CBC replaces 'Hockey Night in Canada' with cricket and fans are NOT happy

If you grew up in Canada, Saturday nights meant one thing: Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. It was as reliable as winter itself, a tradition stretching back to 1952 on television and even further on radio. For over 70 years, it held the Guinness World Record for the longest-running sports television program of all time. So when the first Saturday of the 2026-27 NHL season rolled around and Canadians flipped to CBC expecting to see the Leafs, the Habs, or the Oilers, they were greeted with something very, very different.

Cricket.

The Canada Super 60 Cricket League, to be specific. A professional T10 competition played at BC Place in Vancouver. CBC aired Super 60 matches at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ET, right in the window that had belonged to NHL hockey for generations. Meanwhile, the Ottawa Senators were visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Montreal Canadiens were taking on the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Calgary Flames were in Vancouver playing the Canucks. None of those games appeared on CBC.

Naturally, fans lost their minds. Social media erupted with outrage directed squarely at the public broadcaster. Posts across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and X mourned the death of Saturday night hockey on CBC, with many framing it as CBC choosing cricket over hockey. Some posts took an uglier turn, blaming immigration from cricket-loving countries for the supposed switch.

But here's the thing most people are missing in their rush to be furious: the anger is being directed at the wrong target.

Why This Is Really About Rogers, Not CBC

The story behind the disappearance of NHL hockey from CBC is not one of a public broadcaster turning its back on the national pastime. It is a story about money, and a whole lot of it.

Back in 2014, Rogers acquired Canada's national NHL television rights in a massive multi-billion dollar deal. As part of that agreement, Rogers sublicensed Saturday night games to CBC so that Hockey Night in Canada could continue airing on the public broadcaster. That arrangement kept the tradition alive for another 12 seasons, but it was always Rogers holding the cards.

When that sublicensing deal expired after the 2025-26 season, CBC and Sportsnet attempted to negotiate a new agreement. They failed. CBC spokesperson Chuck Thompson confirmed that "despite best efforts, CBC and Sportsnet could not reach an agreement that worked for both parties."

Rogers then signed a new 12-year national NHL rights deal worth a staggering $11 billion, more than double the $5.2 billion it paid for the previous contract. Sportsnet now carries the Saturday night NHL package entirely on its own, while Amazon's Prime Video picked up exclusive Wednesday night national games through a separate sublicensing arrangement.

The distinction here is crucial: CBC did not choose cricket over NHL games it had the right to broadcast. CBC simply no longer has access to NHL games at all. When former CBC president Hubert Lacroix was asked about this years ago, he was blunt, saying the corporation was "not in a position to spend taxpayers' money on this game of high stakes." Thirteen years later, the price tag has only ballooned further.

So when fans point the finger at CBC for abandoning hockey, they should really be asking why Rogers and Sportsnet walked away from a partnership that served millions of Canadians every Saturday night.

What CBC Is Actually Doing Now

Rather than leaving the Saturday night timeslot empty, CBC launched a new program called "CBC Sports Primetime." The show will rotate through different sports from week to week instead of anchoring around a single property. The first broadcasts featured lacrosse and the Super 60 cricket tournament, but CBC has said future programming will include curling, figure skating, speed skating, and other sports, with a particular emphasis on Olympic disciplines following strong ratings from the 2026 Winter Games.

Thompson explained that the Super 60 cricket league fit their strategy because cricket is a new Olympic sport and the tournament represented a major event being held on Canadian soil. It was, in his words, "a unique and rare opportunity" to offer live, world-class cricket on the public broadcaster.

And hockey is not entirely gone from CBC either. The broadcaster still owns the Hockey Night in Canada trademark and announced it will revive the brand in partnership with the Professional Women's Hockey League. On December 5, the Montreal Victoire will face expansion club PWHL Hamilton in what is being billed as the first women's hockey game ever featured under the Hockey Night in Canada banner. The PWHL is calling it the 90th consecutive season of the iconic Saturday night broadcast.

Whether CBC's new multi-sport approach can come anywhere close to replicating the reach of Hockey Night in Canada remains a massive question mark. At its peak, the program was reaching an average of 7.5 million Canadians each week and was the most-watched show in the country every Saturday night.

In the meantime, some advocacy groups are pushing for legislation that would force private companies to sublicense nationally important sporting events to public broadcasters. That kind of "anti-siphoning" law exists in other countries, but it would be a first for Canada.

For now, though, the reality is simple. Saturday night NHL hockey still exists in Canada. It just lives exclusively on Sportsnet. And if you are upset about that, your frustration belongs with Rogers, not with the CBC.