Amp'ed Up: Pepsi Energy Drink To Title Sponsor Outdoor NHL Game

By Terry Lefton, Editor-At-Large

Amp To Title Sponsor Outdoor NHL Game On New Year's Day

Pepsi's Amp energy drink will title sponsor the outdoor NHL game scheduled for New Year's Day at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium. What's being called the Amp NHL Winter Classic will feature the Sabres and Penguins and will be telecast by NBC. The January 1 date means the NHL will be competing for eyeballs against that day's traditional lineup of powerful college bowl games. Pepsi, an NHL league sponsor, paid an incremental fee for the title sponsorship. That buy was estimated to be in the low seven figures. The game is the first of a series of new events planned by the league designed to add more saleable assets and to drum up both fan and sponsor interest. The game also will be televised across Canada by CBC. "We are selling it as more than just a Buffalo event," said NHL Exec VP/Business & Media John Collins. "We have one of our brightest stars playing in Sidney Crosby and on one of the biggest HUT [homes using television] days of the years. We [the NHL] should be in marketers' conversations." Other NHL sponsors supporting the game include Verizon Wireless, Reebok, Dodge and Anheuser-Busch. The league's first outdoor game was at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium in November '03, when 57,167 fans saw Montreal play Edmonton.

ADDING SOME MUSCLE: For Pepsi, it's the first in a series of moves designed to give Amp more marketing muscle. Not only will Amp be the primary Pepsi beverage associated with its NHL sponsorship, Amp also is expected to be the brand tied to NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt Jr. once that long-awaited deal is unveiled this week.