Since NBC regained NHL rights in 2006, they have regularly shown Sunday games on the NBC broadcast. They started by picking up local television broadcasts in 2006-’07, after which they mainly aired national exclusive games that started in 2007-’08. And that’s going to lead to an interesting turnaround in the 2021 season; while the season has been shortened to 56 games from the normal 82, the broadcast NBC will have 16 exclusive games, more than ever before. It was included in NBC’s release on their exclusive schedule on Tuesday:
- Once a Week – NBC Sports will show the NHL 16 times on NBC – averaging once a week during the 2020-21 season – starting Sunday, Jan. 17 with the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins. This is the most NHL games for the regular season on NBC.
- Favorite Rivalry – The NHL on the NBC schedule includes a number of rivalries, including a Valentine’s Day date between the Capitals and Penguins, plus Blackhawks-Red Wings, Brown-Rangers and Blues-Avalanche games.
- “Final flex Saturday” – the last game in the NHL on the NBC schedule on Saturday 8 May, is currently TBD and will contain the most convincing game with play-off implications.
It’s quite remarkable to see a record-breaking season of NHL games on NBC’s broadcast network in a significantly shortened season. But with that said, it’s worth keeping in mind that many networks are currently programming less in general, thanks to challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even with that, however, it’s a great deal of exposure to TV broadcasts for the NHL. Here is the schedule so far:
NHL ON NBC 2020-21 ANNEXURE
| Date | Away | at home |
| Sun, 17 January | Washington | Pittsburgh |
| Sun, January 24 | Detroit | Chicago |
| Sun., February 7 | Philadelphia | Washington |
| Sun, 14 February | Washington | Pittsburgh |
| Sat 20 February | Vegas | Colorado |
| Sun, 21 February | Philadelphia | Boston |
| Sun., February 28 | Boston | NY Rangers |
| Sun., March 7 | Buffalo | NY Islanders |
| Sun, 28 March | NY Rangers | Washington |
| Sunday 4 April | Detroit | Tampa Bay |
| Sa 17 April | Pittsburgh | Buffalo |
| Sun, 18 April | Washington | Boston |
| Sa 24 April | Colorado | St. Louis |
| Sunday 25 April | Boston | Pittsburgh |
| Sun, 2 May | Tampa Bay | Detroit |
| Saturday 8 May | TBD | TBD |
This is a significant exposure at broadcast level, involving approximately 40 million homes or more potential viewers to NBCSN (based on the Nielsen TV Universe 2020 estimates of 121 million TV households according to NBCSN’s reported transportation estimate of 79.9 million homes in January). And NBCSN also has a lot of games on Wednesday night and Sunday night, as outlined in the NBC release. And this is remarkable, as the 2020-21 season is the last under NBC’s current national TV contract. NBC will probably try to retain at least some rights in the next round, but there has been talk that ESPN or others are trying to get some national matches. But this winter and spring, NBC will be showing a lot of national NHL games.
[NBC Sports Group Pressbox]