caytoo reveals which categories have been the most prolific NHL sponsors since the start of 2023
Rights holders want to know which categories to prioritise when selling sponsorship, so one angle is to focus on categories they’re most likely to do a deal with. In this article, we look at NHL sponsors.
Who signed the most deals?
As the chart below shows, Consumer Services firms have been the most dominant NHL sponsors since the start of 2023, accounting for 17.3% of deals signed.
This has been driven by Gambling brands and Specialised Consumer Services. The league itself has signed multiple deals with Gambling firms including Penn Entertainment, BetMGM and Caesars Entertainment. Interestingly, the Vegas Golden Knights signed deals with two British-based firms William Hill and Betfred. As a result, gambling takes up a much greater share of NHL sponsors than any of the other major US sports leagues.
Specialised Consumer Services deals cover an extremely varied range from repair-related services such as A1 Garage Door Service, Goettl Air Conditioning & Plumbing, AAA (car repair) and Air Pros USA (heating & air conditioning) to security services such as Vector Security (signing deals with the Nashville Predators and Columbus Blue Jackets).
Who is most focused on the NHL?
Another way of looking at the most likely NHL sponsors is to see which categories are the most focused on the NHL among all deals signed across the major US sports leagues. In this regard, Transport is the most focused category on the NHL, with the NHL accounting for 30% sponsorship deals signed by Transport firms across these leagues.
Transport’s activity is driven by Logistics firms such as Canadian National (with the Montreal Canadiens) and Fastenal (with the NHL itself) as well as car rental firms such as Enterprise (also with the NHL).
Health & Wellbeing follows next. It’s relatively high concentration around the NHL is primarily driven by Health Service facilities such as The Joint Chiropractic, Washington University Orthopedics (both St Louis Blues) RWJBarnabas Health (New Jersey Devils) and Northwell Health (New York Islanders). Pharmaceutical brands also play a significant part in H&W’s share including AstraZeneca, Tylenol (both the NHL), Mucinex (New York Rangers) and Pedialyte (Columbus Blue Jackets)..
So, when it comes to looking for NHL sponsors, whether its due to sheer volume or the likelihood to choose the NHL over other major US sports, these are the categories NHL teams should focus on when prospecting for new partners.
If you’d like to see the full rankings slides just drop us a line.
