ABC became the league's network broadcaster instead, and thenFox won a bidding war[103] withCBS for television rights lasting from the1994–95 through1998–99 seasons.
NBC's coverage of the 1993 All-Star Game drew a .450rating[125] in the males 18-34 bracket, the highest among sports shows this year and well above theNBA's .350 average.
In 2002,NBC broadcast theWinter Olympics fromSalt Lake City,Utah. It marked the first time that NBC televised the Winter Olympics since the1972 Games fromSapporo,Japan. For the men'shockey tournament, NBC enlistedESPN andABC'sGary Thorne[126] to call the games with color commentatorJohn Davidson.[127] The secondary announcing crew consisted ofFox'sKenny Albert and ESPN and ABC'sJoe Micheletti. Albert also did play–by–play for the women's tournament alongsideLisa Brown-Miller.[128] Meanwhile, ESPN and ABC'sDarren Pang[129] served as ice-level reporter for both the men's and women's ice hockey tournaments. ESPN and ABC'sBill Clement worked withJim Lampley as a studio analyst[130] during their coverage of both ice hockey tournaments.
In May 2004,[131][132] NBC reached an agreement with the NHL to broadcast a slate of regular season games and theStanley Cup Finals. The plan called for NBC to air at least six weeks of regular season games (three regional games each week) on Saturday afternoons. In addition, NBC was to show one or two playoff games per weekend during the playoffs. Between two and five games from the Stanley Cup Finals would air in prime time (OLN/Versus[133] received the other two as part of its package). NBC's primary game each week, as well as the Stanley Cup Finals, would air inhigh definition.
Unlike previous network television deals with the NHL (likeFox, which had the rights from1994 to1999 andABC, which had the rights from1999 to2004), NBC paid no upfront rights fee, insteadsplitting advertising revenue with the league after meeting its own production and distribution costs. On the other hand, the league avoided the arrangement some minor sports leagues have, in which they pay networks for broadcast time and produce their own telecasts, but keep any advertising revenue.
The last time NBC Sports entered a television deal which did not require it to pay any rights fees was in 1994–1995, when the division was involved in theMajor League Baseball joint venture called "The Baseball Network." To a lesser extent, NBC also had a similar sort of revenue-sharing agreement with theArena Football League (AFL) and, because of their ownership in theXFL, also paid no rights fees for airing that league.
NBC's out-of-market games were available onNHL Center Ice through the 2006–07 season; NBC switched to stand-alone games for the 2007–08 season.
NBC's initial contract with the NHL ran for two years, with an option given to the network to renew for two additional years. NBC's NHL coverage was delayed a year because of the2004–05 NHL lockout, which wound up cancelling the entire regular season and playoffs.[134] NBC instead, decided to replace five of its scheduled NHL broadcasts with alternate sports programming (such as reruns ofNASCAR Year in Review andThe Purina Incredible Dog Challenge). NBC also decided to give one of the slots back to local affiliates, some of which filled the time given back to them withinfomercials.
The NHL on Versus was a presentation ofNational Hockey League (NHL) games broadcast onVersus. The NHL's television deal with Versus was made at the conclusion of the2004–05 NHL lockout that caused the cancellation of an entire season. At the time, Versus offered a two-year, US$130 million contract (with a network option for a third year). Versus was expected to use NHL coverage to show it was a legitimate suitor forMajor League Baseball andNational Football League packages that were to be negotiated later in 2005, but they did not land agreements with either league. In 2007, the NHL signed an agreement to extend the NHL on Versus to the 2010–2011 season. Versus paid $72.5 million for 2007–2008 and will pay inflationary increases over the next three years. The network broadcast at least 54 games during the regular season (usually two games per week, sometimes three or just one), plus theAll-Star Game, Skills Competition, and YoungStars game.
At the end of the season, the network would have blanket coverage of the playoffs, culminating in the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals. Versus also showed theNHL Awards Show and first round of theNHL Draft (both a simulcast from Canadian television).
Under the terms of the contract running from2007–2011, Versus aired 54 or more NHL games each season, generally on Monday and Tuesday nights, and provided coverage of as manyStanley Cup Playoff games as possible (generally two per night in the first two rounds; the Conference finals are usually played on alternating days), and two games of theStanley Cup Finals (games three and four in2009,2010 and2011).
In the 2006–07 season, Versus began to carry an exclusive national "game of the week"; the games were typically scheduled on Monday nights, though aired on Tuesday nights during theNational Football League season in defense ofMonday Night Football. No other broadcaster could carry an NHL game during the window, although the league stated that it would try to arrange its schedule in future seasons so that few other games would be played during the window.[135][136]
Versus also provided postgame coverage after every game they broadcast. Thepostgame show was initially known asHockey Central, airing from theirStamford, Connecticut, studios. Beginning in the 2011–12 season, the program was renamedNHL Live, and began incorporatingNHL on NBC personalities.
