The NHL has repositioned its int'l business operations
by consolidating its int'l broadcasting, marketing,
corporate sponsorship, promotions and licensing under NHL
Int'l. NHL VP/Int'l Business & Fan Development Ken Yaffe
will assume the title of NHL Int'l Group VP & Managing Dir
and direct all int'l business activities from the NHL's N.Y.
headquarters. The moves come as the NHL has recently
completed an agency rep agreement with IMG to package and
sell corporate sponsorship programs throughout the Nordic
countries. The league has also recently completed a
representation agreement with Plus Licens of Stockholm, an
EM.TV company, to assist the NHL in consumer products,
licensing and retail activities in the Nordic countries, as
well as Russia, the Baltics, Poland, the Czech Republic and
Slovakia (NHL). The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Andy Bernstein
writes that the NHL closed its Zurich office while "putting
together an agency network aimed at taking a regional
approach to the worldwide marketing of the league." Sources
said that the NHL generates $10-15M per year in revenue from
"outside North America," mostly from TV syndication to the
"major hockey-playing countries." Yaffe, on the
consolidation: "We believe we've got to have the
representation we need in the key territories on a year-
round basis. With four or five people in Zurich, it was
difficult to focus on a single country." Bernstein notes
that the NHL sees int'l sponsorship as "fertile ground."
Except for worldwide deals with IBM and Coca-Cola and a "few
small sponsorships" in Sweden, the league "has no overseas
sponsorships" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/10 issue).
