The NHL "won't get to market" the 2002 U.S. Olympic
hockey team "as one of its own," as the marketing and
licensing agreements between the league and USA Hockey
"expire this summer," according to Andy Bernstein of the
SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, who writes that USA Hockey officials
"plan to administer all marketing rights on their own for
the 2002 Games and beyond." USA Hockey Deputy Exec Dir
Brian Petrovek: "Where we can find places to work together,
I'm sure we will, but we'll have nothing formal in that
regard." While Petrovek "disagreed" with NHL sources who
said that the league and USA Hockey "never shared a common
view on how much" USA Hockey promotional rights are worth,
he said that USA Hockey "intends to raise its sponsorship
rates." Bernstein writes with increased prices and "no more
one-stop shopping," sponsors "may now be less likely to tie
the NHL and USA Hockey together" in marketing. But NHLE
Senior VP/Marketing Ed Horne said that the league is
"expecting to gain unprecedented exposure" through the 2002
Olympics. Horne: "I think we'll be very active. Clearly
our owners wouldn't agree to take this step again and the
commissioner wouldn't have pushed this along if we didn't
feel this was something that was an important marketing
opportunity for the league" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/15).