NHL games officially returned to NBC under the new agreement on January 14, 2006, debuting with three regional games (New York Rangers atDetroit Red Wings,Colorado Avalanche atPhiladelphia Flyers, which is also aired onNBC Sports Philadelphia also followed by theDallas Stars atBoston Bruins) to substantial praise among hockey fans and writers, who often compare the television network's presentation toHockey Night in Canada, which is broadcast in full on theNHL Center Ice package (although some writers even speculated that NBC's playoff broadcasts were superior to CBC's, largely because of their choice of announcers and the fact that NBC provided HD coverage of games prior to the Finals).[137]
Games one and two of theStanley Cup Finals were on OLN, while the remainder of the series was on NBC. NBC's broadcast of game seven drew a 3.3 rating, a 21% drop fromABC's 4.2 for game seven in2004.[138] However, some NBC affiliates didn't air game seven live.[138] Overall, NBC had an average rating of 2.3 for its five telecasts of the final, down 12% from ABC's 2004 average.[138]
For the2006–07 season, NBC broadcast three regional NHL games per weekend of coverage during the regular season. The network also scheduled ten coverage windows during the playoffs (not including the Stanley Cup Finals). The additional broadcasts were expected to replace theArena Football League, which NBC dropped after the2006 season. NBC also produced two games per week in high definition, up from one in 2005–06.
The newly titledNHL on NBC Game of the Week returned on January 13, 2007, with three regional games (between theLos Angeles andSt. Louis Blues,Boston Bruins andNew York Rangers,Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers) at 2 p.m.Eastern Time. Games started at various times, ranging from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. during the season (this variation primarily resulted from NBC's commitments to thePGA Tour and other programming).
NBC moved its NHL telecasts to Sundays after its season premiere (which occurred on a Saturday) for the final eight dates of the season. The nine weeks of games (totaling 22 regional games) scheduled by the network amounted to the league's most extensive U.S. broadcast television coverage since1998, duringFox's tenure. A newSunday Night Football-esque horizontal score banner, designed by Troika Design Group, also debuted during the season.
The2007 Stanley Cup Finals was also notable for its exceptionally poor television ratings in the United States. Games one and two were carried by cable channelVersus, then a new and little-known player on the sports television scene. Game one produced a 0.5 national rating or 523,000 households. It was the 58th best-rated program of that day. Game two produced a 0.4 national rating or 446,000 households, lower than the 2006WNBA All-Star Game onESPN, which drew 447,000 households. It was the 74th best-rated program of that day.
The move to NBC did little to compensate for the series' limited drawing power. A perennial last among the Big Four American television networks, NBC was at the time going through an intense period of ratings turmoil, setting lowest rated week records in several viewing categories over the course of Spring 2007.
Game three's coverage on NBC garnered a mere 1.1 rating (approximately 1,205,600 households), making it the lowest-rated prime-time broadcast in NBC's history. For comparison, game six of theNBA Eastern Conference Finals, broadcast opposite game three on cable channelTNT, achieved a 5.3 rating, approximately 5,808,800 households. Game four achieved a 1.9 rating (approximately 2,082,400 households), down 5% from game four the previous year.[139] Game five received slightly less, 1.8 (approximately 1,972,800 households).[140] As a whole, NBC's ratings for the championship series were down 20% from the previous season, making it the least watched final in the United States.
At the time, Versus was only available to 50% of cable-equipped homes in the Los Angeles area, which hurt the buzz around theDucks' playoff run in a traditionally crowded sports and entertainment market.[141] Versus was the fifth-most watched cable network in the Los Angeles market for game one, good only for a 1.7 local rating.
Local numbers did improve as the series moved to NBC. The Cup-clinching game five drew a 6.0 and a 12 share for an average audience of 496,000 viewers in the Los Angeles market, twice larger than a high-profile regular season game between baseball'sLos Angeles Dodgers andSan Diego Padres onKCAL 9 (3.0/5, 218,000 viewers). This symbolic, if short-lived, victory against one of the region's flagship teams allowed the Ducks to close the series on a relatively high note, with theLos Angeles Times' Larry Stewart calling their final ratings performance "pretty good".[142]
On May 19, 2007, during theStanley Cup playoffs, NBC angered many fans and journalists when it pre-empted coverage of the overtime period of the tied Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals between theOttawa Senators andBuffalo Sabres, a game where the Senators could potentially advance with a win, instead going directly to pre-race coverage of thePreakness Stakes horse race. A typical "Triple Crown" horse racing broadcast generally contains about two hours of pre-race coverage, with the actual races lasting two or three minutes. Coverage of the overtime period was shifted toVersus,[143][144] the league's cable partner, although viewers inBuffalo andRochester were able to continue watching the game on local NBC affiliates in the respective markets,WGRZ andWHEC-TV.[145][146]
The move was originally seen not only as a snub of small-market teams (such as and not just the Sabres), but of hockey in general. Even worse, many hockey fans did not realise thatDaniel Alfredsson scored the series-winning goal at 9:32 of overtime at 5:20 p.m. ET until NBC showed the highlights.[147][148] However, NBC and the NHL later revealed that the Preakness deal had been made several years before and contained mandatory advertising commitments during the pre-race build-up. Both sides could have agreed that the entire game would air only on Versus or begin earlier in the day, but the NHL wanted at least one Eastern Conference Finals game to air on NBC and said that it doesnot schedule with the assumption that games will go into overtime. Moreover, an earlier start time could not be arranged because the broadcast window was fixed in advance, and both the NHL and NBC needed the flexibility to pick the Western Conference Finals for that window if they so desired.
