SBJ Unpacks: NHL’s sponsor roster hits 74 brands

The NHL heads into its final Global Series presented by Fastenal games with 74 corporate partners, as this weekend's Stars-Panthers matchup at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland, wraps up the league's 11th season of traveling to Europe to play regular-season games, reports SBJ's David Broughton.

Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov and Stars forward Roope Hintz are both Tampere natives. The league welcomed eight new partners this year, including two brands in the tourism space: Tourism Prince Edward Island (a North American partner) and Norwegian Cruise Line (a U.S.-only sponsor) as the league's first cruise sponsor.

Additionally, Energizer (a sponsor since 2022) increased its hockey investment by moving from a U.S.-only partner to a North American sponsor. On an international exposure note, PGIM, the global asset management business of Prudential Financial, sponsored the two Devils-Sabres games at O2 Arena in Prague earlier this month. Prudential holds the naming rights to the Devils' home arena and is a longtime team sponsor.

Molson Coors (a sponsor since 2011), Adidas (2017), Jagermeister and New Amsterdam (both since 2018); Betway and Signify (both since 2021); and BioSteel, Proline and Henkel's Purex brand (all since 2022) did not return this season.

This week’s Sports Media Podcast takes advantage of this week’s SBJ Dealmakers conference in Washington, D.C., to bring on Zach Leonsis, president/media and new enterprises for Monumental Sports & Entertainment. He joins co-host Austin Karp to discuss Monumental’s raft of investments in media and the value the Leonsis is seeing in that sector. Highlights include:

• On acquiring and owning an RSN: “We are so happy with the decision that we made to acquire NBC Sports Washington back into our organization. We were very fortunate in that we had a certain level of insight into the existing operation, and personally, I really got to understand that business very well. So, it took a long time to negotiate that deal, which also gave me and our team a lot of time to thoughtfully plan how we would integrate it at the very minute detail level. And we knew that as we would be integrating the network, we would be rebuilding a lot of these systems from scratch. They were integrated into NBCU and Comcast systems and platforms. We had to build our own. One of our theories of the case for why we wanted to acquire our network back was because, well, we fundamentally believe in the value of our local rights. And even though the ecosystem is changing, and linear is certainly facing headwinds and challenges, we know that; we can forecast that. We understand where that's going.”

• Biggest surprise in owning an RSN: “Fortunately, there weren't too many surprises. We were educated on the topic and what needed to happen. Production equipment was slightly more expensive than we imagined, just because of the transition to IP and technology. And we could have been penny-wise/pound foolish, but we weren't. We spent more than our original projection on [capital expenses] for production expense, because we wanted something that would last us for decades to come. And the 2110 facility that we have is resolution-independent and drastically improves our video quality and allows us to produce more programming at scale for less.”

• On adding Spanish language support and alt-casts: “In our market, we've got upward of well over 100,000 Spanish language speakers. I've received outreach in the past saying, ‘Why don't you engage more with the Hispanic community?’ And so, we are. And so, we have a big Salvadorian population. Our play-by-play person for these games is Salvadorian, where we're going unique into the actual individual nationalities and whatnot. It's about making our games more accessible. ... We're also doing alternate broadcasts with social influencers, trying to draw their audiences in. A lot of these folks who are following these folks on social don't subscribe to traditional cable or satellite, so we want to bring them into our direct-to-consumer product. We're obviously going to take advantage of our great Rolodex of player alumni and all of the great legends that we have who hang around the organization, who can really give insights into what it's like to play in those special moments.”

• On adding Monumental+ and working with ViewLift: “They're able to provide bespoke solutions to a variety of different teams out there, because every local RSN or media situation is different. It requires different rules, different geo-fencing, different coverage and tools. ... They've been a great partner for us. We created a custom solution. We're available on an increasing number of apps. We've got some smart TV apps that are going to be launched in the not-too-distant future. ... We took a lot of learnings from year one, and we did additional digital developments to enhance the product heading into this second season. And we're seeing the results. Our direct-to-consumer business is going to be growing by triple figures this year. It's still early, but I know it's definitely going to be above [double figures].”

NEW YORK -- The Dodgers gave Shohei Ohtani a 10-year, $700M deal in the offseason, and it didn’t take long for that investment to pay off.

After posting the first 50-50 campaign in MLB history, Ohtani hit three more homers in his first postseason. But he suffered a shoulder injury during the World Series and hit just .105 in the team’s five-game triumph over the Yankees.

Ohtani has proven to be a financial boom for the iconic franchise in terms of sponsorships, merchandise, tickets and ratings.

“We’re bringing this home to our fans, our fans in L.A., across the country, in Japan and around the world,” Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said after Game 5 at Yankee Stadium.

Later, during an interview on MLB Network, Kasten said of Ohtani: “He contributed as much to that as anyone ever has.”

