Updated October 30, 2018 12:10:50 The NHL, which had previously said it wanted to bring its streaming platform to the United States by 2020, announced on Wednesday it was partnering with Spotify, which has more than two billion users, to help build a new global streaming service that would rival the NFL Network.
Spotify will pay the NHL $1.5 billion over a three-year period for its service, which will be available in a number of markets around the world.
“We believe that the NFL is one of the most important and successful sports brands in the world and we believe this partnership will create an unprecedented level of fan engagement for the game, which we believe will benefit both sides of the game,” said Rob Manfred, the NHL’s chief content officer.
Spotify’s global reach will include the NHL, the National Hockey League Players Association and Major League Soccer.
Spotify announced the partnership in a blog post on Wednesday.
“This is an exciting time for us,” Spotify said in the post.
“In just two years, the NFL and NHL have achieved a global reach that spans over 25 million people, a number that has not been achieved by any other sports league in the past 20 years.”
The announcement comes as Spotify’s market share continues to grow.
The company has more users in the United Kingdom than in the U.S. and has about 6 million registered users in Germany and Canada.
Spotify is owned by Google.
Spotify has said it wants to build a global service that will rival the NBA Network.