The NHL today announced it has signed Canada-based QSR Tim Hortons as the "title sponsor in Canada for its 2012 All-Star weekend, the first such title sponsor for the NHL and believed to be the first among the Big Four sports," according to Fred Dreier of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. The deal is "unique in that, in Canada only, it will make the game the Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Game." The league’s Canadian broadcast partners for the event, CBC and RDS, "will refer to the game as the 'Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Game.'" NBC "will not refer to the title sponsor as the deal did not include any U.S. rights." NHL officials "declined to discuss the value of the sponsorship, though sources familiar with the league valued it in the low seven figures." NHL Senior VP/Integrated Sales Keith Wachtel said that the title sponsorship "affirms the league’s strategy of expanding the All-Star Game into a four-day event." NHL VP/Partnership Marketing Kyle McMann said that Tim Hortons’ "ability to drive tune-in through its network of stores made the restaurateur a perfect partner for the game." Tim Hortons is Canada’s "largest restaurant chain with more than 3,200 locations and a 45 percent market share in the fast-food category." McMann said that Tim Hortons "will receive center-ice branding, dasherboard and other in-arena signage, and will be identified in all marks in Canada." Dreier notes the QSR is "also title sponsor of the elimination shootout contest in the All-Star skills competition." Tim Hortons Senior Dir for Regional Marketing & National Promotions Robert Forbes said that the sponsorship package includes the "media buy on CBC, but not on RDS." He added that the company "is assessing media opportunities with the latter broadcaster" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 10/31 issue).
