The NHL is riding the momentum of its new domestic TV agreement with NBC into the '11-12 season. JOHN COLLINS, the league’s COO, recently talked about the league, its brand and its future at our Charlotte studio, and these questions and answers were edited down from our conversation … to 11 words or less.
Q: State of the NHL’s business?
Collins: Big new TV agreements, new European deals, “we’re locked and loaded.”
Q: Offseason highlight was new TV deal with NBC.
Collins: NBC’s selling Olympics, “SNF,” Super Bowl alongside NHL.
Q: Working closer with NBC on sales means …
Collins: NHL goes to “market with a lot more leverage.”
Q: Why do sports rights fees continue to increase?
Collins: Nothing else is live. “Sports is beginning to get fair value.”
Q: So sports has been undervalued?
Collins: Yes. Unlike scripted programming, you “know what you’re getting.”
Q: TV Everywhere?
Collins: How someone watches shouldn’t matter; “rights deals have to catch up.”
Q: How do you define NHL brand to potential partners?
Collins: Great fan base in U.S., but in Canada “a unifying force.”
Q: What did HBO’s “24/7” do for brand?
Collins: “Hockey culture has been so closed … team-oriented.” Series looked inside.
Q: What’s next for Winter Classic-style big-event strategy?
Collins: “The biggest opportunity really is the Stanley Cup playoffs.”
Q: So getting more eyeballs, attention, ad support?
Collins: “I think it could be treated almost like a March Madness.”
Q: Sports business stories you’re watching.
Collins: NBA labor, and what the NFL does next.
Q: NBC Sports Network: How do they build a 24/7 brand?
Collins: “I think they’re going to look at properties” over news/info.
Q: Telling stories around the properties they already have to start?
Collins: “That’s what they’ve done so well with the Olympics” and others.
Q: Are you on Twitter?
Collins: “I’m not, but I am a follower.” Use it for research.
Q: iPad?
Collins: “From Day One. It’s great.”
Q: Has it changed your media consumption?
Collins: It’s “the all-media consumption anywhere and everywhere kind of device.”
Q: Advice for young people getting into sports business?
Collins: If you want to get in … “really understand the business.”
Q: Difference between working for a league and for a team?
Collins: “League you root for ratings … team you root for wins.”
