NHL/NBC Release On New Ad Sales Agreement
July 11, 2011 1 Comment
NEW YORK (July 11, 2011) – Following April’s landmark, 10-year media rights
agreement with NBC, the National Hockey League (NHL®) and the NBC Sports
Group announced today that the two companies are strengthening their
relationship even further by creating a unique, groundbreaking sales
venture that will streamline national U.S. NHL media sales for the next
five years.
NHL media sales for all national platforms — NBC, VERSUS, NBCSports.com,
NHL Network™, NHL mobile and all official NHL digital sites, including
NHL.com — will be sold by the NBC Sports Group Sales Department, which
will be bolstered by absorbing NHL media sales employees. All traffic
generated by official NHL digital sites, including NHL.com, will now be
attributed to NBC Sports Digital.
The agreement excludes current and future NHL official marketing partners,
who will continue to purchase media through the NHL Integrated Sales
Department. Financial terms of this new agreement, which continues through
the 2015-16 season, were not disclosed.
“Joining forces with NBC enables us to go to the marketplace with
unprecedented strength,” said NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins.
“We’ll be able to accelerate the growth of our business by providing our
sales talent to the strong sales team at NBC, which is already selling the
NHL across NBC and VERSUS as well as the Olympics, the Super Bowl and other
gold standard events. This venture creates an efficient, powerful way for
us to bring the young, tech savvy NHL demographic to advertisers across
multiple platforms.”
“This agreement is the archetype for a sports property and its national
media partner, and it speaks to the strength and long-term commitment of
our partnership,” said Seth Winter, Senior Vice President, NBC Sports Group
Sales & Marketing. “Sports marketers will benefit because of the
unprecedented single voice that allows them to purchase national network
television, cable television and digital media for one major sports
property in only one place.”
Puck The Media 
But what does it all mean Basil?