Game 2 of the World Series averaged 15.9 million viewers in Japan . The Dodgers also brought in 12 new sponsors in Japan, with the potential for more on the way. Ohtani had the No. 1 selling jersey in the majors, and the Dodgers led the league in both home and road attendance. Bobblehead nights featuring Ohtani proved to be a massive success for the organization, drawing long lines outside Dodger Stadium hours before first pitch.

“I always thought Shohei made a lot of sense for us,” Kasten said. “We hoped he felt the same way. There was that one awful Friday with the little plane in Toronto. We didn’t know any more than any of you did. But I think we were the best team for him, and I think he did also. … I think he made a really good choice.”

The Dodgers had the third-highest year-end 40-man roster payroll at $288.8M, according to Baseball Prospectus.

“We’re the Dodgers, it’s our responsibility. We’re Sandy (Koufax), Jackie (Robinson) and Fernando (Valenzuela). That’s what we are. We accept that responsibility and we take it very seriously. We’re supposed to be good and contend every year,” Kasten said.

Kasten didn’t want to talk about next year and beyond just yet. The Dodgers open the 2025 season on March 18 against the Cubs in Tokyo.

“Let’s just celebrate tonight,” said Kasten, who soon joined his elated family for several photos on the field.  

Diamond Baseball Holdings has acquired 36 of the 120 minor league baseball franchises over the past three years, spanning all levels, geographies and parent organizations.

Backed financially by private equity firm Silver Lake, DBH is committed to creating scale for sponsorship and licensing opportunities as well as operating each ballpark to create more events.

“The first three years has been about investment in the facilities, investment in the technology and the systems,” DBH Exec Chair Pat Battle said at SBJ’s Dealmakers event in D.C. “All of this is driven around, if we can create better fan engagement, the economics will take care of itself.”

DBH owns only one of its venues -- the ballpark of the Triple-A Charlotte Knights -- and in every other instance leases the ballparks from the municipalities and then programs them with concerts and other one-off events when there are no ballgames.

“They are the centers of energy in these communities and the opportunity to develop real estate and to create more energy around the ballpark is only good for the team,” Battle said. “It's only good for the community.”

This spring, Battle said, the three dozen DBH clubs will utilize the same point of sale system for merchandise and food and beverage, enabling the organization to collect substantial data to drive decisions.

He added that minor league baseball is a $120M retail business, but 90% of those sales take place in stadiums. Building strong brands, as well as improving e-commerce to supplement the existing brick-and-mortar retail, is another opportunity.

A recently relocated franchise -- the Rangers’ High-A affiliate moved from Kinston, N.C., to Spartanburg, S.C. -- was rebranded as the Hub City Spartanburgers. Battle said more than 12,000 fans showed up.

“By our unofficial count, over half of the people there were wearing Texas Rangers jerseys and hats in Spartanburg, South Carolina,” he said. “And so I think one of the things that has been very beneficial to MLB and to the 30 teams is we're creating fandom across these 120 communities.”  

Like many in the business, I'm still trying to gain focus on 4-year-old Playfly’s multiple offerings across marketing disciplines. Still, I can report that some 15 months after agency vets Michael Neuman and Dan Parise were hired to lead a new consulting practice, it has some intriguing clients. Playfly says more than 30.

At a time when every agency and many brands are looking at the newly expanded (32 to 48 teams) 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup as something that could dwarf even the Olympics in significance, it’s the consulting group’s progress within that event that’s impressive. Playfly and its clients are markedly closemouthed on client specifics here, but I'm told more than half of the 16 host cities in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. are receiving “strategic, planning and commercial development” consulting from Playfly.

Additionally, two of FIFA’s largest and most venerable corporate sponsors are receiving counsel. Underlying all that is a sturdy and pedigreed group of soccer marketers, including Playfly Consulting co-head John Kristick (on the 2026 World Cup Bid Committee) and Jay Neuhaus (FIFA), along with Alan Rothenberg and Randy Bernstein and Todd Parker -- all of whom worked on the U.S. committee for the 1994 World Cup, the last one in the U.S.

“We’ve built a lot of credibility within that community, which helps enormously," said Kristick. “Still, I like to remind people that the 2026 World Cup will be about as similar to the 1994 World Cup as that one was to the 1966 World Cup.”

Within Playfly’s Brand Consulting division, the dozen or so clients include Fiserv and Fiji Airways. The Commercial Strategy and Valuation practice counts 20 clients, notably the NYRA, Pirates, Predators and Twins.

There’s also a charter to create IP in-house. First out of the chute: the Coretta Scott King Classic women’s basketball tournament in January at Newark’s Prudential Center, with Baylor, Maryland, Texas and UCLA in January.

“We’ve gotten a good handle on monetizing Playfly’s existing infrastructure and how to work with brands while remaining property agnostic," said Neuman. “There’s still a vast majority of brands making sponsorship and media investments without a sports marketing agency.” Neuman added that the unit is looking to broaden its live production, experiential and other fan engagement offerings through hiring or acquisition.

