ESPN gets World Cup of Hockey TV rights

The NHL and NHLPA have officially announced that ESPN will have the exclusive TV rights for the World Cup of Hockey, returning in September 2016. ESPN will air all tournament games, from round robin through the finals, with most games appearing on ESPN and ESPN2. This has been widely speculated since the announcement of the return of the tournament last month.

My best guess is that this is a feeler for both ESPN and the NHL/NHLPA. The network gets to gauge the hockey market, both locally and globally, for a possible future investment when NBC Universal’s exclusive deal is up in ten years. The league/players union gets to see how ESPN will broadcast the games, and see if a potential deal is feasible in the future.