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Rebooting World Cup has advantages for NHL

One story worth following is the NHL bringing back a World Cup of Hockey, which follows the big event strategy that the league has successfully executed over the last several years. While details are scarce, think about a multiteam tournament in September 2016, in all likelihood Toronto.

Putting on a 16- or 17-game tournament in one city over a couple of weeks takes a lot of league resources, and certainly comes with big risks. But I like its potential, and this concept is more appealing than previous World Cup events in 1996 and 2004 that were played in venues around the world.

Here’s why it’s compelling: Unlike the Olympics, this would be an NHL/NHLPA-organized event, with the rare opportunity to remake a global tournament. The ability to sell all the assets — media, digital, sponsorship, tickets, etc. — and present the event during the time they see fit is exciting for any property, even with all the risk.

Bettman is generally eager to engage and counter argue, he has command of the facts, and will be aggressive and challenge the interviewer. He welcomes the chance to mix it up.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
During recent appearances by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and COO John Collins, it’s obvious this is getting a great deal of their attention. Bettman summed up the appeal succinctly: “We control it. We control the media, the presentation and it’s out of season.” All of those are underlying frustrations that the league has with its participation in the Olympics.

In a recent interview in Toronto, Bettman was asked why global sponsors pay hundreds of millions of dollars to be associated with the Olympics, yet the NHL seems nonplussed by it. “They [sponsors] get to market and promote their association with the Games,” he said. “We have to fight to get access to footage of our players playing in the Olympics. At one time, we even had to fight to get access to a press availability I was having. They’ve loosened it up a little bit, but face it, if you’re a TOP sponsor, you get to market and promote your brand. We don’t.”

With that said, you can see why the league is bullish about re-creating the World Cup, which sources believe has the ability to generate more than $100 million in revenue for the league and players, and it’s revenue that sits outside of the league’s definition of Hockey Related Revenue, meaning the 50/50 joint venture would be split.

I don’t believe it’s an “either/or” on having a World Cup or whether the NHL participates in the Olympics. But there is little appeal of playing in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018 and likely either Almaty, Kazakhstan, or Beijing in 2022. Daly, asked in Toronto about the league’s pending decision to play in 2018, said, “There are some things we still need to learn, such as the mindset of the South Korean Organizing Committee and where it puts hockey in its priorities.”

With a World Cup of Hockey, there would be no question where the organizers put hockey among their priorities.

> BETTMAN METHOD: I have always enjoyed watching Bettman in an interview session. He’s generally eager to engage and counter argue, he has command of the facts, and will be aggressive and challenge the interviewer. He welcomes the chance to mix it up, which is what most interviewers welcome. You see his legal background in full view.

Watching him interviewed last week by TSN’s talented NHL commentator Gord Miller at the PrimeTime Sports Management Conference in Toronto, I also realized how staunchly traditional Bettman’s positions are on key business issues. He’s been criticized over the years by traditionalists — especially in Canada — for trying to do too much to change the game, but his answers on both sweater advertisements and loosening regulation on gaming show positions rooted in history. Take a look.

On jersey ads: “I don’t love the trend. It’s not something we want to run off and do. We are not actively pursuing it because I think we have the best sweaters in all of sports. It isn’t a trend that I think is terrific for people to embrace. It may become an inevitable fact of life, but we will be dragged into it, not initiating it.”

His viewpoint on gaming also struck me, whether it’s a convenient sound bite or not. “Is sports a vehicle representing heroes and competition or is it about betting the spread?” he asked. He also stated how betting changes the nature of sports, fearing arenas could turn into some of the downtrodden racetracks that have suffered during horse racing’s downturn.

“This could potentially impact the environment in a stadium or arena. Does it become like the racetrack?” We have all seen that challenged venue environment — who would want that? He then added, “If kids are more concerned about the spread than the outcome of the game, I’m not sure that’s good for sports.”

Finally, when asked about the new age of accountability in sports in the post-Ray Rice era, he was firm: “People in all walks of life are being held accountable more than ever before. There is more attention, with an ability to constantly view people’s conduct. So, no matter what you do for a living, you’re becoming more accountable. And by the way, that’s not a bad thing.”

> THE NEW KID IN TOWN: New Maple Leafs assistant GM Kyle Dubas was one of the most popular people at the PrimeTime Sports Management Conference. The 28-year-old, the new face of analytics in the NHL, was hired by the Leafs in July after being a GM in the Ontario Hockey League. Well-spoken and obviously intelligent, Dubas was mobbed by media and attendees after he spoke on a session on analytics.

During the session, he was asked about the background of people he looks to hire and whether they need to have experience in analytics. “We hired three people late in the summer,” he said. “They were interested in hockey, one had written about hockey. But their backgrounds were not in hockey. We hired them and while their background may hurt them in scouting and watching the game, it has helped challenge me and my own biases. Their backgrounds were in math and engineering. I’ve learned a lot of the way they view things and it’s forced me to question many of the things that I’ve thought about hockey for a long time.”

> FROM THE AHL: American Hockey League President and CEO David Andrews said the league is close to generating $1 million a year in revenue from its digital platforms. “A lot of our revenue is coming from streaming of games, advertising on the Web, and our merchandise efforts, that we handle ourselves,” he said.

In a discussion on player-side analytics, Andrews noted that of the league’s staff of 14, it has three full-time people working on business analytics. Interestingly, none are working on hockey analytics, but three are mining data on the business side for team sharing and sales staff training.

> ONE EXECUTIVE’S LESSON ON TWITTER: Don’t look for Andrews on Twitter. He suspended himself from it more than a year ago. He’s a follower, but not a participant, and it’s all because he let his emotions get the better of him one night in calling out a broadcaster and a perceived bias over partnerships with major networks.
“I had a breakdown one night when I was watching a game and I was not pleased with the coverage AHL players were getting during the game,” he admitted. “All of their backgrounds were being mentioned, expect for the fact that they came up through and played in the AHL! Even though they just got called up, it wasn’t mentioned. And for some reason I tweeted it out, ‘Can they possibly be doing this on purpose on NBC?’

“Then, all of a sudden, I noticed it was being retweeted thousands of times. I couldn’t stop it. I mean, pretty much everyone who read it thought it was cool, except NBC. So after that, I realized I am much better off just watching.”
Asked how long his self-imposed suspension will be, Andrews said quickly, “It’s permanent.”

Abraham D. Madkour can be reached at amadkour@sportsbusinessjournal.com.

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