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Marketing the National Hockey League

Decent Essays

Harvard Business School

9 - 5 9 6 -059
Rev. December 28, 1995

Marketing The National Hockey League
In early August 1995 Gary Bettman, Commissioner of the NHL, Stephen Solomon, COO of the NHL, and Rick Dudley, COO of NHL Enterprises,1 met in their New York office to chart a strategy for marketing the NHL in 1995 and beyond. After a spectacular 1993-94 season, the NHL’s 1994-95 season had been somewhat mixed; the league had suffered a labor dispute and played an abbreviated season. But there had been important achievements. For the first time in over 20 years the NHL had a network television contract in the United States. Fan support for the shortened season had been surprisingly resilient with attendance averaging 95% for the league …show more content…

As one NHL team general manager remarked, "You have 10 big men moving at 30 mph, chasing a 3 inch diameter puck, and shooting it at 100 mph, so sometimes you lose sight of the puck if you’re new to the game. But if you are a fan, what a thrill it can be." The 26 teams in the league are organized into an Eastern and Western Conference. Within each of the conferences are two divisions: the Atlantic and the Northeast in the Eastern Conference, and the Central and the Pacific in the Western Conference. The teams play an 82-game regular season from October to April, followed by four rounds of playoffs where teams play a bestof-seven game series to advance to the next round. The eight teams in each conference with the best regular season records (including division leaders) play three rounds to determine the conference winner. Finally, the two conference champions compete for the Stanley Cup, the trophy awarded for over a century to North America 's best hockey team.

History
The National Hockey League was formed in 1917, from teams that took the ice that season. During the following two decades teams entered and exited, leaving six survivors by 1943, (Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, and Toronto Maple Leafs) who went on to be known as "The Original Six." These teams were extremely successful and responsible for much of hockey’s lore and legend. From 1947-1951 the Toronto Maple Leafs won four Stanley Cups in five

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