Summary for Business the NHL Way Lessons from the Fastest Game on Ice by Norm O’Reilly and Rick Burton

Discover the gripping fusion of NHL and business prowess in “Business the NHL Way.” Dive into a world where ice meets innovation, where strategies from the rink translate seamlessly to boardrooms. Explore the captivating journey of leveraging NHL insights for business triumphs.

Ready to uncover the winning playbook of NHL-inspired business strategies? Keep reading to gain exclusive insights and transform your approach to success!

Genres

Business, Sports, Management, Leadership, Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Self-help, Marketing, Innovation, Case Study

“Business the NHL Way” delves into the dynamic intersection of hockey and business, offering actionable insights derived from the NHL’s success playbook. Authors Norm O’Reilly and Rick Burton dissect key strategies employed by NHL teams and translate them into invaluable lessons for entrepreneurs and business leaders. From team cohesion to strategic decision-making, this book navigates the parallels between the fast-paced world of professional hockey and the competitive landscape of business. With engaging anecdotes and practical advice, it presents a compelling case for adopting NHL-inspired tactics to drive growth and achieve lasting success.

Review

“Business the NHL Way” is a refreshing take on business strategy, drawing parallels between the adrenaline-fueled world of hockey and the corporate arena. O’Reilly and Burton seamlessly blend sports insights with business acumen, offering readers a playbook brimming with actionable tactics and inspirational anecdotes. Whether you’re a die-hard hockey fan or a savvy entrepreneur, this book is a must-read for anyone seeking to elevate their game and achieve peak performance in business. With its compelling narrative and practical advice, “Business the NHL Way” scores big as an invaluable resource for success-minded individuals.

Recommendation

The National Hockey League (NHL) is a hugely successful commercial organization with revenues that exceed $5 billion annually. Norm O’Reilly and Rick Burton – former amateur hockey players, lifelong hockey fans and academics who study sports – closely examine the NHL’s lucrative business practices. They rely on colorful anecdotes about the players to illustrate its winning commercial ways, and expertly cite NHL hockey as an instructive metaphor for business. Whether you love hockey or have never seen a game, O’Reilly and Burton show you how to conduct business – on or off the ice.

Take-Aways

• The National Hockey League (NHL) is a thriving enterprise that draws devoted fans.
• Major turning points made the NHL an even better business.
• NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s mission is to ensure the increasing value of NHL franchises.
• The NHL successfully handles tough business issues.
• Hockey loves tradition and resisted change for decades.
• Conflict – even fisticuffs – is an NHL tradition.
• The NHL’s games and players have demonstrated their popularity as vehicles for promoting products and services.
• The NHL and many of its players stand up for social justice.

Summary

The National Hockey League (NHL) is a thriving enterprise that draws devoted fans.

The National Hockey League (NHL) is a popular professional sports organization representing “the fastest game on ice,” and one of the world’s “10 highest revenue-generating professional [sports] leagues.” It’s a moneymaking machine that manages its business affairs “the NHL way.” ​​​​​​

According to Forbes, the NHL’s revenues reached $5 billion in the 2018-2019 season, and expectations are that revenues will continue to grow, reaching more than $6 billion.

“What we do has to be crafted and suited to address hockey, to address the NHL, to address our…teams and our…players.” (Commissioner Gary Bettman)

Team Marketing Report listed the NHL’s average ticket price in 2019-2020 – before COVID decimated sales – as $76. And, during that season, average attendance per game reached 17,000 people.

Since 1995, NHL revenues have increased more than eightfold. As the league grows, its media deals become increasingly more lucrative, and its franchises become steadily more valuable. NHL teams now have an impressive revenue-sharing plan. Professional hockey is Canada’s top form of sports entertainment, and hockey is growing in popularity across the globe. Clearly, it’s a big business – and it teaches many lessons that are applicable to other businesses.

The business world and the NHL both prioritize a powerful work ethic. As former stars Eric Lindros and Gordie Howe put it: “It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it’s what you put into the practice.”Another famous player, Jacques Plante, highlighted each NHL player’s intense work pressure when he asked, “How would you like a job where, every time you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?”

