Business Tale of the Tape: Chicago and Philadelphia makes for solid Stanley Cup final

The end of the Montreal Canadiens' improbable run to the 2010 Stanley Cup finals means smaller Canadian audience numbers for CBC and dramatically lower ratings for RDS, but it makes for a solid showdown between two of the strongest American brands in the National Hockey League. And in that light, the championship round bringing together the Chicago Blackhawks and the Philadelphia Flyers is great news for the NHL's U.S. television rights holders, NBC and Versus.

It's a worthy follow-up to last year's Stanley Cup final between the eventual 2009 champion Pittsburgh Penguins and the 2008 winners, the Detroit Red Wings; the two most popular road teams in the NHL over the past three years.

There's no Sidney Crosby in this year's Stanley Cup final, but a quick look at the sport business tale of the tape pitting the Blackhawks against the Flyers suggests it might be the best U.S. match-up in at least a decade based on sheer hockey market strength:

Franchise valuation - According to Forbes Magazine, this Stanley Cup series showcases the fifth and seventh highest-valuated franchises in the NHL. Philadelphia is valued at $273 million US while Chicago comes in at $258 M (and rising as the hottest property in the NHL). In 2009, Detroit was fourth while small-market Pittsburgh was middle of the pack.

Overall revenues: It's a meeting between two of the top eight revenue-producing franchises in the NHL. After quadrupling their sponsorship sales since 2007, the Blackhawks are tied for sixth (with Boston) at $106 million US while the Flyers are eighth at $101 million.

Box office revenues: It's #3 (Philly) against #9 (Chicago), each driving well more than $50 million of their revenues at the gate.

Ticket prices: Philadelphia is top-five in the NHL (at $60.25) while seeing the Blackhawks at the United Center is still one of the best bargains in professional hockey at $46.80 (19th overall).

Home attendance: After ranking 29th out of 30 four years ago, the Blackhawks make the Madhouse on Madison the biggest building in the NHL, packing it with more 22,000 fans per game and leading the NHL in attendance for the second straight year. The Flyers average 19,503 at the Wachovia Center; sixth-best in the league.

Road attendance: This final brings together the seventh (Chicago) and 14th (Philadelphia) most popular teams on the road this season.

Media market size: In addition to Versus and NBC, the NHL's U.S.-based sponsors are smiling as they contemplate the third and fourth largest designated market areas (television DMAs) on the continent. Chicago is #3 and Philadelphia is #4.

Regional television audiences: Chicago and Philadelphia were two of the top five U.S. hockey television markets during the 2009-'10 regular season. The Blackhawks drew an average regional audience of 196,800 viewers on Comcast and WGN while the Flyers attracted 147,900. That's #6 and #11 overall in the NHL and #2 and #5 in the U.S.

Hockey market: Forbes Magazine's research suggests this is a clash between the fifth and seventh strongest hockey markets in the NHL and the third and fifth best in the U.S. (based on franchise value attributed to city and market size).

Simply put, the 2010 Stanley Cup final features two of the best marketed U.S. franchises in two of the best hockey markets in the U.S. When one considers both market clout and brand appeal, it's arguably the best U.S. match-up since the Flyers last reached the finals in 1997 against the Detroit Red Wings.

It also comes with important intangibles based on history and tradition: one is an Original Six franchise that hasn't won a Cup since 1961 and the other a first-wave 1969 expansion team that hasn't done so since 1975. It's that hunger -- shared by the respective organizations and their fans -- which will make for good storylines throughout the series beginning Saturday at the United Center.

And good stories make for good ratings.

www.TheSportMarket.biz
The Sport Market on TEAM 1040 and teamradio.ca
Saturdays, 9 a.m.-12 noon PT
Facebook.com/TheSportMarket and Twitter.com/TheSportMarket

The NHL's Chicago Blackhawks represent a remarkable turnaround...both on and off the ice

The on-ice turnaround scored by the National Hockey League's Chicago Blackhawks over the past three years is impressive. A five-season exile from the Stanley Cup playoffs ended last year and the Blackhawks red, black and gold colour palette is likely to be a going concern for much of the new decade.

Adept drafting, smart trades and a couple of prized free agent acquisitions have given Chicago fans a few reasons for both short and long-term optimism. After all, in the business of sport, nothing is more fundamentally important -- in most markets -- than the business of winning.