Since then, NBC had contingency plans if scenarios like this occur moving forward. Starting in 2008 until 2016,[149][150] the NBC hockey game started airing 12:30 p.m. ET so that the network can show at least one overtime period if it gets there (at max two).[151][152] Starting in 2016, NBC aired playoff game at about 7:15 p.m. ET immediately following horse racing.[153]
In2006, NBC televised Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between theSabres and theCarolina Hurricanes on the same day as the Preakness. Before the game, Bill Clement advised the audience that in the event that the game went into overtime, it would be televised on Versus, or OLN as it was known at the time. The Sabres won the game in regulation.
NBC'sSeattle affiliate,KING-TV, opted not to carry NBC's telecasts of theStanley Cup Finals in2006,2007,2008, and2013, when the games began at 5 p.m.Pacific time, choosing to instead air its regular lineup of local newscasts and syndicated shows.KONG picked up the NBC telecasts of the games, andCBC Television's broadcasts of the games were available to most cable providers in the region through the network'sVancouverowned-and-operated stationCBUT. For the 2007 and 2008 Stanley Cup Finals, however, KING-TV aired NBC's Saturday night telecasts, while KONG aired the other NBC telecasts. As for the2009 Stanley Cup Finals, KING-TV aired Games 1, 2 and 5 while KONG aired Games 6 and 7.
For the2006–07 season, NBC added an online, broadband-only pregame show to its NHL coverage (similar to what it does with itsNotre Dame football coverage). TitledNHL on NBC Countdown to Faceoff, the show airs for a half-hour before everyNHL on NBC telecast on NBCSports.com and features a breakdown of upcoming action, as well as reports from the game sites and a feature on an NHL player.
On March 27, 2007, NBC Sports and the NHL agreed to a one-year contract extension with a network option for a second year.
Beginning in2007–08, NBC incorporated "flex scheduling" for its NHL coverage, similar toNFL broadcasts. Through this method, the league selects at least three potential games at the start of the season for most of NBC's regular-season coverage dates. Thirteen days prior to the game, NBC then selects one to air as itsGame of the Week, then the other two games move outside of NBC's broadcast window and return to teams' regional carriers. Since the league made network coverage a priority in the 1990s, regionalized coverage had been the norm; NBC is the first network to attempt to regularly present one game to the entire country. Additionally, studio segments began to originate from the game site instead of 30 Rockefeller Center. All game telecasts also began to be produced in 1080i high definition.
NBC began its 2007–08 schedule onJanuary 1, 2008, with theNHL Winter Classic, an outdoor hockey game between theBuffalo Sabres andPittsburgh Penguins atRalph Wilson Stadium. The game went head-to-head with some of the New Year's Day college football bowl games, but none of the featureBowl Championship Series games. While never expected to beat or directly compete with football ratings, the timing was designed to take advantage of the large audience flipping between channels to watch the different bowl games. It was the first such game to be televised live by an American network and the NHL's first outdoor regular season game since theEdmonton Oilers andMontreal Canadiens played theHeritage Classic, which aired onCBC, which served as the Canadian broadcaster of the 2008 Classic. Although originally maligned as a mere publicity stunt by some in the media, the 2008 Winter Classic drew a 2.6 rating in the U.S. (or about 2.9 million viewers) according to Nielsen, the highest rating for a regular-season contest since February1996, when Fox was the league's network partner.[154] By comparison,CBS received a 2.7 rating for theGator Bowl, which also had a 1:00 p.m. start.[155]
Beginning that season, all regular season telecasts air mainly on Sunday afternoons, except for those occurringthe day after Thanksgiving and on New Year's Day.
In April 2008, NBC announced the activation of its option to retain broadcasting rights for the2008–09 season. NBC's scheduling for that year was similar to that which it had during the 2007–08 season (flex scheduling for regular-season games, up to five games of the Stanley Cup Finals – changing in 2009 to include the first two and last three games, among others) except that all (or nearly all) of the Sunday-afternoon games now began at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Coverage again included the Winter Classic outdoor game on January 1, 2009, between theDetroit Red Wings and theChicago Blackhawks atWrigley Field.
NBC broadcast the first two and final three games of theStanley Cup Finals, whileVersus broadcast Games 3 and 4.[156] The first two games of the series were played on consecutive nights due to NBC's scheduling.[157][158][159][160]
Game seven was the final major sporting event onanalog television in the United States, with theDTV transition finishing less than an hour-and-a-half after the game ended and just one hour after NBC coverage ended. NBC affiliatesWDIV-TV in Detroit andWPXI inPittsburgh – who months before the Stanley Cup playoffs began electing to keep their own respective analog signals on until June 12, well past the original February 17 deadline – both remained on the air for game seven before cutting their analog signals at 11:59EDT.
