While the NHL and its players association continue their cold war on the labor front — no substantive discussions have taken place since Oct. 1 — the two sides have actually been working side-by-side securing deals for the World Cup of Hockey.
 |
| Ticket sales brisk at Canadian sites, expect a bump in U.S. from All-Star Game. |
The international tournament is a joint venture between the league and the NHLPA, and will feature the top NHL players representing their respective home countries. Held in both Europe and North America, the two-week tournament will culminate with a championship game in Toronto on Sept. 14, a day before the NHL's collective-bargaining agreement expires.
Recently signing on as sponsors are MasterCard, MBNA, three Canadian companies, Bauer/Nike Hockey and PepsiCo, which will attach the Pepsi, Tropicana, Gatorade and Frito-Lay brands to the event.
Pepsi archrival Coca-Cola is an NHL sponsor, but the World Cup makes strange bedfellows indeed.
"When we go into the market we start with existing partners," said Ken Yaffe, group vice president of NHL International. "Some could make the commitment, some were going to stay focused on their core activity with the league."
He said most of the sponsorship deals are valued in the six figures, and that Bauer/Nike's is worth more than a half-million dollars, including licensing and value-in-kind components. The company, the chief competitor of the NHL's primary licensee The Hockey Co., will be the exclusive apparel and uniform licensee for the World Cup.
Ticket sales have been brisk, as the two Canadian host sites, the Bell Centre in Montreal and the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, have sold more than 80 percent of their tickets. The one U.S. site, the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., has sold about half its tickets for the four games to be played there.
Yaffe said he expects sales to pick up following the Feb. 8 NHL All-Star Game in St. Paul, as the World Cup will be heavily promoted during all-star-related festivities.
Four cities in Europe also will host preliminary-round games, and the Sweden-Finland match in Helsinki sold out the day it went on sale.
Print ads have been running in the host markets as well as in several national publications such as The Hockey News.
The World Cup of Hockey has been staged only once before, in 1996, and was won by the United States. It turned a profit of about $10 million and was shown on U.S. television on Fox Sports Net and FX.
This time, ESPN and ESPN2 will televise 16 of the 19 games, while the CBC will show all 19 in Canada. Both U.S. and Canadian television rights commanded a rights fee from the respective broadcasters.
Yaffe would not discuss the financial details but said both ticket and commercial revenues for the next World Cup will be higher than in 1996.With the distinct possibility that the World Cup will be the only NHL-quality hockey to be played next fall, the tournament promises to be marked by both intrigue and distraction.
"I think obviously it creates an unusual situation because you have the specter of an owners' lockout," said NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin. "But at the end of the day, it's a best-on-best tournament, and hopefully people will be able to focus on the hockey."
