The 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey tournament, organized by the NHL and its Players’ association (NHLPA), debuts today (February 12) and signals the return to international play for the league’s biggest stars.
The nine-day competition, featuring NHL stars from Finland, Sweden, Canada, and the US, will be played until February 20 as the precursor to NHL players’ return to the Olympic stage in 2026 and 2030 for the Winter Games, an agreement negotiated and announced during the 2023-24 season.
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NHL players have not participated in the Olympics since 2014 and the 4 Nations Face-Off marks the first international event involving NHL players since the World Cup of Hockey in 2016.
The tournament, part of the NHL’s wider internationalization efforts, will feature seven games – four at the Bell Center in Montreal and three games, including the championship game, at TD Garden in Boston.
The four competing nations make up a large majority of the nationalities in the NHL, with 84% of the league’s players born in Canada, the US, Sweden, or Finland.
Despite being the first international competition featuring NHL players in over eight years, 4 Nations Face-Off has secured significant commercial and media interest.
More than 30 corporate partnerships have been secured for the nine-day tournament, with the organizers claiming that the revenue generated is on par with the last World Cup of Hockey, which had 15 games over more than two weeks.
Jersey patch sponsors were recently unveiled for all four teams – Rogers (Canada), Discover (USA), and SAP (Finland and Sweden).
Meanwhile, live broadcast coverage of the tournament will be delivered in more than 240 countries and territories.
This includes deals in the participating markets with ESPN/ABC and TNT Sports (US), Sportsnet and TVA Sports (Canada), Viaplay (Sweden), and Nelonen (Finland).
David Proper, NHL’s senior executive vice president of media and international strategy, and Lynn White, senior vice president of international strategy, spoke to Sportcal about the upcoming competition and the impact it can have on and off the ice.
How was the tournament created, and what was the goal and long-term vision?
David: “The history is interesting. In 2016, we played our World Cup in Toronto, and then for a variety of things that occurred, including COVID, etc, we couldn’t get anything up and running. We were shooting very heavily for 2024 to try and get another one but that didn’t happen.
“Then Marty Walsh took over leadership of the [players’ association] NHLPA and he was much more focused on working with us to get this done quickly.
“Most importantly, he wanted the players to be in the Olympics and so did they, so we signed on to be part of the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics. We knew we weren’t going to be able to put together a World Cup that quickly before that, but we wanted to give the players a chance to play with their national teams. It’s also a lead-in to what will be more international competitions, including our own World Cup that will follow this 4 Nations Face-Off in 2028.”
Lynn: “We would have loved to have staged a full-blown World Cup of Hockey, like 2016, but the clock just ran out on us. So, we wanted to have a quicker return to international competition, and therefore stage the 4 Nations Face-Off. We knew that we would have some of the very best players participating. Then we’re going to have a regular cadence of international competition every two years or so between the Olympics and a World Cup of Hockey.”
With just four countries participating, how will that help in your wider international growth efforts?
David: “Some of it is certainly driven by our players wanting to participate so that is a factor that we must consider. But I also believe that countries get very much behind their national teams, and we have found that in the hockey world, the ability for our players to play in these competitions is important and is something that will resonate with the fan bases internationally.
“The reasons why we haven’t done our events in the past have been more logistical than strategic. Now that we’re in an aligned place, and we’ve got the cadence of every two years, it becomes the perfect time to try and push this strategy, which will help us at least in the countries where we have teams participating.
“We’re not in any way comparing ourselves to the soccer World Cup, but if you look at what that does in terms of international interest if we can even have a fraction of that, that’s a major coup for us in terms of what we’re trying to do internationally.”
The competing nations are traditional ice hockey markets, so how do you target audiences in other regions?
David: “That was something we were concerned about and how we’d be able to do that. The main way we’re going to target those audiences is with media, to let them watch the games, and so forth. It’s difficult to go into Slovakia and tell them they should be overwhelmingly focused on Slovakia when their team isn’t participating.
“But we do have media coverage in 200+ countries and across 25 different broadcast partners, including in many of the countries that have hockey interests, like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland, etc. So, for the 4 Nations Face-Off, that’s the focus of what we’re trying to do. In an Olympics or World Cup scenario, it’s a broader scope.”
Lynn: “We were strategic about making sure that there were two games that took place in the afternoon, East Coast US time, so fans in Europe could see those games in prime time. That was a nod to our international fans and perhaps even the ones from countries that weren’t participating.”
