- The NHL will run centralized production for four teams’ local broadcasts starting in 2026-27
- Carolina, Columbus, Minnesota and St. Louis are the first clubs on board
- Read below for what the move means and why the RSN collapse forced it
The NHL is getting into the local TV business.
The league announced Tuesday that its production arm will take over regional broadcasts for four clubs starting with the 2026-27 season. The Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues are the first teams signed up, and the NHL said more could join before opening night.
This traces back to the collapse of the regional sports network model. Main Street Sports Group, the company that came out of the old Bally and Diamond bankruptcy, told its remaining NHL and NBA teams it would shut down after the 2025-26 season. That left a batch of clubs without a local broadcast home.
Rather than chase another outside provider, the league is bringing the work in-house. NHL Productions will handle studio shows, game telecasts, graphics, replay and the technical crews for all four teams, home and road.
Each club rolled out its own version of the news Tuesday. Columbus put it plainly:
Carolina went a step further and announced a sports network of its own, with longtime voices Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy sticking around in the booth:
The Blues confirmed the same partnership, with channel numbers and a streaming option still to come:
NHL chief media officer David Proper framed the shift as a way for teams to hang onto their local revenue as the regional TV market shrinks. “This new model strengthens the value of regional media rights by expanding the pool of potential distribution partners, reducing dependence on outside production providers,” Proper said in the league’s announcement.
To run it, the league hired Robert McGlarry as general manager of local media. Fans in those four markets can expect pregame, intermission and postgame shows with on-site hosts, plus extra cameras and upgraded graphics.
Distribution partners, channel locations, pricing and streaming plans are all still getting sorted, and each team says it will spell those out before the 2026-27 season drops the puck in late September.
