NHL prepares negotiations over new US TV deal

The National Hockey League (NHL) is preparing to begin negotiations over a new US television rights deal, and chief operating officer John Collins has said the league is in a much stronger position than last time.

The League is currently in the final year of its contracts with Versus and NBC, and Collins is preparing to start talks on a future deal.

Collins said: “We have a lot of ideas of things that we’d like to see – that we think will make the business better.

“And I’m sure our partners have some ideas that they’d like to see to make our business better. We’ll start with that and see where it goes.”

There has been speculation over what the merger between Versus/Comcast and NBC will mean for the negotiations.

The last NHL season generated record television viewing figures during the play-offs and experienced a 66 per cent increase in advertising and sponsorship revenue, according to the league.

Fox Sports is also reportedly another potential bidder for the future cable broadcast package.