It’s been a while since I last talked about the business of the NHL. With many teams now paying more attention to their online presence and aligning themselves with large corporate sponsors and the recent naming rights to the Phoenix Coyotes arena selling to jobing.com, it is evident that there is some interest in the potential marketing power of the National Hockey League.
With that in mind, the NHL has been without a leader in the league office in the area of marketing for several weeks now. However, that all changed today when John Collins was named as Executive Vice President, Corporate Sales and Marketing.
Collins has a background with the National Football League, most recently with the Cleveland Browns. The NFL,known for its intensely patriotic fans, is one of the most well positioned professional sports leagues in the world. Collins hopes to bring an American’s understanding to the marketplace and an new perspective on selling the world’s fastest game to the average American.
Pieces of Collins resume:
Collins came to the Browns from the NFL’s League office where, beginning in 1989, he held several key executive positions. His last role at the NFL was as Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing where he oversaw many aspects of NFL business including advertising and design, database, research, media planning, corporate sponsorship and advertising sales, among others. Collins also was a member of the team that launched the NFL Network.
Ed Horne, President of NHL Enterprises, hopes that Collins’ experience will help the National Hockey League to add value in the corporate community and enable the league to reach new audiences.
Source: NHL.com
February 27th, 2007 at 12:13 am
I am getting more and more iritated with these new penalty calls. The canadian game is gone because someone thinks that to make the game “better” we need more goals so we make fake penalty calls so that we have more pp and there are more goals! It is very sad to listen to tv broadcasters constantly questioning penaly calls. It’s really sad to hear them coments like “how would you like to loose the game to a penaly call like that” and not 30 seconds later a goal is scored and the whole game was a JOKE! and by the way my team won.
May 11th, 2007 at 9:11 am
With limited television exposure in the US, the NHL needs to find the most compelling weekly match-up and broadcast that game. It should not matter if the team is from a small market, major market, or non-traditional hockey city. US fans were subjected to numerous airings of Philadelphia, Boston, and other games of no consequence and porr quality of play. If I were a causal fan or first time viewer of one of those games, I certainly couldn’t get excited about the sport. Allow the league to have flexibility in selecting the game of the week.
January 6th, 2008 at 10:15 am
I think the nhl should get rid of Downy, He should also be tested for drugs. I would never pay money to see this guy. I think he makes the NHL look like a side show.I am a fan of hockey I spend a min of 1000.00/year on merchadice. I must admit I am lossing interest, as I think it is very control for making money only. I think the Buffalo , Pits out door game was fixed, but what a story Crosby scores the winner and very one is happy Rebok .cbc,nhl,nbc. Then pits played Flyers I did see one hit.,Where was Downy the Goon and why didn’t he hit Crosby in the eye, or slash his wrist or hand?