NHL Faces Key Challenges After Its ‘Most Successful’ Season

The National Hockey League just enjoyed its best season, at least in the assessment of commissioner Gary Bettman, who called 2023–2024 the “most successful” campaign in league history.

There’s plenty of support for that opinion between record attendance and historically strong ratings, the beginning of a new uniform contract with Fanatics, and a successful staging of the league’s draft at the Sphere in Las Vegas, among other accomplishments. 

Now what about an encore?

Operating from a position of relative strength and stability, the league will still have several pressing issues to address during the 2024–2025 season, beginning Friday with the NHL Global Series in Prague with the Sabres and Devils. Among them:

• Labor: The NHL’s current collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players’ Association doesn’t expire until September 2026. But buoyed by the current health of the league, talks are slated to begin soon, and Bettman is aiming to reach a new deal by the Stanley Cup Final in June. 
• Amazon: The online retail and streaming giant is beginning a weekly NHL live game showcase in Canada with its new Monday Night Hockey. Amazon’s quickly expanding live sports aspirations are well known, and Prime Video global head of sports Jay Marine said the company will “invest like crazy” to establish the weekly game as a “huge national event.”
• Canadian national media rights: The two-year Amazon deal in Canada is actually a sublicensing of broader rights held by media giant Rogers Communications. That company’s existing national agreement with the NHL expires in 2026, and like the labor talks, work is expected to soon begin on the next contract term. In addition to Amazon’s growing strength, Rogers is becoming more powerful with its recent deal to assume majority control of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. 
• Regional U.S. media: The NHL recently struck a revised deal with bankrupt Bally Sports parent company Diamond Sports Group. That agreement, however, still leaves question marks for after the upcoming season. Should DSG fail next month in its bid to gain confirmation for its reorganization, or if Major League Baseball’s issues with the company spread wider, the NHL could face heightened problems in this area sooner rather than later. 
• Utah: This one is far less problematic as the franchise—relocated and rebranded from its former existence as the Coyotes—has been an immediate hit with local fans. But the league will be interested to see team owner Ryan Smith continue on his rapid trajectory to make the franchise a lasting success. Permanent branding for the Utah Hockey Club, most likely to be the Yeti, is expected sometime soon after the season’s end. 
• Ottawa arena: The Senators recently reached an agreement in principle with Canada’s National Capital Commission on a 10-acre parcel in downtown Ottawa eyed for a new arena and mixed-use development. Long a key priority for team owner Michael Andlauer, a venue deal after years of unsuccessful pursuit would represent a huge boost for the franchise. 

Not So Fast

While the NHL is in growth mode, that won’t apply to additional franchises—at least in the near term. An expanding collection of markets, including Atlanta and Houston, have shown keen interest in landing a team. But given the other outstanding issues, expansion beyond the current 32 teams is still a back-burner concern.

“We feel no compulsion [to expand] right now,” Bettman said earlier this week after board of governors meetings. “If something came in and checked all the boxes, and we felt that it might make sense, we might consider it, but we’re not there right now.”