NHL Hits $10 Million in All-Star Activations

The National Hockey League has unveiled sponsorship activations around its All-Star Weekend in Montreal later this month, to the tune of $10 million – doubling sponsor spending on last year’s All-Star events.

Home Depot, Honda and Visa are the new sponsors on a roster of 17 for this season’s All-Star festivities on Jan. 24 and 25.

“We’re dealing with the same realities as everybody else. But our fan demographics are strong and really represent a really resilient group,” NHL spokesman Michael DiLorenzo said. “The All-Star Weekend represents a very strong value play for our corporate marketing partners.”Home Depot will undertake a rink renovation for young players in the Montreal suburbs and also will sponsor an area of the Lay’s/NHL All-Star Jamboree where fans can have their pictures against a “green” screen All-Star background.

Honda is title sponsor of the NHL SuperSkills competition on the eve of the All-Star contest, and presenting sponsor of the game’s MVP award. Visa is sponsoring an autograph booth and staging a cardholder promotion in the NHL Boutique, both at the Jamboree.

Among the individual SuperSkills event sponsors: Cisco sponsors the hardest shot competition; Pepsi sponsors the Gatorade/NHL Elimination Shootout; Scotiabank has the NHL Fan Fav Breakaway Challenge; Upper Deck sponsors the NHL YoungStars Game and Bridgestone lends its name to the Fastest Skater competition.

The SuperSkills events and the All-Star Game will air on Versus in the U.S. and the CBC in Canada. Fox Sports will provide international coverage.

Cisco is also title sponsor for the All-Star pre-game show. Bud Light is backing the two-day outdoor music festival and presenting the Fan Tailgate Zone at the Jamboree.

Other sponsors include Xbox (Jamboree gaming zone), 2Ksports (Wii gaming competition), XM (All-Star balloting), ConAgra, Bell and McFarlane Toys.