2023-2024 NHL Season Preview

Tuesday, October 3 | 12:30 PM ET

2023-2024 NHL Season Preview

What we will cover:

The most important storylines leading into the 2023-24 NHL Season, including:

• Media rights, streaming and content distribution
• Marketing and sponsorship
• Tentpole events
• New team ownership and leadership
• Fan experience, both in arena and at home
• New technology and innovations

Who should attend:

• NHL team and league representatives
• Media companies and brands working with the NHL and NHL teams
• Technology companies and vendors working with the NHL and NHL teams
• Agencies doing business with the NHL, teams and associated brands

Featured speakers (Additional to be announced)

Jim Van Stone is the President of Business Operations and Chief Commercial Officer at Monumental Sports & Entertainment overseeing ticket sales and services, corporate partnerships, executive suites, marketing and retail business. Previously Van Stone was Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s Chief Revenue Officer.

Van Stone has played a leading role in a myriad of groundbreaking sponsorship agreements at Monumental including arena naming rights (Capital One), Washington Wizards, Capitals and Mystics and Wizards District Gaming practice facility naming rights and medical partnership (MedStar Health), Wizards jersey patch (GEICO), Capitals jersey patch (Caesars Sportsbook), technology platform (Alibaba), and the first international partner for the Wizards (NEC) which led to the team’s first international trip to Tokyo, Japan in 2022. In October of 2019, Van Stone led negotiations with William Hill to become the first official sportsbook partner of the Wizards, Capitals and Mystics (William Hill has since been acquired by Caesars Entertainment) – the first partnership of its kind in North America, and in 2021 he brokered the revolutionary partnership with KPMG leading to their first corporate business development suite inside a sports arena, at Capital One Arena.

From a ticketing perspective, Monumental has seen incredible success since Van Stone’s arrival, including a Capitals sellout streak dating back to the 2008-09 season and oversight of several major events including the 2011 and 2015 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, 2018 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series and 2019 NBA London Game.

Under Van Stone’s guidance, Capital One Arena underwent a $70 million transformational renovation during the summer of 2018 and 2019, which included the latest in LED video technology, one of the largest 360-degree continuous video screens in sports and modernized concourses, suites and destination lounges throughout the building.

Van Stone joined the Capitals as vice president of ticket sales and service in 2007 before transitioning to his Monumental Sports & Entertainment role in 2010. Before joining the organization, Van Stone held senior positions with the Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Coyotes.

Kyle McMann, Senior Vice President of Global Business Development, is responsible for generating revenue through the development of strategic partnerships and the sale of NHL controlled media, helping the League on its path to upwards of $6 billion in annual revenues. McMann also leads the day-to-day sales relationships with national media rightsholders Sportsnet and TVA in Canada, and ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery in the U.S., to ensure League partners are leveraging NHL broadcast media assets in their activation plans and to jointly unearth new opportunities for partnerships. In addition, he works regularly with Club sales leads to uncover local opportunities that can be bundled into national partnerships to further the League’s business objectives at both a national and local level.

McMann has been a central figure in negotiation efforts that have led to net-new partnerships and to the successful long-term renewals of many of the League’s strongest partnerships both in terms of their financial contribution to the League’s rights, media and events business, as well as through the positive fan engagement the immense scale of unique NHL-branded activation yields to the brand. Under McMann’s leadership, the NHL’s current partnership business is the biggest it’s ever been than at any point in its history with more than 65 NHL corporate partners across the globe. In the last year alone, McMann has secured new official partnerships with Caterpillar, Chipotle, Clutch, Henkel, Hyundai Canada, and secured renewals with BetMGM, MGM Resorts, PepsiCo, and Jägermeister.

In addition to driving direct revenue, McMann is leading the sales side of Digitally Enhanced Dasherboards (DED), the League’s innovative, first-of-its-kind signage initiative launched at the start of the 2022-23 season. The DED system allows for the digital replacement of camera-visible arena dasherboards within local, national, and international NHL game broadcasts, ushering in the next wave of innovation to create new monetization opportunities for the League, its Clubs and their media and corporate partners.

Prior to his role in Business Development, McMann led the Partnership Marketing group for the NHL as Vice President, Integrated Marketing and led the sales efforts for the successful 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

In 2013, McMann was recognized by George Brown College and The Globe and Mail as a Five To Watch recipient – an award identifying the next generation of sports business leaders.

He began his career at the NHL in December of 2005 as a Senior Manager, Partnership Marketing after a five-year stint at an independent marketing communications agency focusing on FI promotions. Since his start he has expanded his role and responsibilities successively to Senior Vice President, North American Business Development.

McMann lives in Toronto with his wife Sara and three daughters.

Registration is free. All registrants will receive a link to watch the recording once the session concludes.

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