North American Perspectives of New NHL Deals

Towards the end of 2020, National Hockey League (NHL) teams started selling real estate on their helmets for logo placement in an attempt to recover some of what was lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning of this year, the league announced that it had sold naming rights of its new, realigned divisions to different corporate sponsors – another attempt to recoup some lost revenue and/or “make good” to sponsors for empty buildings.

To shed light on the issue, we gauged the perception of North American NHL consumers on these partnerships by asking them to list words describing their first thoughts and feelings towards the new NHL sponsorships.

What may come as a surprise to some, the responses came back more positively than negative overall. Our data shows that more Canadian and American NHL fans were receptive towards both ideas, with up to a 2.5:1 positive over negative ratio. Many North Americans used words such as “Great”, “Cool” and “Awesome” to describe their feelings on the new deals. An interesting opportunity for brands, the NHL and other major leagues to consider for future upcoming seasons.

To learn more about the consumer behavior and perceptions of the NHL and other sports properties, visit www.sponsorpulse.com!