National Hockey League Paper
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY National Hockey League was established as a non-profit entity in 1917 by 26 teams to govern the league. They had been very successful over the past 75 years with very little exposure. They have thrilled fans and provide financial returns for their owners. Their primary goal is to take hockey to a next level and makes it more popular. They are not worried about competition and are only concerned with overall growth for the sport, the owners, the players and the fans. Due to a recent labour dispute, all the NHL stakeholders lost a lot of money and this coupled with the need to increase the audience let to a lot of confusion between decision makers about what means to choose for creating exposure. The proposed solution is to use an effective mix of mass media/advertising and fan development activities. They are both very good options and choosing between them is not feasible as both have their share of advantage and disadvantages. With a few proposed changes mentioned in the strategic options, in the current implementation of these two options, NHL should see a definite increase in its exposure.
PEST ANALYSIS
POLITICAL- Escalating player salaries and unprofitability of several teams led to the owners’ demanding a salary cap on player salaries. Salary caps were a common occurrence in other sports like basketball and football. However, The Players Union was not very happy with this development and resisted the proposal. This confusion eventually led to a major labour dispute which resulted in monetary loss for almost all the stakeholders.
ECONOMIC- There are barriers to entry for the participating teams in the league as not everyone can be a part of the league. There were salary caps on player salaries to curb increasing expenditure. Profitability also depended on the size of the market and smaller markets, especially small Canadian markets, struggled despite having devoted hockey fans.
SOCIAL- A major social change
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY National Hockey League was established as a non-profit entity in 1917 by 26 teams to govern the league. They had been very successful over the past 75 years with very little exposure. They have thrilled fans and provide financial returns for their owners. Their primary goal is to take hockey to a next level and makes it more popular. They are not worried about competition and are only concerned with overall growth for the sport, the owners, the players and the fans. Due to a recent labour dispute, all the NHL stakeholders lost a lot of money and this coupled with the need to increase the audience let to a lot of confusion between decision makers about what means to choose for creating exposure. The proposed solution is to use an effective mix of mass media/advertising and fan development activities. They are both very good options and choosing between them is not feasible as both have their share of advantage and disadvantages. With a few proposed changes mentioned in the strategic options, in the current implementation of these two options, NHL should see a definite increase in its exposure.
PEST ANALYSIS
POLITICAL- Escalating player salaries and unprofitability of several teams led to the owners’ demanding a salary cap on player salaries. Salary caps were a common occurrence in other sports like basketball and football. However, The Players Union was not very happy with this development and resisted the proposal. This confusion eventually led to a major labour dispute which resulted in monetary loss for almost all the stakeholders.
ECONOMIC- There are barriers to entry for the participating teams in the league as not everyone can be a part of the league. There were salary caps on player salaries to curb increasing expenditure. Profitability also depended on the size of the market and smaller markets, especially small Canadian markets, struggled despite having devoted hockey fans.
SOCIAL- A major social change