If you need a visual of the startup hustle, consider Hassan Murad’s recent travel itinerary. The CEO of sustainability tech company Intuitive AI spoke to me from his Vancouver home after eight weeks on the road.

He bounced from the conference scene in Las Vegas -- hitting both Ai4 in mid-August and the 2024 National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show in early October -- to the Sustainable Brands conference in San Diego a couple of weeks ago. Mixed in between those were two partnership announcements -- with PepsiCo and the Trail Blazers’ Moda Center -- as well as multiple client meetings in New York City. Such is the life when your flagship product -- in this case, Oscar -- could help varying industries that produce massive foot traffic and, as a result, trash.

Intuitive’s Oscar Sort station, which features a camera and display partnered with waste bins, uses AI to recognize various materials and objects to help people correctly dispose of their items. The product makes sense (and has thrived in) places such as hospitals, airports and college campuses. But sports venues provide another opening to address yet another garbage issue. As a reference point, in 2021, my colleague Bret McCormick highlighted that a single game at the Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium produces 35 tons of waste.

Besides the sorting help, the display lets Oscar Sort communicate -- give praise when the person follows the suggested protocol and get a little grouchy if an item hits the wrong receptacle -- and offers chances for branded activations and gamified experiences.

“We’ve tested all different demographics, and recycling increases to about 91% to 96%,” Murad said. “So it’s like alright, it’s changing the game. People are listening. People will do anything for a reward.”

So far, Intuitive has placed Oscar Sorts in four sports venues -- the Bruins’ and Celtics’ TD Garden, the Avalanches’ and Nuggets’ Ball Arena, the Canadiens’ Bell Centre and the Trail Blazers’ home venue.

TD Garden became its entrance to sports in February 2023, Murad said. He remembers initial client questions that Oscar Sort would be shifting from its typical corporate setup to an environment featuring the occasional frustrated fan fueled with liquid courage -- would an angry attendee punch a screen? Will those fans stop to actually interact with a smart waste system? Those worries were eased immediately.

“There was a specific concern that Bruins fans -- ‘You have not experienced Bruins fans.’” Murad said. “... The best fans to engage with actually were Bruins fans,” adding that they often could be more engaged and even prompt others to interact with Oscar, too.

Sustainability is mission-based in its essence, but Murad and co-founder Vivek Vyas saw the need for a solution firsthand while growing up in Pakistan and India, respectively. Helping to prompt the waste sorting upfront, Murad shared that Oscar Sort eliminates the timely alternative on the back end -- going through trash bags, item by item, to ensure proper shorting. The tech also comes with the benefit of a platform that shows key information for logistics planning. Oscar helps to monitor bins and how full they are, meaning trash bags are used efficiently, and also tracks the most frequent waste items. That insight can lead to cost-saving solutions, like the creation of a reusable cup program or the need for more bin options.

Throwing away trash is a forgettable, everyday action. Outside of the important primary mission, bins become another point of engagement for sports teams (and by proxy their corporate sponsors) to connect to gain more first-party information about their fans. Those partner activations become a quick connection to more purchases in the venue and beyond.

“Now I am getting impressions,” Murad said. “And those impressions we also convert by giving strategic QR codes that turn into sales. What does a stadium want? More concession dollars. And sponsors want their time with fans.”  

• Caitlin Clark and Unrivaled have had “high level conversations" about her joining the fledgling 3-on-3 basketball league, sources tell SBJ's Tom Friend, with the offer believed to include significant equity in the business and a three-month salary of over $1 million.

• "The Simpsons" showrunner Matt Selman said the decision of getting involved with ESPN’s "Monday Night Football" alt-cast was pretty simple. “I just say yes to stuff,” Selman tells SBJ's Joe Lemire.

• USA Hockey signed Discover as its official credit card sponsor, bringing a new brand to the Olympic and Paralympic movement, reports SBJ's Rachel Axon.

• Battery manufacturer Energizer purchased the naming rights for St. Louis City SC’s soccer-specific stadium, which will now be known as Energizer Park, writes SBJ's Bret McCormick.

• Kynisca Sports International, the multiteam women’s soccer organization launched in July by Michele Kang (the owner of the NWSL's Spirit), is leading a $2 million funding round for IDA Sports, a footwear brand specializing in cleats and turf shoes for female athletes, notes SBJ's Alex Silverman.

• Evolv Technology fired President and CEO Peter George effective immediately, reports SBJ's Ethan Joyce, as it undergoes an SEC investigation.

• The USTA will deploy electronic line-calling technology provided by PlayReplay at the USTA Junior National Indoor Championships for the first time in late November, writes SBJ's Rob Schaefer.

• McCullers Group will serve as owners’ rep for the multiuse sports and entertainment stadium project announced Wednesday by the city of Mauldin (S.C.), the state of South Carolina, Greenville Pro Soccer and BridgeWay Station, notes McCormick.