Major turning points made the NHL an even better business.

Over the years, the National Hockey League has benefited from several significant business developments:

• The 2004-2005 lockout – Fans hated the full-season lockout, but it gave the NHL “cost containment, fiscal security and a cost-efficient, sustainable business model.” The NHL entered into landmark new agreements with its players that led to impressive salaries and new revenue for the league.
• New franchises – In 2016, the NHL set up an expansion team in Las Vegas, which the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) had avoided. The city’s NHL Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in their first season. Every home game sold out. Team merchandise became hugely popular, and Las Vegas became “an NHL town.”
• The Olympics – The NHL sent players to the Olympics in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014.
• New rules – After the 2004-2005 season, the NHL instituted major rule changes that increased scoring and quickened the pace of the game. Enthusiastic fans bought more tickets.
• Outdoor games – In 2003, the NHL held its first outdoor game. The Montreal Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers played in front of 57,000 fans in Edmonton, Alberta. In 2014, 105,491 fans came to the University of Michigan’s outdoor football stadium to see the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings in the most-watched hockey game ever.
• Helmet ads – During the 2021 season, the NHL first permitted advertisers to place messages or logos on players’ helmets. Four big brands – Scotiabank, Honda, Discover and MassMutual – sponsored the League’s north, west, central and east divisions.
• Signing with ESPN – Also in 2021, the NHL signed a seven-year deal with ESPN reportedly worth $400 million a year. During that same seven-year period, the NHL had a similar lucrative $225 million-a-year broadcast deal with Turner Sports.
• Looking toward Europe – The NHL hopes to establish a strong presence in Europe before the NBA or NFL can make similar inroads there. Europe is a natural fit for the NHL because so many of its players hail from Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Switzerland, Germany, Norway and Sweden.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s mission is to ensure the increasing value of NHL franchises.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has been in charge since 1993. Today, he supervises 32 teams and, therefore, answers to 32 different bosses. Bettman must plan strategically for “governance, pricing, labor peace, legal liability, communications, [the talent] supply chain, broadcast strategies, social responsibilities,” and more. But his primary job is to make sure the value of NHL franchises increases constantly.

“The NHL is a meaningful business and studying it could deliver benefits to employees and business operators everywhere.”

For his $10-million-a-year League salary, Bettman also must make sure that NHL’s many stakeholders – the teams’ owners, players, officials, employees, arena operators, press, underwriters, vendors, and local, regional and national governments and taxing authorities – all get what they need.

The NHL successfully handles tough business issues.

The NHL has grappled effectively with numerous big-league business issues, leading to these strategic lessons:

• Competition – To plan for the future and succeed in business, companies must pay attention to their rivals and know them thoroughly.
• Courage – Business leaders need the courage to take action when their firms can gain substantial rewards, even if defeat is a possibility.
• Focus – In business, leaders must attend to their goals and avoid distractions.
• Group dynamics – Strength comes from unity. Team members can’t operate according to their personal desires.
• Leadership – Strong leaders make teams and companies effective.
• Motivation – The employees who make significant contributions are committed and enthusiastic.
• Restraint – Corporate leaders must determine which opportunities to pursue and which ones to avoid.
• Resiliency and reliability – Leaders and employees must stay on track, rebound from setbacks and deliver consistent positive results.
• Sacrifice – Many worthwhile goals call for making sacrifices.

Hockey’s “Great One,” Wayne Gretzky, summed up the importance of strategic thinking when he said that hockey always requires “skating to where the puck is going, not to where it is.”

“Our economics are not baseball’s economics. Our game is not baseball’s game. Our owners are not baseball’s owners, with one or two exceptions. Our union is not baseball’s union. What we do has to be crafted and suited to address hockey, to address the NHL, to address our…teams and our…players.” (Gary Bettman)

Additionally, according to sports psychologist Harry Edwards, those who regularly play sports such as hockey develop discipline, sound character, and mental and physical fitness.

