Yale, Harvard Prepare To Take Their Hockey Rivalry To Madison Square Garden

Defending NCAA men's hockey champion Yale faces Harvard on Saturday night in an unusual location for a neutral-site game: MSG. The Leverage Agency, N.Y., which is also the Ivy League's sponsorship agency of record, is owning, operating and promoting the game. "This has taken two to three years to put together," said Leverage Founder & CEO Ben Sturner. "Our goal is to make this somewhere near as significant as The Game," said Sturner, referring to the 131 times that Harvard and Yale have met on the football field. On the ice, there have been 238 Yale-Harvard contests in eight different cities. Around 14,000 tickets for Saturday's game have been sold as of Friday morning. Turkish Airlines is the lead sponsor for the MSG game and gets ads on NBCSN, along with integration into the broadcast; three dasher boards; LED signage; tickets; and hospitality. Shoe maker JP Crickets is also sponsoring in conjunction with its new hybrid Ivy League sponsorship/licensing deal, under which the conference's "Official Dress Casual Footwear" is marketing shoes branded with indicia from the member schools. The company will have dasher boards. The Wall Street Journal is sponsoring pre- and postgame parties. Chia Bars and taxi app Uber are also sponsors.