Regular-season NHL telecasts on NBC itself usually only feature U.S.-based teams. During theStanley Cup playoffs, broadcasting a game involving a Canadian team might be unavoidable. NBC has the first choice of games and times on its scheduled broadcast dates. The Canadian broadcasters (currentlyCBC andSportsnet) are required to adjust accordingly during the playoffs, even though their rights fee is three times as high as NBC's.
There have been a few exceptions to this policy since 2006; in 2008, theMontreal Canadiens became the first Canadian team featured on theNHL on NBC during the regular season (NBC Sports'Dick Ebersol was rumored to have specifically wanted to do a game fromMontreal at some point). The Canadiens played theNew York Rangers on February 3. The2014 NHL Winter Classic also featured a Canadian team, theToronto Maple Leafs, up against theDetroit Red Wings atMichigan Stadium. Due to the revamp of the league's conferences and divisions that season, the cross-border rivalry had become an interdivisional one with the Wings' move to the Eastern Conference. The2016 NHL Winter Classic had theMontreal Canadiens facing theBoston Bruins inFoxboro, Massachusetts. The Boston/Montreal rivalry is generally considered the fiercest in the NHL; in fact, there were rumblings that if Montreal were not Boston's opponent in the 2016 Classic that Boston would relinquish the game. NBCSN will occasionally feature Canadian teams during the regular season, but primarily only the Canadiens and the Maple Leafs, and only if they are playing a U.S.-based team.
Like its predecessors, NBC frequently chose games with a focus on about six to eight teams: theNew York Rangers, theDetroit Red Wings, thePittsburgh Penguins, thePhiladelphia Flyers, the Boston Bruins, and theChicago Blackhawks; and most recently theLos Angeles Kings, theVegas Golden Knights, and theWashington Capitals. The relation has very little correlation with team success; for instance, theAnaheim Ducks won theStanley Cup in2007, and theBuffalo Sabres made it to the conference finals in both 2006 and 2007. Those teams received one and two potential games respectively in the 2008 season, compared to the seven potential games given to the Rangers and the four games which could include the Flyers.[161] (Buffalo has fared better in its number ofNBCSN appearances, due in part to the channel's relatively high viewership in the Buffalo market;[162] it was noted in 2018 that their appearances on that network were in decline.)[163]
The most frequently cited reasons for this relative lack of diversity are low ratings in a market (such as for theAnaheim Ducks, theNew York Islanders, and theNew Jersey Devils, which share markets with an Original Six team or a 1967 expansion team), market size (such as for Buffalo, where hockey ratings are the highest of any U.S. team, but themarket itself is the smallest of any American NHL team), and Comcast's common ownership of both the Flyers and NBC, allowing the network toself-deal and cross-promote the Flyers on national television.
Examples of the above trends could be found in NBC Sports' national schedule for the2015-16 regular season. In a press release announcing this schedule, NBC stated all U.S. teams would make at least one appearance on NBC or NBCSN during the regular season,[164] but hockey writerGreg Wyshynski noted that:[165]
For the 2018–19 season, NBCSN announced that it would re-brand itsWednesday Night Rivalry broadcasts asWednesday Night Hockey, with a larger focus on showcasing star players rather than league rivalries. With these changes, the network promoted that its schedule would feature a wider variety of teams, including games between Canadian teams.[166] The October 24, 2018 game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets marked the first time that NBC had ever originated its own telecast of a regular season game between Canadian opponents.[167]
Some of the innovations that NBC brought for its NHL telecasts included putting a star clock underneath the scoreboard at the top of the screen. During each game, NBC took one player from each team and clocks how long that player is out on the ice each time he comes out for a shift. In addition, goalies likeVegas'Marc-Andre Fleury may have worn cameras inside their masks, much like Fox asked catchers to do for itsMajor League Baseball game broadcasts.
NBC was the first broadcaster to put one of their game color commentators (e.g.Pierre McGuire,Brian Boucher, orDarren Pang) in-between the two teams' benches, for what NBC called "Inside the Glass" reporting. In addition to providing color commentary, this allowed the "Inside the Glass" reporter to observe and report on the benches, as well was interviewing the coaches periodically. This was contrary to traditional broadcasts, with the play-by-play and color commentator(s) all in the broadcast booth, and the rinkside reporter providing no analysis during the game. Other national and regional broadcasters eventually followed suit for selected telecasts (not every NHL arena has enough room for multiple reporters between the benches), although they would use generic terms such as "ice level" or "between-the-benches" reporter instead of NBC's "Inside the Glass" definition.[168]
NBC renewed its rights to the NHL for the2010–11 season. The network broadcast schedule continued to include the Winter Classic, Sunday-afternoon games at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time, six weekends of playoff action, and broadcasts of all but two games of the Stanley Cup Finals (which aired onNBCSN, NBC cable sports channel).
