The NHL is beginning its second season of producing a European Game of the Week, with the Sabres-Lightning games being played this weekend in Stockholm. Prior to the league launching the weekly endeavor, there were no games consistently scheduled to air in primetime in the continent during the weekend. Games that begin in the early afternoon in the U.S. air at 6:00, 7:00 or 8:00pm in Europe. NHL Group VP/Int'l Strategy Jaka Lednik joined the NHL in '17 and spearheaded the development of the European Game of the Week. He leveraged the league's relationships with its international broadcast partners to deliver primetime weekend games to 24 countries across the continent. He said, "We put on a schedule that has games consistently on Saturdays throughout the season and in the second half of the season on Sundays. We let our broadcasters pick off that menu -- which game they would like as their Game of the Week -- and we support that programming from our end with social support, online support in terms of promotion for those games."
GROWING RELATIONSHIP: Lednik said the relationship with the NHL's international broadcasters has gone really well. "They recognize that we are trying to do something specifically for Europe," he said. "Not only does that mean they have games on, but they see we are committed to Europe and looking to make viewing our games as easy as possible." Because of this program, Lednik has had a more consistent dialogue with the league's European partners, from working with them to pick the right games and looking for feedback on how to improve the program. Lednik: "We've developed an almost regular cadence of communication with our broadcasters, bringing us closer together." Networks this season are airing segments before, during and after games featuring local hockey analysts in the hope that creates a better experience for fans. Additionally, more broadcasters have been added that call the games in their native languages.
TURNING TO SOCIAL MEDIA: The NHL this year is trying to make more of an effort on social media by bringing in specialists to help capture more of the European audience. Lednik said, "We try to pick on what we think is the biggest opportunity and try to fill that in terms of engaging fans, driving viewership and overall capturing more eyeballs. We've started on that journey but I think there are a lot of things that we can do to really grow our fan base. Other leagues have had a bit of a head start on us, based on their history. I am really excited we are progressing quickly on that journey with what makes sense for our fanbase and the league."
