The NHL is one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America. Hockey is known for having one of the greatest trophies in sports, the Stanley Cup, and has passionate fans. However, hockey is less publicized compared to basketball, football, and baseball. One reason for this could be that hockey has not marketed itself as effectively as the other major North American sports.
The NHL has a cable deal with NBC Sports Group worth $200 million per year for the rights to 100 regular season games and playoffs in the U.S. The league also has a deal with Rogers Communications, which pays about $430 million for television rights in Canada.
While these deals seemed successful, they are much smaller than the deals other major sports leagues have. For example, the NFL’s television deal brings in about $7 billion per year. The NFL also signed a two-year, $130 million deal with Amazon to stream eleven Thursday Night Football games on Amazon Prime Video.
The MLB earns nearly $700 million per year from its deal with ESPN and another $800 million through its agreements with Fox and TBS to air postseason baseball and the All-Star game.
The NBA recently signed a deal with ESPN and TNT that brings in $2.4 billion per year for broadcasting NBA games. The NHL has the smallest television deal by far and doesn’t have any streaming deals like the NFL.
The NHL is also falling behind in the promotional battle on social media. Although the league has made efforts to expand its social media presence, its policy prevents media outlets from posting videos of live in-game action.
Team accounts have tried using short GIFs to get around the rules, but these short clips are not enough to encourage people to share them widely.
Unlike the NBA, where a big dunk goes viral instantly, the NHL doesn’t allow incredible goals to go viral because fans can’t share the content in real-time. They must wait until after the game, and by then, the excitement around the play has faded.
The NHL also struggles with marketing its superstars. In the NBA, each player has a unique personality that shows through in their play, interviews, or social media. NFL stars are known for their strong personalities, smack talk, and personal brands, often creating “beefs” on social media that get attention.
Baseball, while less so, also promotes its stars through highlights on ESPN and by allowing celebrations like bat flips and loud reactions after great plays. The NHL barely gets coverage on ESPN and doesn’t even have full-time beat writers for each team.
The culture of the NHL is very tradition-based, where players take pride in working hard without drawing attention to themselves. This means large personalities rarely shine through because the game emphasizes teamwork over individual recognition.
For example, if a player shows off after scoring a goal, like P.K. Subban allegedly did with the Canadiens, they could be seen as a problem and moved out.
The NHL needs to become more marketable to young Americans if it wants to grow into a business that can compete with the other major North American sports leagues. While hockey is popular in Canada and some northeastern parts of the U.S., the rest of the country doesn’t show the same level of interest.
Hockey is not on many networks outside of NBC Sports and local team networks, it doesn’t promote its superstars because of its cultural norms, and its strict social media rules prevent viral moments.
These factors contribute to the NHL not growing at the same pace as the other major leagues. The league needs to improve its marketing efforts to attract younger fans and stay competitive.
