Achi news desk-
Arenas are packed, the NHL is a game on television screens across North America, highlight reel goals are talking points almost daily and The Pat McAfee Show it even has a segment called “Hockey is Awesome.”
Put it all together, and there are more eyes on the puck than ever before with the playoffs starting this weekend.
Business is booming for the NHL, which has bounced back in a big way from the pandemic. Backed by new media rights deals, digital billboards and helmet and jersey ads, and boosted by a crossover of generational stars, ratings are up, attendances are record-setting and revenues are at an all-time high ever – an estimated $6.2 billion USD annually.
“The league is going through a bit of a renaissance,” said Tom Gargiulo, chief marketing officer for Bodyarmor, whose deal to be the league’s sports drink is the latest sponsorship deal inked in recent years.
“This sport is moving into the next stage of its evolution and is on a tremendous trajectory.”
Commissioner Gary Bettman says it starts with the game on the ice, which he believes has “never been more exciting, more competitive, more skilled, and never been faster.” He averages almost six goals per game, and while Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are still producing, Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and Nathan MacKinnon are in their prime with another wave of talent led by the likes of Connor Bedard not far off behind her.
New fans
A better than ever display of star players in the first team sport has helped, and 22.5 million fans have filled arenas to 97 per cent capacity. League officials are quick to credit ESPN and Turner for buying in, and viewership is up seven percent for the most-watched NHL season on cable in 30 years.
“We’ve seen an influx and growth of female fans, diverse fans,” said senior vice president of North American business development Kyle McMann. “They find our product, they fall in love with it, they start watching more.”
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Trying new things, including puck and player tracking and cartoon versions of games to attract younger fans, set the table for this success. Decades after the glowing puck experiment, experts credited the league with attracting and retaining a larger audience in a crowded sports market.
Edmonton Oilers’ Vincent Desharnais (73) and Evander Kane (91) celebrate a goal against the Calgary Flames during third-period NHL Heritage Classic action in Edmonton on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
“They continue to do things that are innovative to engage their audience,” said Lauren Anderson, director of the Warsaw Sports Business Center at the University of Oregon. “The NHL could have fallen back on being quite traditional, and I think they haven’t been afraid to try some things and pivot even when it didn’t work.”
Salvatore Galatioto, who runs a sports finance and consulting firm and is a professor of marketing at Columbia, said the league has done a good job reaching beyond traditional markets, overcoming some of the inevitable drawbacks of being expensive. to play.
“It’s not rocket science: It’s the number of eyeballs watching your product,” he said. “They’ve done a really good job of expanding their fan base, and that’s the key.”
Sell the game
NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer has made it his life’s work since joining in 2016, coming up with new and different ways to present a more than century-old sport, from the 2020 playoff bubble to outdoor and All-Star games after to re-imagine. weekend.
“We’re not here to change the game,” Mayer said. “We’re here to improve what’s out there and get it in front of more people because we know if people watch our game, they’re going to fall in love with it.”
At the heart of the game are the players, and none of this would be possible without a constructive working relationship with the NHL Players Association, which may be at its most collaborative in decades. The league and union found common ground in extending the collective bargaining agreement through 2026, returning to the Olympics and launching another international competition next year involving the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland.
“It’s a key to moving forward,” said union executive director Marty Walsh. “When I first started, I had a conversation with Gary Bettman, and our teams talked about working together and growing revenue related to hockey, growing the sport. … We are all vested in one direction.”
Work to be done
The NHL still has work to do to catch up with the NFL ($18.6 billion USD in revenue in 2022), NBA ($12 billion USD) and Major League Baseball ($11.6 billion USD), but not is unrealistic to think that $ 10 billion USD is achievable. before the end of the decade.
“We intend to get there – how and when will obviously take some time,” said chief business officer Keith Wachtel. “Hockey is looked at a little differently than it was looked at maybe a decade ago. It’s still the ultimate team sport, but we have such great players and personalities.”
One challenge is getting fans who focus on their own team to watch others. There is evidence that is also starting to turn, with Bedard (Chicago) and Artemi Panarin (New York Rangers) shirts having sold the most this season and a good rating even when the Canadian teams are on national television in the United States.
Executive vice president of marketing Brian Jennings, who has been in the NHL for 33 years, said there is no shortage of people “knocking on the door” to get in on the boom.
“Those constellations of stars have aligned,” Jennings said. “When we look at our glide path and say, ‘Hey, how bright is the future?’ It’s very bright.”
