A major announcement yesterday shocked cable television, with ramifications in the pro wrestling world.
The announcement NBC Sports would cease operations by the end of the year shocked several people based on the success of the network. Three major sporting leagues would have to find new homes on the NBC Universal services, including NASCAR, the Premier League, and the NHL. It was already announced some of that programming would find a home on USA.
Wednesday nights have always had a major NHL presence on NBC Sports, meaning this could dramatically affect NXT on USA. While no firm date has been given to the shut down, the double header games could cause NXT to be shifted around temporarily or permanently. On Wrestling Oberver Radio, Dave Meltzer reported NXT’s contract with USA ends in October, which is just in time for the 2021-22 NHL season.
“Here’s another part, the NXT contract ends with the television, it ends in October. The NHL, if they re-sign with NBC would start a regular season would start in October, is that when it would normally start unlike this year when it was all freaked up. Yeah, usually around October.”
NXT usually gets better ratings than the NHL, but that could change if it has the larger audience on USA. More importantly, the season could still be adjusted based on if the COVID-19 pandemic improves or not. The whole situation is new, and it’s one to monitor as the end of the year rolls around.
h/t to Ringside News for the quote
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