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Leagues and Governing Bodies

NHL, union link World Cup, European appeal

The NHL and NHL Players’ Association are looking at next year’s return of the World Cup of Hockey as a jumping-off point for creating a stronger foothold in Europe.

The league, which has tried to engage European fans with one-off games and exhibitions in those overseas countries in recent years, sees the relaunch of the tournament as part of a broader vision to have the NHL and NHLPA be a bigger player on the international stage.

NHL teams played preseason exhibition games against European clubs between 2007 and 2011.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES (2)
“There’s always been a sense throughout the league that there was a real opportunity for the NHL to be a global brand and a global business,” said NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins. “In North America, we’ve created this unified strategy, but our analysis is that we’ve had a lot of starts and stops over the years in Europe. I think the World Cup is the first big indicator of that new vision.”

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the league staged a number of exhibition games in

European venues. From 2007 to 2011, the NHL Premiere event was held, featuring a series of preseason exhibition games versus various European clubs, followed by season-opening NHL games abroad.

Now, with the World Cup, the NHL and NHLPA are setting the bar even higher. Scheduled for September 2016 in Toronto, the two sides

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are projecting more than $120 million in revenue from the event, with the profits and expenses being split between the two parties. That sum would represent nearly double the revenue of the previous World Cup, held in 2004, as well as increased net income. Gate receipts and media contracts would likely make up about 85 percent of the revenue, with sponsorships, merchandise and other streams making up the remaining percentage.

The league and players union this week were expected to announce further details regarding the broadcast contracts for the event. Published reports have said ESPN has won the U.S. broadcast rights to the event while Rogers has secured the Canadian rights. The league declined to comment on those reports.

Current plans call for the World Cup to be held every four years. To the extent the event provides an increased European platform for the league, the 2020 tournament could be held in Europe, either in a single location or split between two cities. There also will be a qualification tournament for that event held in September 2019 that would allow other European nations not in the 2016 field to participate in 2020.

For the 2016 tournament, participating teams will be from Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic, along with Canada, Russia and the United States. The eight-team field additionally will have a team made up of a “best of the rest” of Europe, along with a team of under-23 North American players.

By working with international hockey federations and by opening the league up to more events outside of North America, there is the hope that these tournaments could attract more European and global sponsors.

The NHL and NHLPA additionally are discussing a Ryder Cup-type tournament that would showcase a best-on-best event and be held in an off-World Cup year, such as 2018. The event would aim to showcase a swath of players in a short series, such as the 25 best North American players versus the 25 best European players. This event could be held in a lone city, or across multiple venues.

On the team side, the NHL and NHLPA are working together to try to restart club exhibitions in Europe, as well as holding training camps in European cities. They also will consider holding future regular-season games in Europe during the season, not just at the start of a year.

In the past, such as with the NHL Premiere event, the feeling within the league was that by starting the season abroad as well as in North America at the same time, it split league resources and did not allow for the big-event treatment that perhaps those games could have had. With this refocus, the league is hoping to provide an atmosphere around the games akin to what can now be seen in the league’s midseason Stadium Series matchups.

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