Tonight marks the start of the NHL's 79th regular season
with the new-look Avalanche hosting the Red Wings. The league is
also launching a new marketing theme -- "NHL Hockey -- The
Coolest Game on Earth." The campaign will be featured on a local
and national level, with two 30-second ad spots being developed
by NHL Productions. The theme will be integrated into a fall
retail promotional activity across North America, including
point-of-purchase, outdoor billboards, gifts with purchase and
print, radio and TV ads. NHL's VP/Corporate Communications
Bernadette Mansur: "The Coolest Game on Earth combines the
efforts of the League, its member clubs and marketing partners."
National and local broadcast rightsholders will also use the
theme, which also will be played up via in-arena spots (NHL).
WHO SAYS THE NHL DOESN'T GET COVERAGE? USA TODAY ran a
special 12-page NHL preview section this morning, the first
devoted to the league. Features include a Q&A with Commissioner
Gary Bettman, a piece on "one year after the lockout," team-by-
team analysis, and a look at the new rules. Full page ads
include Breathe Right with Peter Bondra, DirectTV, a two page
spread by Chrysler and The New Dodge, with "The Coolest Game on
Earth" tag, ITT Sheraton, and a Nike back-pager with Sergei
Fedorov (USA TODAY, 10/6). NEWS & NOTES: In Toronto, Gare
Joyce writes the "best news here is labor tranquillity, a league
unobstructed by strike or lockout. Scribblers and fans, get out
of that funk you're in" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 10/6). FINANCIAL
POST columnist Jamie Wayne writes that NHL players in the
Olympics and the new bi-annual World Cup still will not help the
game "take off" in the U.S. Wayne: "This is about the NHL trying
for the umpteenth time to make it big in the U.S." (FINANCIAL
POST, 10/5). Bettman told SportChannel's Stan Fischler that
Hartford, Winnipeg and Quebec are "three WHA teams" that "would
probably not be on an expansion list and are not major league
markets. Hartford is in doubt ... and we hope it works" (Jim
Baker, BOSTON HERALD, 10/6). Japan plans to host the NHL's
opening games next year as part of a promo for the '98 Games
(KYODO NEWS, 10/4).
