Mar 364 - Sports Marketing paper PDF

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mandatory sports marketing assignment, professor volpe ...

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Professor Volpe MAR 364 13 September 2017 Sports Organization On the Rise One organization currently on the rise is the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL). Though the 2017-2018 season will be the third official season for the league, they have grown each season, and are set to expand. The National Women’s Hockey League was established in 2015 with four teams in the Northeast United States. Before the establishment of the National Women’s Hockey League, the only North American organization for professional women’s hockey is the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL). This year the Canadian Women’s Hockey League is turning ten years old, it originally consisted of six teams, but now consists of seven newly formed teams. Though both the CWHL and the NWHL share the same purpose, the NWHL is on a rise faster than the CWHL in a shorter period of time. With only four teams, the NWHL is expanding faster than CWHL. One of the main reasons that the NWHL is successful is that from its establishment, the league has a salary cap in order to pay its players, unlike the CWHL which is older and larger, but is only now considering player compensation. The four NWHL teams are located in the Northeast’s four largest hockey markets – New York, Boston, Buffalo, and Connecticut– in order to gain attraction from the general public, hockey and sport fans. Up until the third season for the league, attendance has increased for each of the teams, as well as merchandise sales. Each of the teams offer single game tickets, half season tickets, and full season tickets. The National Women’s Hockey League has held an All Star game similar to the National Hockey League, and has also held an outdoor game (the first

2 women’s winter classic and professional women’s outdoor game) between the NWHL and the CWHL. The National Women’s Hockey League has established a player’s association. The NWHL announced that for its third season that aside from home games in each of it’s home markets, that there would also be a handful of games hosted in other markets in order to attract fans outside of home markets. This is also in line with the leagues plan to expansion. The National Women’s Hockey League is planning to possibly expand to Canada with two new teams in Montreal and Toronto, where there is a larger possibility to gain attendance and fans. Especially in large cities with massively popular National Hockey League Teams, the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Currently the league does not have any official national television partnership. Though some games have been shown on ESPN’s sister channel ESPN3. The Boston Pride, one of the league’s franchises, has had games broadcasted throughout a regional network.

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upcoming season and future of the league, the other teams will have regionally broadcasted games as well. As of 2017, ABC News also announced that it would become an official sponsor for the NWHL and would live stream and cover the Isobel Cup Playoffs, as well as provide coverage throughout the season. One of the largest corporate sponsors for the league as of 2015 is Dunkin Donuts, and is working on sponsorships and partnerships with the NHL and NHL teams, as well as other brands and companies. Though the women’s league is nowhere near as popular as other leagues, it is steadily bringing in revenue and is expanding....