Sponsorship is a huge opportunity in professional sport, whether it’s a team or a sports organization. Sponsors provide a massive, steady stream of revenue, which helps lower their expenses, creates opportunities to promote the brand and encourages people to engage with the sport.
Meanwhile, the sponsor reaps gargantuan visibility at the venue, on TV, and online through advertising material and through placements on buildings and jerseys. It’s a win for both parties. Below is a look at sponsorship in the National Hockey League (NHL), comparing it with English soccer’s Premier League; at the rise of gambling in Canada; and at the NHL’s following.
Sponsorship in the NHL
Sponsorship is a big money-spinner for the NHL. According to data on the website of consumer and market data company Statista, in the 2023/24 season alone, the league earned $1.4 billion US dollars in revenue from sponsorship. That was an increase of 10% on the year before. Although financial services companies are one of the biggest sources of revenue from sponsorship, gambling services also contribute a sizable chunk to NHL revenue.
Life without gambling sponsorship
What would life be like for the NHL if gambling companies didn’t sponsor the league? Would it be as big and successful?
The realistic answer is yes. Ice hockey in Canada, for instance, is the nation’s favorite sport and was always going to attract followers. Then there’s the fact that jersey sponsorship in the NHL is a relatively new phenomenon. It only entered the organization in the 2022/23 season. Even then, clubs were anxious to restrict the amount of sponsorship on their attire. The league was around long before jersey sponsorship and would likely go on after it.
Then there’s the fact there’s so much competition for sponsorship opportunities. The nature of sponsors in the league is diverse, ranging from healthcare companies to consumer goods and services, to automotive aftermarket, to food companies, and more. Other companies could easily step into places unfilled by gambling companies. The NHL features teams hailing from major US cities can provide sponsors with exposure to markets too good to miss.
Echoes of the Premier League
Think of sports sponsorship and you might well think of England’s Premier League, the most competitive soccer league in the world. Clubs earn staggering amounts of money from sponsorship. In 2024/25, Manchester City’s sponsorship deal with Etihad was the highest earning deal in the league, worth a whopping £67.5 million per year (more than 124, 776 Canadian dollars).
Gambling companies provide vast revenue for Premier League football clubs. However, several clubs agreed to stop promoting gambling companies on the front of their jerseys from the start of the 2026/27 season. Whereas bigger clubs won’t feel the impact and can find new sponsors easily, smaller clubs could have a harder time bringing new sponsors onboard. The league itself, however, would still be as big as it’s always been.
The rise of online casinos in Canada
There may come a time when the NHL sees more online betting and casino brands sponsoring teams. Although Canadian provincial governments regulate gambling, they’ve been less tolerant of iGaming, and players have mostly been able to play at provincial-governmental operated sites — until recent changes in regulations.
In 2022, Ontario became the first province to create its own regulated online gambling and sports betting market, which is booming. In 2025, Alberta is also embracing online gambling services more and is looking to offer licences to private operators. So it’s fair to say real money online casinos in Canada are thriving will have plenty of extra revenue to spend on sponsorship deals, something the NHL will be thinking about taking advantage of.
The following of the NHL
As you might imagine, the NHL is Canadians’ favorite sports league. Millions follow teams’ battles on the ice. That’s a massive amount of attention, so sponsorship of the league makes sense for companies seeking exposure.
Ask a random Canadian who their favorite ice hockey team is. There’s a good chance they’ll reply either the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Montreal Canadiens. In research by Statista, conducted in May 2023, 24% of participants stated the Toronto team as their favorite. The Montreal team were close behind at 22%. The next most popular team, the Vancouver Canucks, was way behind at 10%.
Sponsorship is a major source of revenue for sports leagues and teams, and the NHL is no different. Gambling companies contribute a substantial sum in sponsorship, but if they were to stop, the affected parties would likely find other sources of income, such is the popularity of the league. Given changes in regulations in Canada that are allowing more igaming companies and sports betting companies to enter some of the country’s provincial markets, however, ice hockey could see more gambling companies sponsor the NHL, rather than fewer.
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