Advertisers Ask NHL Hockey to Get Ship in Order

If jet setting all around the Eastern North American continent to discuss hockey was a great job, of course you can bet that the NHLPA and the NHL found a way to stretch this out as long as they could. Enter the private sector.

Needing a decision to be made soon, the magazine Advertising Age reports that the NHL has lost at least 400 million US Dollars in advertising revenue. Businesses wanting to purchase advertising time with the NHL were forced to look elsewhere during the 04-05 season. According to the linked article below, it says that the time for advertising planners to decide where they are going to spend money must be made soon in time for the fall lineup schedule.
It was not only the US media that lost revenue, but the Canadian media as well found their loyal advertisers forced to package deals with other sports during the lockout.

In addition to being a major sponsor of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, Ford sponsors four of Canada's six NHL teams. Last year, the auto maker diverted funds it would have used on Hockey Night in Canada to advertise during Monday Night Football.

To gage the interest and enthusiasm for a positive resolution to the lockout....

"I think the money will find its way back if the audience does," Doug Checkeris, president of Media Company in Toronto, said. "I believe that the audience will — it's just a question of how much time it will take."

[Via: Toronto Globe and Mail]