Scarborough Sports Marketing Scores Goal With National Hockey League; Company Data Offers New Insights on NHL Fans

Business Wire, Jan 22, 2001

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 22, 2001

Scarborough Sports Marketing, the leader in local sports marketing information, today announced an agreement with the National Hockey League (NHL(R)) to provide sports measurement data and consumer information.

The NHL(R) will now have access to Scarborough Sports Marketing's database, which will be used to strengthen marketing and sales efforts. Scarborough's sports measurements focus on four key areas: fan avidity; multimedia measures including sports viewing and listening; corporate sponsorship information including fans' shopping and product/service usage; and leisure time activities.

"The NHL remains committed to providing our business partners with the market research to best reach their target consumers," said Edward Horne, president, NHL Enterprises. "Scarborough Sports Marketing provides an additional resource for our partners to maximize the NHL as a major marketing partner."

"We are pleased to welcome the National Hockey League to our growing roster of sports clients," said Howard Goldberg, vice president, Scarborough Sports Marketing. "As a league, they will now have the advantage of using Scarborough Sports Marketing data to help maintain their increased corporate sponsorship growth, attract new advertisers, increase ticket sales, and enhance merchandising opportunities. The NHL's recognition of the utility of our product is a testament to the growth of sports marketing. The NHL joins the NBA and the NFL as the third major professional sports league to recognize the value of our services. We look forward to a strong business relationship for years to come."

NHL Fan Profile

Among the key demographic and consumer data provided by Scarborough Sports Marketing is an affluent profile of an average NHL fan. Over two-thirds (67 percent) of avid NHL fans tend to be male and 44 percent are between the ages 18-34. Over half (54 percent) are married, and half have a household income of $50,000 or above. In addition, almost 60 percent have some college education. Avid NHL fans are web savvy with over 60 percent accessing the web; 30 percent check sports scores regularly online and 41 percent have purchased clothing with NHL logos online in the past 12 months.

About Scarborough Sports Marketing

Scarborough Sports Marketing measures local and national consumer and lifestyle information by interviewing over 200,000 adults (ages 18+) in 75 top U.S. markets including all professional sports markets. Scarborough delivers twice-yearly updates of its local market reports to a diverse client base, spanning all major media, advertisers and their agencies. Scarborough is currently working with hundreds of broadcasters, media companies, sports leagues and teams bringing local marketing information to the sports industry. Scarborough Sports Marketing is a division of Scarborough Research, a partnership of The Arbitron Company and VNU Marketing Information.

NHL is a registered trademark of the National Hockey League. All trade names are the property of their respective owners.

Source: Release 1Scarborough Sports Marketing (February 1999-March 2000)

This press release is available on KCSA Worldwide Web site at www.kcsa.com.