Hockey loves tradition and resisted change for decades.

Although teams play hockey on sparkling ice, for many years the sport was largely stuck in the mud. Old ways hung on for decades. Goalies didn’t wear masks until the 1970s. Players used wooden sticks for nearly 100 years until innovation prevailed. Now, NHL sticks are made of composites, such as aluminum and carbon fiber.

“Rigid systems can become oppressive and even limit an organization’s potential. Likewise, while change is often good, it can make traditionalists uncomfortable and keep a firm from achieving its true potential.”

Hockey once resisted change, but now it welcomes innovation. In 1996, for example, the Fox TV network introduced the “Glowing Puck,” which enables fans to follow the fast-moving puck on the ice. For the longest time, many NHL games ended in ties, which fans hated. In 2005, the NHL introduced shoot-outs to eliminate ties. Like the modern NHL, businesses must be ready to accept change when necessary.

Conflict – even fisticuffs – is an NHL tradition.

Fisticuffs between opposing players have long been a staple during NHL games. Fans believe that players’ fights add excitement to the game. Enforcers and the tough-guy bruisers fight, as do the game’s superstars and great scorers, including Gretzky, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.

“Fighting – in the form of an honest, one-on-one battle that is integrated in the game – is a part of the NHL’s tradition, brand and appeal.”

Conflict is unavoidable in the business world, though it lacks the physical ruthlessness of the NHL. Managers must make sure the people on their teams bond together for the common good and avoid personal bitterness, conflict and acrimony.

Conflict between corporate competitors isn’t always a bad thing. For example, Apple and Samsung have battled “in courtrooms and markets around the world.” Such conflicts can provide an impetus for technological innovations that benefit consumers.

The NHL’s games and players have demonstrated their popularity as vehicles for promoting products and services.

The NHL designs its marketing to be relevant to its fans’ cultural and social attraction to the sport.

“Coca-Cola offers its website in more than 45 languages and Nike presents a ‘your location’ portal with links showing 81 country/language options. As early as 1933-4, NHL radio broadcasts were available in both English and French, Canada’s two official languages.”

Companies around the globe have capitalized on hockey’s popularity to promote their wares. One Verizon TV ad depicts a proud new father pounding on the maternity ward’s window like a crazed hockey fan battering away at the glass.

The NHL and many of its players stand up for social justice.

Although hockey is a tough and gritty sport, women and girls have long been active players and inveterate fans.

On February 6, 2010, upward of 55,000 hockey fans flocked to see a game at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. The match was between the University of Wisconsin’s men’s and women’s teams, part of a promotion by the NCAA. Inclusion has become an important concept in hockey, as it now is in business.

Manon Rhéaume, a goaltender and Olympic silver medal winner, became the first woman to play in a game in the CHL, the junior league that provides promising young talent to the NHL. Allowing her to play acknowledged that Rhéaume could compete at the highest levels in hockey’s all-male environment.

“For fans of the NHL, the league’s players are a source of admiration for their work ethic, and for having achieved their dreams in such a fast-paced, aggressive game.”

Social justice and racial equality also have come to the fore in the NHL. In August 2020 – following the death that May of George Floyd, who was Black, at the hands of Minneapolis police – Matt Dumba, a defenseman with the Minnesota Wild team, knelt on the red carpet during the US national anthem at an Edmonton-Chicago Western conference qualifying game.

Dumba, who is Filipino, is a founding executive board member of the Hockey Diversity Alliance, which was formed to work against racism in the NHL. As he kneeled, the scoreboard displayed the words “End Racism” and Black NHL stars Darnell Nurse of the Oilers and Malcolm Subban of the Blackhawks stood on either side of Dumba, each with a hand on his shoulders.

About the Authors

Norm O’Reilly, PhD, CPA, is a dean and professor of sport business at the University of Maine’s Graduate School of Business. Rick Burton is Syracuse University’s David B. Falk Professor of Sport Management.