AMESBURY, Mass. - Hockey East has reached a new six-year media rights agreement with ESPN and ESPN+ that will bring games from one of collegiate hockey’s premier conferences to ESPN’s television and streaming platforms. The agreement will feature the 21 NCAA Division I teams across the men’s and women’s leagues, beginning this fall through the 2027-28 season. The agreement includes over 300 games annually with all contests available on ESPN+ and features three games on ESPNU each season.
“Hockey East is delighted to begin an exciting and comprehensive digital and linear partnership with ESPN,” said Hockey East Commissioner Steve Metcalf. “By placing the top collegiate hockey conference on the ‘Home of Hockey,’ Hockey East can now provide our fans with the premier live-viewing experience in all of sports and allow the league to showcase the stories of our student athletes both on and off the ice.”
Streaming on ESPN+ will be all men’s and women’s home games throughout the season as well as the entirety of both the men’s and women’s postseason tournaments. The Hockey East Women’s Tournament Championship is set to be televised annually on an ESPN network.
“ESPN is proud to add exclusive rights to Hockey East, one of the sport’s premier conferences, to our ever-growing lineup of top-level hockey leagues and events,” said Dan Margulis, senior director of programming, ESPN. “With half of the over 300 games annually dedicated to women’s hockey, we are very excited to help grow the sport across ESPN platforms.”
This agreement further solidifies ESPN and ESPN+’s commitment to the sport of hockey across its television and streaming platforms, which already includes the NHL, ECAC and the NCAA men and women’s Frozen Four championship events. ESPN+ continues to establish itself as the new “Home of Hockey,” covering more than 1,000 NHL games this season, along with every game from the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), over 350 games of the ECAC, and now the forthcoming Hockey East agreement.
Hockey East was assisted by Dan Gale and Leona Marketing Group throughout the process.
About Hockey East
The Hockey East Association is an 11-team Division I college men’s hockey conference founded in 1984 and a 10-team Division I women’s league which began play in 2002-03. The men’s league has won 10 NCAA championships in the past 27 years, most recently in 2021. Since 1999, Hockey East has won eight men’s NCAA Championships with 17 NCAA Championship Game appearances, while placing 28 teams in the Frozen Four and 74 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Overall, Hockey East has sent 121 teams to the men’s NCAA Tournament since its inaugural season, more than any other conference in that span. Hockey East is home to 11 Hobey Baker winners and four Patty Kazmaier winners.
About ESPN+
ESPN+ is the industry-leading sports streaming service that offers fans in the U.S. thousands of live sports events, original programming not available on ESPN’s linear TV or digital networks and exclusive editorial content from dozens of ESPN writers and reporters. Launched in April 2018, ESPN+ has grown to more than 21.3 million subscribers.
Programming on ESPN+ includes exclusive UFC events, hundreds of MLB and NHL games, college sports (including football, basketball and nearly a dozen other sports from 20 conferences), top domestic and international soccer (LaLiga, Bundesliga, Serie A, FA Cup, MLS, Copa Del Rey, EFL Championship, Carabao Cup, Eredivisie, and more), Golf (coverage from PGA Tour, The Masters and PGA Championship), Top Rank Boxing, Grand Slam tennis, international and domestic rugby and cricket, exclusive ESPN+ Original series and studio shows (including ESPN+ NFL PrimeTime, Peyton’s Places, Stephen A’s World, SportsNation, The Fantasy Show, Why Not Us, America’s Caddie, Detail, ESPN FC, Bettor Days, Our Time, The Ultimate Fighter, Dana White’s Contender Series, and many more), plus exclusive access to the entire library of ESPN’s award-winning 30 for 30 films.
Fans can sign up to ESPN+ for just $6.99 a month (or $69.99 per year) at ESPN.com, ESPNplus.com or on the ESPN App (mobile and connected devices). It is also available as part of The Disney Bundle that gives subscribers access to Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu for $13.99/month (Hulu w/ads) or $19.99/month (Hulu w/o ads).
