RadioActive wrote:

With just 10 days before their first pre-season game, Rogers' Sportsnet is locked in a bitter battle over rights to the Vancouver Canucks. It means the team may decide to go streaming only for its radio broadcasts, which would certainly be a big change for the market and perhaps the first major league entity to be solely on the web in Canada. 

There's still time to reach a deal, of course, but on Thursday, the team released its schedule - which included Sportsnet TV - but there was no mention at all of where to hear the games. They had been on Sportsnet 650, until the contract ended at the end of last season.

I can't think of a time when an NHL team didn't have an actual broadcast radio home and it will be interesting to keep an eye on this and see if this is a first for this country or if some other outlet picks up the rights in time. 

Sportsnet 650 missing from Canucks' broadcast schedule

By the way, the link above leads to an article in The Daily Hive, an online news source that covers various Canadian cities, aimed at a younger crowd. Earlier this week, it was purchased by an old familiar name - ZoomerMedia, owned by Moses Znaimer, who also controls AM 740, Classical 96.3 FM and a few other cable TV stations. It made news recently by buying blogTO, meaning it's now aiming to attract both an older audience via its radio stations, while also looking to get the eye of a much younger demo on the net. 

ZoomerMedia Acquires Daily Hive 

I wouldn’t rule out “all traffic” AM730. They have picked up the Whitecaps (MLS) and BC Lions over the past year.

ED1 wrote:

I wonder how aggressive Corus is trying to get the rights to the Canucks. They already have the Edmonton Oilers radio rights with 630 CHED and the Winnipeg Jets with 680 CJOB.

There is another radio board out there suggesting that a new third sports radio network could be forming through Corus radio... Not sure how true or reliable that source is. 
 

And the situation is resolved - at least for this year. Next year may be a whole new ballgame - er, hockey game - with a new faceoff coming over the rights. 

"It’s expected the fee paid by Rogers for this season will be far below what the rights have gone for in the past, chiefly because of the decline in prominence of AM radio.

"In future, if the Canucks are to continue with a radio broadcast, they would likely seek an FM partner. They may also move to producing their audio commentary in-house."

Canucks to be back on Rogers Sportsnet 650

Radiowiz wrote:

ED1 wrote:

I wonder how aggressive Corus is trying to get the rights to the Canucks. They already have the Edmonton Oilers radio rights with 630 CHED and the Winnipeg Jets with 680 CJOB.

There is another radio board out there suggesting that a new third sports radio network could be forming through Corus radio... Not sure how true or reliable that source is. 
 

0% chance of that happening.

So the radio right got rolled into the TV rights and the stadium naming rights - a package radio would be a tiny fraction of. One side said "all-or-nothing, take-it-or-leave-it."