NEW YORK (AP) – Arenas are packed, the NHL is on TV screens across North America, highlight reel goals are talked about almost daily, and “The Pat McAfee Show” even has a segment called “Hockey Is It?” be. wonderful. “
Piecing it all together, there's more eyes on the Pack than ever before as the playoffs begin this weekend.
Business is booming for the NHL, which has largely bounced back from the pandemic. Boosted by new media rights deals, digital dasher boards, helmet and jersey advertising, and fueled by cross-generational star overlap, ratings soar, attendance sets records, and revenue hits all-time highs and is estimated at $6.2 billion annually.
“The league is having a bit of a renaissance,” said Tom Gargiulo, chief marketing officer at BodyArmor. His sports drink deal is the latest sponsorship deal signed in recent years. “The sport is moving into the next phase of its evolution and is on a great trajectory.”
Commissioner Gary Bettman said it starts with the game on the ice, which he believes is “more exciting than ever, more competitive, more skilled and faster than ever.” They're averaging nearly six goals per game, and while Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are still putting up volume, Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, and Nathan MacKinnon are in their primes, and Connor Bedard and co. The new wave of talent being led is not far behind.
new fan
22.5 million fans filled the arena at 97% capacity as the star players showed they were better than before in a team-first sport. League officials quickly acknowledged ESPN and Turner's buy-in, with ratings up 7% for the most-watched NHL season on cable in 30 years.
“We're seeing an influx and increase in female fans and diverse fans,” said Kyle McMann, senior vice president of North American business development. “They discover our product, get hooked on it, and start watching more.”
It set the stage for this success by trying new things, such as puck and player tracking and a cartoon version of the game, to attract younger fans. Decades after experimenting with glowing pucks, experts credit the league with attracting and retaining larger audiences in a crowded sports market.
“They continue to do innovative things that keep the audience engaged,” said Lauren Anderson, director of the Warsaw Sports Business Center at the University of Oregon. “I think the NHL could have gone back to something pretty traditional and they weren't afraid to try some things and pivot, even if it didn't work out.”
Salvatore Galatioto, who runs a sports finance and advisory firm and is a marketing professor at Columbia University, said leagues do a good job of going beyond traditional markets, but some of the unavoidable drawbacks include high costs of play. He said he had overcome it.
“This is not rocket science. It's the number of eyes looking at the product,” he said. “They're doing a really good job of growing their fan base, and that's the key.”
game sales
Since joining the company in 2016, NHL Chief Content Officer Steve Meyer has announced new and different ways to showcase the more than century-old sport, from the 2020 playoff bubble to outdoor games to a reimagined All-Star. I have made it my life's work to come up with ideas. weekend.
“We're not here to change things,” Meyer said. “We're here to enhance what's out there and get it seen by more people, because we know that if people see our game, they'll fall in love with it. It’s from.”
The players are at the heart of the game, and none of this would be possible without a constructive working relationship with the NHL Players Association, which is likely at its most collaborative stage in decades. The league and the union reached an agreement to extend the collective bargaining agreement until 2026, return to the Olympics and start another international tournament next year involving the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland.
“This is the key to moving forward,” said Marty Walsh, the union's executive director. “When I first started, I had a conversation with Gary Bettman and our team talked about working together to increase hockey-related revenue and grow the sport. It is determined by the direction.”
what must be done
The NHL still has work to do to catch up with the NFL ($18.6 billion in 2022 revenue), NBA ($10.6 billion) and Major League Baseball ($11.6 billion), but it will hit $10 billion by the end of the year. It's not unrealistic to think it can be done. 10 years.
“We're going to get there, but when and how, obviously it's going to take time,” Chief Executive Keith Wachtel said. “The way we look at hockey is probably a little different than it was 10 years ago. It's still the ultimate team sport, but we have great players and personalities.”
One of the challenges is getting fans who pay attention to their team to also watch other teams. Trends are starting to change, as Bedard (Chicago) and Artemi Panarin (New York Rangers) jerseys are the best-selling this season, and Canadian teams still have high viewership when shown on U.S. national television. There is also evidence that.
Brian Jennings, the NHL's vice president of marketing who has been with the NHL for 33 years, said there's no shortage of people “knocking on the door” trying to capitalize on the boom.
“The constellations of these stars are aligned,” says Jennings, “when we look at the glide path and say, 'Hey, how bright is the future?'” It's really bright, isn't it? ”
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Steven Wyno, Associated Press