Yet the on-ice makeover is matched -- if not exceeded -- by the remarkable turnaround the Original Six franchise has achieved off the ice. In Chicago, product and marketing have met to create a one-two punch as balanced and lethal as that of any NHL franchise in the U.S. (See NHL Composite Power Rankings 2009-'10 http://www.facebook.com/thesportmarket?v=photos&ref=ts#!/photo.php?pid=3724749&id=280702824731)

The combination has taken the Blackhawks from second-to-last in NHL attendance in 2006-'07 to first overall the past two years.

The marketing part has been handled brilliantly by Blackhawks' president John McDonough (hired in November of 2007); fully-empowered by second generation owner Rocky Wirtz (who took over from his dad, the late Bill Wirtz the previous month) and complemented over the past two years by business operations senior vice-president Jay Blunk (January of 2008).

The Blackhawks are back and they're back on the strength of comprehensive, brand-based marketing; an integrated strategy in which the NHL's Chicago foothold is firing on all of the most important cylinders in business operations. Blackhawks marketing has at least 10 streams, none more important than the first three (product promotion, broadcast platform and sense of history):

1. Product marketing: Chicago has a good, young team and Blackhawks marketers make sure everyone knows that;

2. Broadcast marketing: McDonough and company understand the best way to expose their new product is through television and radio. WGN-TV, Comcast Sportsnet and WGN Radio are key partners in the off-ice turnaround because they've put the team back on the Chicago sports map. Regular season games draw sellouts of 21,000 plus to the United Center and almost 10 times that on television;

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=399165796504&comments&ref=mf#!/photo.php?pid=3769385&id=280702824731

3. Heritage marketing: The repatriation of Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito was not only long overdue, it brought back a generation of 'hawks fans who were as estranged as the former stars were over the span of three decades;

4. Partnership marketing: An NHL team in an American market can only benefit from aligning itself with the other professional franchises in the city. McDonough linked the Blackhawks with the Cubbies (his alma mater), White Sox, Bears and the Bulls, their United Center partners owned by Jerry Reinsdorf. The partnership approach culminated in the 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field and made special event marketing part of the mix for the Blackhawks;

5. Cross marketing: The partnerships also set the stage for creative cross-promotions with the city's top stars in other sports. Even the campaigns that didn't make it to television -- most notably the 2009 series featuring the Blackhawks and da Bears that was banned by the NFL -- caused a stir on the web and in chat rooms, demonstrating the NHL team was prepared to ride the air baloon of their more famous football cousins;

6. Personality marketing: The Blackhawks are ultimately selling a team brand, but they know that team brand is defined in large part by the personal brands of their players. The team's star tandem on the ice, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, are the star tandem in television, radio and print advertising. Phase 2: Making Hollywood celebs such as Vince Vaughn part of the personality of the franchise;

7. Theme marketing: The simple and hockey-themed tagline One Goal, crafted by global ad agency Ogilvy Mather, has served as the Blackhawks' mantra for the past two years;

8. Entertainment marketing: The new Blackhawks have made hockey cool again. From opening anthems to goal celebrations, the United Center is the Madhouse on Madison. Just ask visiting teams stabbed with the Chelsea Dagger after every Chicago goal. Is there a more distinctive goal celebration song in the NHL right now? (See and hear The Fratellis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEXHeTcxQy4)

9.  Social media marketing: In the hometown and state of Barrack Obama, the Blackhawks are all over Facebook, Twitter and YouTube;

10. Cause marketing: The Blackhawks have always made money in Chicago. Now they're sharing the wealth and investing in causes that matter to the community. Just more reasons for Chicago to care about the Blackhawks.

Add it all up and you've got the best marketed franchise in the United States and one of the top three in the NHL. The Blackhawks have already been acknowledged as among the fastest-rising sports properties in the United States (see Champions of The Sport Market 2008 http://www.thesportmarket.biz/pdf/Champions_of_Sport_2008_International.pdf). With a solid on-ice product and dynamic off-ice marketing, don't count on them going away anytime soon.

www.TheSportMarket.biz
The Sport Market on TEAM 1040 and teamradio.ca
Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 12 noon PT
Facebook.com/TheSportMarket and Twitter.com/TheSportMarket