On February 20, 2011, NBC introducedHockey Day in America[169] – patterned after the CBC'sHockey Day in Canada, it featured eight of the most popular American teams in regional games: theWashington Capitals at theBuffalo Sabres, thePhiladelphia Flyers at the New York Rangers, and theDetroit Red Wings at theMinnesota Wild, followed by thePittsburgh Penguins at theChicago Blackhawks for the national nightcap. The Flyers-Rangers game was aired in the majority of the country, while the Sabres-Capitals game was only seen in the Buffalo andWashington, D.C., markets; as was the Red Wings-Wild game in their respective markets. The tripleheader was completed with the2011 Heritage Classic, for which viewers were redirected toVersus.
On April 19, 2011, afterESPN,Turner Sports, andFox Sports placed bids, NBC Sports announced it had reached a ten-year extension to its television contract with the NHL (through the 2020–21 season) worth nearly $2 billion over the tenure of the contract.[170] The contract would cover games on bothNBC andVersus; the channel became a sister network to NBC via Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal, and was imminently rebranded under the NBC Sports name. The channel eventually rebranded asNBC Sports Network (NBCSN) in January 2012.[171][172] Beginning in the 2011–12 season, theNHL on Versus branding was dropped in preparation for the channel's rebranding as NBCSN, with its broadcasts now carrying theNHL on NBC branding and production.
The terms of the deal included:[172]
As mentioned earlier, NBC Sports Regional broadcasts are occasionally simulcast on the NBC networks. This also applied during the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Games featuring Canadian teams sometimes used a simulcast of either CBC or Sportsnet (and previously TSN).
In the2012–13 season, Wednesday night games on NBCSN were rebranded asWednesday Night Rivalry, primarily featuringrivalry games. For the2013–14 season, NBC Sports introduced the seriesNHL Rivals, which looks back at the participating teams' historic rivalry leading up to the featuredWednesday Night Rivalry game.
Beginning in the2014–15 season,TSN Hockey personalitiesBob McKenzie,Darren Dreger andChris Cuthbert joined theNHL on NBC team. This was the result ofRogers Media's – the owners ofSportsnet – exclusive 12-year deal with the NHL in Canada, replacing bothTSN andCBC Sports as the rights-holders to the NHL.
In 2014, NBC Sports partnered withElectronic Arts to integrateNHL on NBC presentation into itsNHL video game series, beginning withNHL 15. Complementing the change, Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk also voiced commentary and other appearances in the game.[177] Thescore bug can be switched to a transparent view in order for players to be shown at the top of the screen, if necessary. This would continue up intoNHL 19, in which it would be replaced with the generic graphic package, starting withNHL 20.
In 2015, NBC Sports partnered with the league to expandKraft Hockeyville into the United States. The annual contest, in which communities compete to demonstrate their commitment to ice hockey, with the winning community being awarded the opportunity to host a nationally televised NHL preseason game, was first held across Canada in 2006. Similar to what CBC Sports had done in covering Kraft Hockeyville in Canada, NBC Sports began airing regular segments on the separate Hockeyville USA competition for communities in the U.S. On September 29, 2015, NBCSN aired the inaugural Kraft Hockeyville USA game atCambria County War Memorial Arena,Johnstown, Pennsylvania, marking the first time that the NHL on NBC televised a preseason game since it acquired the American rights in 2005.
During the2015–16 season, exclusive Sunday night games on NBCSN were rebranded asSunday Night Hockey, with the first game under the new brand taking place on January 10, 2016, between theNew Jersey Devils and theMinnesota Wild. A weekly recap show,NHL Sunday Shootout, premiered on the same day. NBC also began to air selectGame of the Week andSunday Night Hockey broadcasts under theStar Sunday banner starting with the 2016–17 season, devoting special coverage to the game's featured players of the week.
Starting in the2016–17 season, NBC began to use itsregional networks (then primarily-branded as Comcast SportsNet) to originate coverage of games involving teams whose regional rights are owned by an NBC (in this case,Chicago Blackhawks,Philadelphia Flyers,San Jose Sharks, andWashington Capitals). These broadcasts used the video footage from the regional broadcaster, overlaid with national commentators. In the 2017 playoffs, NBC used itsregional networks for games involving Chicago, San Jose, and Washington.[178]
At the start of the 2018–19 season, NBC rotated Pierre McGuire andBrian Boucher on the lead broadcast team ofMike Emrick andEddie Olczyk. This means that McGuire will call theWednesday Night Hockey late game while Boucher joins the lead team of Emrick and Olczyk on the early game. McGuire, however, was still assigned to work with the lead team on Wednesday Night Hockey singleheaders, weeklyGame of the Week broadcasts, and the2019 Stanley Cup Finals. However, as of the start of the 2019–20 season, Boucher now works with the lead team inEast Coast games while McGuire continues to appear on otherWest Coast broadcasts.[179][180][181] In addition, NBC began usingU.S. women's ice hockey starsA. J. Mleczko andKendall Coyne Schofield as game analysts on select broadcasts, and NBC even assignedMike Tirico to call play-by-play on a few broadcasts.
