This fall’s World Cup of Hockey could mark the NHL’s debut of virtual advertising technology on an international basis, given the event’s global broadcast plans.
Referred to in-house as “digitally enhanced dasherboards,” the technology has been tested internally by the league in a number of NHL and AHL arenas the last two seasons. Keith Wachtel, the league’s executive vice president of global partnerships, said the league is on track to use it for the first time on a live broadcast during the Sept. 17-Oct. 1 tournament.
The technology is provided by European company Supponor and is typically seen during European soccer matches. In this case, it would allow the NHL to create four separate board advertisements for the different broadcast feeds lined up for the World Cup tournament: one for the English-speaking U.S. audience, one for the English-speaking Canadian audience, one for the French-speaking Canadian audience, and one for use by European and other international broadcasters.
TV rights for the event are held by ESPN (United States), Sportsnet (Canada-English), TVA Sports (Canada-French) and ESPN International, which has the exclusive rights in more than 20 countries served by its Pacific Rim and Latin North networks.
Additional international media rights deals are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Those overseas viewers, whether served by ESPN International or another media provider, would receive the same digital dasherboard ad treatment.
Wachtel said the technology could allow the league to tailor a particular sponsor’s message for individual viewing markets, or provide up to four partners with regional-specific deals. He cautioned that the league had not yet tested the technology at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto and that certain details still need to be addressed. However, since the venue will host the entire tournament — a minimum of 16 games — having control over the arena for an extended period of time would likely help implementation, Wachtel said.
No sponsors have yet been signed for the event, but the tournament is expected to have eight to 10 top-tier partners, with a number of regional-specific ones as well, akin to FIFA’s World Cup tournaments. Wachtel declined to comment on what sort of revenue these deals would generate for the NHL and NHL Players’ Association, which will evenly split all revenue and expenses for the event, but he said the dollars would be in line with earlier projections.
The NHL and NHLPA have forecast that the event could bring in more than $120 million in revenue as a whole, according to sources familiar with the plans.
