• by Tanya Gazdik , June 5, 2024

The National Hockey League is entering into a multiyear Canadian partnership with Labatt Breweries of Canada.

The deal includes Budweiser returning as an official beer of the NHL in Canada. Molson Canadian is also a beer partner in Canada. The league does not currently have a U.S. beer partner.  

Labatt will receive broadcast exposure through digitally enhanced dasherboards, the league’s approach to dynamic advertising during NHL regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs games.

The system allows for the digital replacement of camera-visible arena ads within local, national and international NHL game broadcasts. Graphics can be displayed during games in a market-specific way wherever the game feed is broadcast. Messaging can feature URLs, flighted marketing campaigns, co-branded official designations, social media integration or QR codes.

The deal also provides Labatt with an array of marketing and trade promotion opportunities, which will predominately be activated by the Budweiser brand.

“Budweiser, through over a decade of exceptional creative work, has become synonymous with the social celebration NHL goals create for fans whether they’re at home, at a bar with friends or at an NHL game,” said Kyle McMann, NHL senior vice president, global business development, in a release. 

Earlier in the week, the league announced that it had signed a multiyear Canadian partnership with Intuit QuickBooks. The deal makes Intuit QuickBooks the Official Small Business Accounting Software of the NHL.

Although the company is global and could have also signed on as the NHL’s partner in the U.S., business units in each country handle individual marketing plans and assess sponsorships independently. 

“A sponsorship with the NHL is an incredibly powerful opportunity for Intuit QuickBooks to foster connection and conversation with Canadians, including those who make up our small business community,” says Puja Subrun, director of marketing at Intuit QuickBooks, Canada, in a release.  “Especially as we start to see the face of entrepreneurship change, with younger and more diverse business owners entering the landscape, we want to reach them early in their business journey to let them know that QuickBooks is on their team.”

According to a survey from Intuit QuickBooks, nearly one in three Canadians consider themselves an entrepreneur.