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NHL's big event strategy is more big events

NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins knows big events. Largely credited for the creation of the annual NFL Kickoff game, he helped steer the focus toward larger scale events.

Since joining the NHL in 2006, he’s done much of the same. Big events are a key part of the league’s overall growth strategy, which has resulted in revenue jumping from roughly $2.2 billion in 2006 to more than $4 billion today.

“We look at the big event strategy as two-prong,” Collins said. “One prong is about creating scale on a national

he Stadium Series joined the mix in 2014.
Photo by: Getty Images
level and making the game bigger in the eyes of our corporate and broadcast partners. It’s also about what these games do locally and really lighting a market up, regardless of size, for about a week.”

The NHL calendar now sports a number of these big events, headlined by the Winter Classic. The success of that game helped spawn additional outdoor games known as the Stadium Series in 2014, as well as a revival of the Heritage Classic, the Canadian counterpart to the Winter Classic. The Winter Classic and Stadium Series have been further bolstered by title sponsor support by Bridgestone and MillerCoors, respectively.

That same approach is now being applied to additional calendar events, such as the draft, the All-Star Game (reintroduced this past season following a hiatus due to a work stoppage and the Winter Olympics), as well as for the NHL’s biggest event — the two-month Stanley Cup playoffs. The league introduced new initiatives to further engage fans with the playoffs this year, including digital campaigns, expanded coverage in locker rooms and on benches, and an expansive playoff bracket challenge akin to March Madness.

Now, in conjunction with the NHLPA, the NHL is perhaps taking on its most ambitious big event yet: the relaunch of the World Cup of Hockey after a 12-year hiatus. The event is set to be played in Toronto in September 2016.

“Our attention is now on the World Cup, and how do we build that into the biggest hockey tournament that anyone has ever seen,” Collins said. “We want to do it in a way that can engage not only Toronto, but Canada, North America and all of Europe.

“From a commercial and fan standpoint, we want to raise the bar really high — our goal is to make it a Super Bowl-meets-the- Olympics-type experience,” he said.

While the league and NHLPA work on what will take place on the ground in Toronto during the tournament — initial plans have discussed ideas such as fan festivals, a house of hockey, concert series and a taste of the World Cup food event — one element is absolutely key to Collins in any of the league’s big events.

“If it’s not authentic, if it’s perceived as being a marketing gimmick, it’s going to be awful,” he said.

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