Lagardère Sports has won the rights to sell sponsorships in Europe for this fall’s World Cup of Hockey.
With the deal, Lagardère will be able to sell the new digital dasherboard advertisements planned for the European broadcast of the tournament. The agency also gains the right to sell on-ice and other in-arena spaces for the four scheduled exhibitions before the tournament’s official start. Those four games will be held in the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden.
The tournament, to be played Sept. 17-Oct. 1 at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, is jointly operated by the NHL and NHL Players’ Association.
“The World Cup of Hockey is the event that we think will allow us to make major strides and really grow our business and fan base overseas,” said Keith Wachtel, NHL executive vice president of global partnerships. “Working with Lagardère will help open the door for us to so many marketers in Europe. Our end game is not just the World Cup, but the opening of our business to include games, exhibitions, activations and bringing players, alumni and teams over for other events as well.”
Wachtel declined to comment on financial terms of the deal but said it provides the league and the union with guaranteed revenue.
Lagardère will spearhead its operations out of its Stockholm office. It will have the ability to do both pan-European deals and more-targeted, territorial deals, said Lynn White, NHL vice president of international sales and strategy. White, along with the NHLPA’s Mike Oullett, chief of business affairs, and Sandra Monteiro, chief of global business strategies, will work with Lagardère on the European sales efforts.
Wachtel said the league and NHLPA talked to a number of agencies seeking the business. He said Lagardère’s presence in the Nordic countries and Germany is one of the reasons it was viewed as an ideal partner.
The deal came together over the past six months, with negotiations taking place between Wachtel and Andy Pierce, CEO of Lagardère Sports, Americas, as well as former NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins. Collins, who left the league late last year, is now CEO of On Location Experiences.
Wachtel said the NHL and NHLPA have already locked in partners in certain categories that provide them with global rights, although he declined to identify those companies. Lagardère will be able to secure European deals in categories that do not compete with those global-rights partners.
“These last six to eight months, we’ve really focused on North America and bringing in major partners that go beyond just the current set of NHL partners,” Wachtel said. “[Lagardère] really believes in our vision for the event, and we view them as an extension of our North American sales arm.”
Pierce said he’s particularly interested in the digitally enhanced dasherboard technology (SportsBusiness Journal, Feb. 8-14 issue) that will allow Lagardère to sell European-broadcast specific inventory.
“We haven’t gotten it all figured out just yet, but we’ve figured it out enough to know it’s a big opportunity,” he said.
