Power Play: NHL Nets Broadcast Partners for Overseas Promos

Brandweek, Dec 11, 2000 by Hilary Cassidy

Looking to drive viewership and encourage global interest in its All-Star Game, the National Hockey League will partner with six of its international broadcast rightsholders for its first simultaneous, multi-market promotion with TV support.

The eight-country "NHL Million Dollar Challenge" kicks off this month and boasts broadcast partners ESPN International, Canal +, Sport 1, DSF/Premiere Sports World, Channel 5 UK and Sports-i. Promotional activity takes place in the well-established NHL markets of Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, plus Germany, the U.K., Japan and South Africa.

Program executions, which vary by country, will be supported with on-air promos during game and non-game broadcasts as well as print ads. Fans will be directed to the local broadcaster's Web site to participate in NHL trivia contests and enter a sweeps to win a trip for two to the Feb. 4 All-Star Game in Denver, where the best of North America will vie against rivals from overseas. Broadcasters' sites also will include links to NHL.com's fan balloting page and additional NHL-related content.

Once in Denver, winners will compete in a skills competition sponsored by The Hockey Co. (parent of gearmakers CCM,Jofa and Koho). The victor gets a chance to earn $1 million by taking a shot on goal during the World Team's practice on Feb. 3.

The Challenge is among the first promos to follow a major reshuffle last summer where the NHL consolidated its overseas business divisions under a single unit, NHL International. The league generates a significant amount of global interest, with 32% of its players and 30% of its fans coming from outside North America.

"This promotion is the best example as to why we wanted to integrate our international functions," said Ken Yaffe, the unit's group vp and managing director. "We can build a platform [like this] that helps us drive viewership and create sponsorable inventory across these eight markets--but ultimately it could be 12 or 15 or more markets."

While the program this year is supported by country-specific sponsors, headlined by Electronic Arts across Europe, Yaffe noted that the league hopes to sign a single sponsor with international reach for a similar multi-country effort next year.

Team Marketing Report Inc., publisher of the namesake monthly newsletter and the Sports Sponsor FactBook, goes live this week with a new online database, tmrXchange.com, to help marry buyers and sellers of sports sponsorships. Sellers post available opportunities, including specs on price and demos reached. Buyers can surf the site to find proposals and register preferred criteria, and receive e-mail alerts when appropriate new listings are posted.

"Buyers get bombarded by sellers, and sellers have trouble generating meaningful new leads," said Stephen Master, vp-business development for tmrXchange. "This is an efficient way to sort through the options."

The service, which may face an uphill climb to grab business away from traditional agents in a world of face-to-face deals, claims several hundred sponsorship opportunities from the likes of the Chicago Bears, L.A. Clippers, Houston Astros, U.S. Cheerleading Championships and U.S. Snowboarding Championships. For now, there's no fee to post a listing, though sellers pay a percentage of any deal to TMR; buyers may use the site free of charge.

Extra Innings: Advertisers on board for the Super Bowl edition of NFL Insider include Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Merrill Lynch, Chase, TD Waterhouse, Zales, Arthur Andersen, Ford, General Motors, Just for Men, HBO and ESPN ...Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Assante acquired the basketball athlete representation practice of Dan Fegan ... Mark Bingham,svp-marketing and broadcasting for the New York Mets, was named president at Octagon Marketing USA, a division of Interpublic. He will be based in Stamford, Conn.