During the 2019–20 season, NBCSN flexed in severalWashington Capitals games in February in anticipation ofAlexander Ovechkin's700th NHL goal. Those games used theNBC Sports Washington feed and announcers. In one instance, the February 10 broadcast involving the Capitals andNew York Islanders aired nationally on NBCSN (blacked out in the team's local markets) at the expense of its originally-scheduled game between theTampa Bay Lightning andColumbus Blue Jackets, which only aired on the team's local markets.[182] However, NBCSN missed out on covering Ovechkin's 700th goal (which took place on Saturday afternoon, February 22, against theNew Jersey Devils), due to a prior commitment with the2020 Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship. NHL Network aired the game instead.[183]
Beginning with the 2019–20 season, the network began to employ a theme song for their Wednesday Night Hockey telecasts, using "Fire, Ready, Aim" byGreen Day and a music video starring the band and various NHL players, as part of a long-term promotional agreement between the band, the network and the league.[184]
On February 16, 2020, NBC announced that it had assigned an all-female crew to call theBlues–Blackhawks game on March 8 in Chicago in honor ofInternational Women's Day. The game featured Kate Scott on play-by-play, A. J. Mleczko as booth analyst and Kendall Coyne Schofield as "Inside the Glass" analyst.Kathryn Tappen andJennifer Botterill were tapped to work the game in the studio.[185]
In2014,NBCSN broadcast games three and four, while NBC televised the remaining games. NBC Sports originally planned to repeat its coverage pattern from the last few seasons: NBCSN would televise game two and three, while NBC would broadcast game one, and then games four and five.[186] After the League scheduled game two on the day of theBelmont Stakes, coverage of games two and four were switched so NBC's telecast of the horse race would serve as lead-in programming to game two. Due to the death of a family member, NBC's lead play-by-play announcerMike Emrick missed game one.Kenny Albert, who was also theNew York Rangers radio announcer forWEPN and announced several national games (including the Western Conference finals) for NBC/NBCSN, filled in for Emrick in the first game.[187]
It was originally announced that games two and three of the2015 Finals were to be broadcast by NBCSN, with the remainder on NBC. Game two was moved to NBC to serve as a lead-out for its coverage of the2015 Belmont Stakes in favor of game four on NBCSN. AsEddie Olczyk was also a contributor to NBC's Belmont coverage, he was absent during game two.[188][189][190]
On May 27, 2016, NBC Sports announced that if theFinals was tied at 1–1 entering game three, then it would have aired on NBC and game four televised on NBCSN. However, if one team led 2–0 (as this eventually happened), game three moved to NBCSN and then game four on NBC.[191]
By the end of NBC's run with the NHL in 2021, no matter the circumstance of the series, while NBCSN aired two of the first three games, NBC aired everything else, which included all the if-needed ones so that every potentially clinching game of the championship series would be on broadcast over-the-air television.
On Tuesday, May 3, 2016,NBC Sports Radio was granted rights[192] to broadcast and syndicate the2016 Stanley Cup Finals.Kenny Albert would provide the play-by-play whileJoe Micheletti would serve as color commentator.[193] This was the firstneutral national broadcast since the2008NHL Radio broadcast.
The NHL refused to allow players to compete at the2018 Winter Olympics ice hockey tournament. Initially, in response to the NHL's decision, NBC elected not to air any NHL games during the three-week period on either the NBC broadcast network or NBCSN.[194] However, NBC later relented and added three Sunday afternoon games in February as a lead-in to the Winter Olympics.[195]
On October 19, 2020, NBC's lead play-by-play announcer[196] Mike Emrick announced his retirement from broadcasting.[197] Emirck's final assignment for NBC was his call of Game 6 of the2020 Stanley Cup Finals. As he had been doing throughout the2020 playoffs, the 74 year old Emrick called the Cup Finals off of monitors from his home studio inMetro Detroit, citing his advanced age as a potential risk for severe illness fromCOVID-19.[198] Following Emrick's retirement, NBC did not name a presumptive lead play-by-play voice. Instead, they chose to rotate betweenJohn Forslund andKenny Albert on the no. 1 team.[199] On January 18, NBCSN aired a day-night quadruple-header onMartin Luther King Jr. Day, featuringColumbus atDetroit,Boston atNew York Islanders,Buffalo atPhiladelphia andArizona atVegas.[200]
On the weekend of February 20–21, 2021, the NHL held two contestsoutdoors at Lake Tahoe. Coverage of the Saturday game between theVegas Golden Knights and theColorado Avalanche began on NBC. Play was suspended after the first period due to ice conditions caused by its exposure to heat and sunlight; the game was resumed at 9:02 p.m. PT (12:02 a.m. ET). It was moved to NBCSN due to the delay. As a result of the Sunday game between thePhiladelphia Flyers andBoston Bruins being moved to a 7:30 p.m. ET start time, it too was moved from NBC to NBCSN (with an evening game between theNew Jersey Devils andWashington Capitals swapped into NBC's afternoon window as a replacement).Mike Tirico provided the play-by-play commentary[201] alongsideEddie Olczyk (analyst) andBrian Boucher ('Inside-the-Glass' reporter).Rutledge Wood meanwhile, served as an on-site reporter in Lake Tahoe.
