Sergei Bobrovsky, #72, and the Florida Panthers celebrate their Stanley Cup victory after defeating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida on June 24, 2024.
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The Florida Panthers are skating to a new TV home.
The National Hockey League Stanley Cup champions have inked a deal to air regular season games on local broadcast networks in Florida and leaving behind the regional cable sports network that had long been their home.
The Panthers, who have appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals two years in a row, have signed a multi-year contract with EW Scripps which allows the broadcast station owner to televise all locally produced Panthers preseason and regular season games, as well as the first round of the playoffs.
The Panthers are also partnering with Scripps Sports to launch a streaming service, with more details expected before the start of the 2024 season.
Terms of the deal, which begins next season, were not disclosed.
Professional sports teams are increasingly opting for deals with local broadcast station owners as regional sports network business is eroded by consumers ditching pay-TV packages in favor of streaming.
In particular, Diamond Sports Group — the owner of the Panthers’ before Television home, Bally Sports Florida — has been in bankruptcy protection since March 2023.
“After careful consideration and dialogue, Diamond has reached a mutual agreement with the Florida Panthers to terminate our existing television rights contract,” a Diamond spokesperson said in a statement. “We greatly value the relationships we have built with the Panthers and their fans and wish them the best. We remain in productive discussions with the NHL regarding agreements with our remaining team contract partners and are focused on reorganizing as a viable and profitable entity.” .
Since filing for bankruptcy, Diamond Sports has terminated numerous contracts with professional sports teams, which in turn have found new homes on broadcast television networks.
It has become an important moment of change for the industry. The business model of regional sports networks has long been lucrative for leagues and teams, as the networks pay large fees for the rights to games not broadcast nationally.
These agreements with broadcast station owners promise a great increase in reach and audience. The games are now on broadcast networks available to all pay-TV subscribers, as well as free to those using an antenna.
However, while the terms of these deals are not being disclosed, they are unlikely to garner contracts of the same size as those with regional sports networks. The Panthers had According to reports renewed their deal with Bally Sports Florida through 2022, doubling the value of the team’s previous 10-year deal, which was about $6 million per year.
Last year Scripps undersigned a similar deal with the 2023 Stanley Cup champions, the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association are also broadcast on local broadcast stations. Various broadcast station owners have shown interest in becoming the homes of professional sports as the traditional RSN business is under severe pressure.
There may also be more opportunities as Diamond Sports continues to work its way out of bankruptcy protection.
Last month, the leagues expressed concern about the future of Diamond Sports and whether it would be able to put together a viable business plan before the next few seasons. Diamond Sports returns to bankruptcy court later this month to seek approval for its reorganization plan.
