Geico is "close to completing a renewal of its NHL sponsorship for an additional three years," according to Terry Lefton in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Geico has been a league sponsor "since the 2010 Winter Classic in Boston and has inserted its caveman spokescharacters into NHL-themed advertising." The deal "includes digital inventory on NHL.com and TV units on NBC and Versus/NBC Sports Network." Geico also "supports the league's jewel events like the Winter Classic, and ties in locally with sponsorship/media deals across 20 NHL teams." Horizon Media's Scout Sports & Entertainment "negotiated the league deal." Sources indicated that "renewals for incumbent NHL sponsors Bell Canada, Discover, McDonald's, Verizon and Visa are also close" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 10/17 issue). During the '10-11 regular season, Geico spent $2.48M across NBC and Versus, which ranked it No. 2 among all NHL TV ad spenders in the U.S., according to data from Nielsen Media. Only Verizon ($2.58M) spent more during that period. During the '09-10 season, Geico ranked No. 6 with an ad spend of $843,863 (THE DAILY).