On January 22, 2021, an internal memo sent by NBC Sports president Pete Bevacqua announced thatNBCSN would cease operations by the end of the year, and thatUSA Network would begin "carrying and/or simulcasting certain NBC Sports programming," including theStanley Cup Playoffs and NASCAR races, before NBCSN's shutdown.Peacock, NBCUniversal's new streaming service, will also carry some of the network's former programming starting in 2022.[202][203] The move was cited by industry analysts as a response to the impact of theCOVID-19 pandemic on thesports andtelevision industries, the acceleration ofcord-cutting, as well as formidable competition from rival sports networks such asESPN andFox Sports 1.[204]
With the NBC Sports contract expiring at the end of the2020–21 season, the league has explored the possibility of splitting its U.S. national media rights between multiple broadcasters, and over-the-top services (such asDAZN,ESPN+, or NBC'sPeacock).[205] In any case, the league aimed to surpass the US$2 billion total that NBC paid over the life of their 2011–12 to 2020–21 contract.[206] On March 10, 2021, the NHL announced thatESPN[207] would serve as one of the new rightsholders under a seven-year contract, which will include packages of at least 25 regular season games forESPN andABC (including opening night, the All-Star Game, Stadium Series, and other special events), up to 75 original telecasts and all out-of-market games onESPN+ (branded underNHL Power Play), rights to half of the Stanley Cup playoffs (including one conference final per-season), and four Stanley Cup Finals over the length of the contract.[208][209]
On April 26, 2021,Sports Business Journal reported that NBC had officially pulled out of bidding for future NHL rights,[210][211][212] meaning that NBC will not televise NHL games for the first time since the2004–05 NHL lockout.[213] The next day,Turner Sports announced they agreed to a seven-year deal with the NHL tobroadcast up to 72 games nationally onTNT andTBS[214] (while also givingHBO Max the live streaming and simulcast rights to these games) beginning with the2021–22 season, which will include three Stanley Cup Finals, the other half of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Winter Classic, and Heritage Classic.[215]
Analysts believed once ESPN obtained not only more Stanley Cup Finals (four out of three) than NBC desired but overall hockey content, it wasn't worth spending more money on a smaller package in contrast to what they were last paying the NHL.[216] To put things into proper perspective, the secondary package that Turner Sports gained, was reportedly worth $225 million per year.NBCUniversal was at the time, paying the NHL roughly $300 million a year for exclusive rights fees. Combined with the approximately $400 million per year that the NHL was expected to receive from ESPN, the new rights fees were expected to be worth more than $625 million.
Ultimately, NBC's final NHL[217] broadcast[218] was Game 5 of the2021 Stanley Cup Finals[219] atAmalie Arena on July 7. There, theTampa Bay Lightning defeated theMontreal Canadiens by a score of 1–0 towin their second consecutiveStanley Cup.
This is ourlast game[220]...onNBC. And I would like to thank...our entire family...atNBC. All the people behind the scenes. It's been an honor to be a part ofthis team for the last 15 and a half years.[221][222] Thank them all.
— Eddie Olczyk's final remarks during NBC's last NHL broadcast on July 7, 2021.
A huge thank you to all who have been a part of it.Hall of FamerDoc Emrick, the best analysts in the business,Winter Classics,[223] everyplayoff game televised, the introduction of the "Inside the Glass" position thanks to our great leader, Sam Flood,[224] andPierre. Our tremendous production crew, led by Matt Marvin,[225] Charlie Dammeyer,[226] Steve Greenberg,[227] Jenny Glazer, and so many others. Coordinating producer John McGuinness,[228] Ben Bouma[229] by our side here in the broadcast booth. And of course...theviewers across North America...it has been an honor. Postgame coverage will continue, including celebrations, interviews, and more...onNHL Overtime, which begins shortly onNBCSN.[230]Andrei Vasilevskiy and theTampa Bay Lightning havewon...their second straightStanley Cup. ForEddie Olczyk,Brian Boucher, and our entire crew, I'mKenny Albert. So long fromTampa!
— Kenny Albert signing off at the end of NBC's final NHL broadcast, Game 5 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals.
After the end of the subsequent postgame coverage on NBCSN, the network aired a 13-minute video montage, narrated by long-time lead play-by-play voice Mike Emrick (who had taken the role as a contributor in the finalNHL on NBC season), discussing various innovations that NBC had brought to their NHL coverage over the past 15 seasons, highlights, and human interest stories that had occurred along the way as well. At the end of the video, Emrick signed off for NBC's coverage with the following:
Handshake lines close off anyStanley Cup year. We haveshown you 16 of these, and 16 teams clustered together for one last picture. Teams, exhausted but victorious. Teams. Perhaps in your own life, you have been on a team of people for some time and then seen it come to an end. If so, you will understand how it is with us as we close our time with theNHL on NBC. One of God's greatest gifts is that of memory. One of mankind's greatest gifts is video. As we have watched this last video with you and now carry away our own memories, we are sad for ourselves, but grateful for your loyalty to this wonderful sport. And also grateful as we say to for this final time — "thank you". Thank you for watching the Stanley Cup playoffs on NBC.
