NHL Team Sponsorships Hit Record $1.4B for Season, up 10%
The Stanley Cup Final kicks off Saturday with questions about how many people will watch Florida and Edmonton, relative to their vanquished foes in New York and Dallas. But the NHL has already scored off the ice this year with sponsorship revenue up 10% to a record $1.4 billion, according to a new report from SponsorUnited.
The data measures team sponsorships and does not include league-level deals. The NHL trails the NBA and MLB in its reach, but hockey nearly matches those sports on sponsorship revenue with both of them at $1.5 billion for their most recent seasons—the leagues are closer to $2 billion when factoring in league deals. The NFL remains the clear leader among U.S. sports leagues at $2.35 billion for its 32 teams, per SponsorUnited. MLS was $587 million for its 2023 season.
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The NHL has the lowest sponsor churn rate among the leagues, according to SponsorUnited CEO Bob Lynch. He also highlights new NHL assets, such as digitally enhanced dasherboards (DED) and home/away jersey patches, that have helped sponsor revenue more than double since the 2020-21 season.
“The NHL continues to do things to try and innovate and differentiate themselves from their competitors,” Lynch said in a video interview.
NHL owners approved jersey advertising to start with the 2022-23 season, two years after helmet decals were added. The initial response was tepid in a crowded market where NBA and MLB also had jersey patches up for bid, but teams added 26 new helmet and jersey sponsorships this past season, including six brands investing in the NHL for the first time. Available inventory for these valuable assets dropped 50% this season, with only 10 teams left to sign deals for their home jerseys. SponsorUnited pegs the average jersey deal worth $3.9 million a year and $2.1 million for helmets.
The NHL debuted digital dasherboards that display rotating advertising for the 2022-23 season. The boards faced some initial criticism due to glitches in the…