Could future additions potentially take place in Europe or other international markets?
Lynn: “I think it could. We will likely go out soon after the 4 Nations and start identifying what potential locations we would play future events in, but we would consider international locations, and not just the US and Canada. We understand how important it is for our fans to be able to attend these games and to see them in their time zone, in person. It will be a consideration factor as we look to plan for the next set of games.”
The reaction from your partners has been significant, and you’ve generated strong revenue. Why has it been so successful?
David: “The first reason is that the demand is there, and to some degree, the scarcity of the last eight years of our competitions, and more than 10 years since we’ve been in the Olympics, has created a scarcity that’s made it very interesting. Secondly, there’s real electricity around the tournament now, where the players, cities, and participating countries are very excited about it, and our sponsors have seen it as a unique and new opportunity to be able to touch base with those fans.
“Then there is just something about a national team, the Canadian national team just absolutely resonates in Canada, and as much as its sponsors have great outlets with the NHL teams, this is an additional outlet to be able to participate in. Even we are surprised that it’s generated the kind of revenue that it did in 2016.”
What are the media plans and activations you have scheduled around the tournament?
David: “The media part is relatively straightforward. We’ve got deals with a variety of different partners throughout the world to make sure that anybody who wants to watch the tournament can. In those countries where we don’t have coverage, countries that are not traditional hockey countries, maybe not even sporting countries, we’ll still make it available through YouTube, so everybody’s going to have access to watch the games. This was the primary focus, to make sure that this event was available to everybody. That was the main media strategy going in.
Lynn: “We had the first trial of digitally enhanced dasherboards in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, but we now employ them for our full season. That allows us to target our broadcast feeds by market. So that way, from a media perspective, the messaging and the sponsor and corporate partner messaging are tailored specifically to that market.
“You’ll see something different on the digitally enhanced dasherboards in the US, as you will in Canada and the rest of the world. From a media perspective, that gives us the ability to further enhance the packages for our partners and have the right messaging for our fans.
“Aside from the media angle, we’ll have a robust digital and social presence as well around 4 Nations Face-Off. You’ll see that nhl.com will become 4 Nations branded and focused over the next couple of weeks. We’ll have a content hub, essentially, for all of the news about 4 Nations.”
How successful has the introduction of the digitally enhanced dasherboards been in terms of opportunities, more revenue, and generating more interest from sponsors?
Lynn: “It’s one of the most revolutionary things that we’ve done in the last few years. From my own viewing experience, and our data would back this up, it’s a more pleasurable, impactful viewing experience for our fans and partners because the messaging can be targeted and dynamic as we can do animation and other things. I don’t think it distracts at all from the gameplay, and generally, that’s the reaction we’ve got.
“It also gives us the ability to have a differentiated product by market. For our partners that are concentrating on one territory, maybe only have rights in one territory, we can deliver a more impactful partnership to them that delivers them more impression. Universally, it’s been widely praised and valued amongst our partners and our fans too.”
What would constitute success for this tournament?
Lynn: “We always define success first and foremost by the game on the ice. Are the games going to be exciting and compelling? I think that they will be. These rosters are the very best players in the game who have never played together. So, for them and our fans, it’ll be very exciting. Compelling games would be the first measure of success.”
David: “The measurement of success for this event is not going to happen in the next month or six months. The measurement of success is whether we’re able to build the cadence or common expectation and interest in the various international events, whether it be the Olympics or World Cup, and this is the kicking off of that. A lot of people look at the initial revenue success or distribution success, but when you talk internally, the biggest issue for us is making sure that this is a good opening step for what’s going to happen over the next 10 years in the international space.
“Everything’s trending that it’s going to be that way so we’re very excited about it. If in 2028 we’ve got a lot of excited people looking at a World Cup because 4 Nations and the Olympics worked great, then this has been an unbelievable success.”
As the lead-up to the Olympics next year, does that bring any added pressure, or is it a challenge you’re embracing?
David: “I never thought of it as a challenge. I thought of it as a great kick-off to our participation and giving the players the ability to play together. I candidly think it will make the Olympics better because these guys will have had a chance to play together etc. But I always viewed it as more of a good working together proposition, as opposed to a challenge.”
Lynn: “It’s an opportunity more than a challenge. It’s a different product (international competition), but maybe it’s a product that resonates with a more casual sports fan or hockey fan. We want to expose the game to as many people as possible. The more people see it and experience it, the more they’ll fall in love with it.”