— Mike Emrick signing off for theNHL on NBC at the end of their Game 5, 2021 Stanley Cup Finals postgame coverage on NBCSN.
Eddie Olczyk missed game two of the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals due to a personal matter, so "Inside-the-Glass" reporter Brian Boucher moved to the booth with Albert, and Pierre McGuire took over for Boucher between the benches.[231] McGuire also called Game 3 of this series with Albert and Olczyk because Boucher missed it for the same reason.[232]
In all, NBC averaged 2.52 million viewers for the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals. The fifth and ultimately decisive game meanwhile, garnered approximately 3.6 million viewers[233] for NBC.
Following the conclusion of the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals, Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk moved over to Turner Sports to serve as their lead broadcast team.[234][235][236][237] Also moving over from NBC to Turner Sports were studio hostLiam McHugh[238] and studio analystsAnson Carter[239] andKeith Jones.
"Inside the Glass" reporter Pierre McGuire meanwhile, was hired by theOttawa Senators to serve as the team's senior vice-president of player development on July 12, 2021, but was fired after one season.[240][241] Secondary play-by-play announcerJohn Forslund moved on to become the television play-by-play broadcaster onRoot Sports Northwest for theSeattle Kraken ahead of their inaugural NHL season in fall2021.[242] Forslund later joined TNT in a fill-in role. Other notable former NBC personalities that had subsequently joined TNT include studio personalitiesKathryn Tappen andPatrick Sharp and former "Inside the Glass" analystDarren Pang.
"Inside the Glass" reporter and studio analystBrian Boucher joinedESPN/ABC for its NHL coverage as its co-lead color commentator. Joining Boucher were analystsA. J. Mleczko, Ryan Callahan, and Dominic Moore. Also joining ESPN/ABC was former analystRay Ferraro, who joined in the same role as Boucher and was later promoted to lead color commentator after Boucher left ESPN (see below).[243][244][245] Boucher and Moore both left ESPN after the2022-23 season, with the former joining TNT to replace Keith Jones, who became President of hockey operations for thePhiladelphia Flyers.
The "Inside the Glass" position was adapted by NBC for theirNBA coverage when they resumed airing games in2025. The Monday-night games onPeacock feature an "On the Bench" commentary setup in which the two analysts are positioned behind each team's bench with access to their respective assistant coach. On November 17, NBC relaunched NBCSN as a primary outlet to broadcast most Peacock-exclusive events including the NBA.
| Team | Stations | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado Avalanche | KUSA[a] | 2024–present |
| New York Rangers | W2XBS (laterWNBC) WNBT 4 (later WNBC) | 1940–1941 1941–1942;1945–1946 |
| Name | Region served | NHL team rights | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBC Sports California[b] | Northern andcentral California | San Jose Sharks | Created in 2008, in conjunction with Maloof Sports & Entertainment (owners of the Kings and Monarchs), after the company did not renew their television contract with FSN Bay Area. |
| NBC Sports Philadelphia[c] | Philadelphia, easternPennsylvania,Delaware,southern andcentralNew Jersey | Philadelphia Flyers | Channel serves as flagship of the Comcast SportsNet. ReplacedPRISM andSportsChannel Philadelphia as the local broadcaster of the Flyers in 1997. |
| Name | Region served | NHL team rights | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBC Sports Chicago[d] | Illinois,northwestern Indiana,Iowa, non-Milwaukee market areas of southernWisconsin | Chicago Blackhawks | NBC owned 20% of this joint venture with the Bulls, Blackhawks, White Sox, and Cubs (who own 20% each themselves). It shut down in October 2024 and be replaced withChicago Sports Network. |
| NBC Sports Northwest[e] | Oregon andWashington | Vancouver Canucks | NBC Sports Northwest ceased operations in September 2021 after losing the rights to thePortland Trail BlazersNBA team toRoot Sports Northwest. That same month, theSeattle Kraken officially joined the NHL, and Canucks games ceased to air in the Washington and Oregon areas.[247] |
| NBC Sports Washington[f] | Delaware,Maryland,south-central Pennsylvania,Virginia,Washington, D.C.,West Virginia | Washington Capitals | Ended affiliation with Comcast in 2022 afterMonumental Sports & Entertainment acquired full control of the network, though it continued to operate under the NBC Sports Washington name until the end of the 2022–23 season. The network rebranded to Monumental Sports Network in September 2023. |
NBC will broadcast Game 1, Game 4, and Games 5–7 (if necessary), with NBCSN televising Games 2–3
