Research by SponsorUnited shows the Vegas Golden Knights have the most sponsorship deals in the National Hockey League.
Of nine markets across North America and Europe that the sports and entertainment marketing platform studied for its first State of the Market report, the Golden Knights also had the most sponsorship deals of any professional sports team tracked—nearly 200 partnerships.
“We’ve tried to be creative and be very flexible,” said Keith Baulsir, senior vice president of global partnerships for the Vegas Golden Knights. “And … we love having a variety of partners, maybe two or three in a certain vertical or category—where, in a bigger market, you might only have one big exclusive partner.”
Las Vegas’ homegrown hockey team benefits from some unique factors when it comes to sponsorships, including the rapid growth of the city and its sports scene, its space in state-of-the-art T-Mobile Arena and more, said Bob Lynch, founder and CEO of SponsorUnited.
The Golden Knights also entered the market at a time when sports betting was becoming much more accepted, Lynch said.
“I think that the Vegas Golden Knights were really smart early on not to try to get in the proverbial bed with one particular big partner in that space,” he said. “The relationships matter so much beyond sponsorships related to hospitality and the other dollars that kind of come with those relationships.”
The Golden Knights’ strategy when they launched revolved around the understanding that Las Vegas is only the 40th-largest market in the U.S. and the second-smallest in the NHL, Baulsir said. That meant being community-focused and building partnerships with local companies, Baulsir said.
“We really pride ourselves on being Vegas-born, being the only team in the market that’s born here, originated here, from day one we were founded here in Vegas,” he said. “And with that, we also really enjoy working with local Vegas-born companies, and we probably have more mom-and-pop type companies than other sports teams in the country have.”
Despite their location in the 40th-largest market, Lynch said, Las Vegas sports teams can go to bigger brands and strike a deal because of how many people nationwide travel there.
“There’s a tremendous amount of people coming into these markets for big events,” he said.
Smaller companies may not be able to
afford sponsorship in the sports realm in other markets or even with other teams in Las Vegas, which is not the case for the Golden Knights’ local partners, said Baulsir, who noted that the team’s entry point is lower than any other hockey teams.
Even at about six figures, he estimated, the buy-in cost to be a partner of the Golden Knights is still less than many sports teams.
“It gives our partners, very much, just a big platform and … a megaphone to make some noise about their brand,” Baulsir said, adding that sponsorship deals also drive revenue for the Vegas Golden Knights organization and often engage or benefit fans. “And that’s important to them. We tailor those packages. We come up with unique ways for them to do that, that align with their business.”
In addition to big brands like MGM Resorts International, Toyota and Anheuser-Busch, he said, the hockey team also partners with Las Vegas-based Green Valley Grocery, Lee’s Discount Liquor, Pinkbox Doughnuts and dozens of others.
More than 40% of Golden Knights sponsors are based in Las Vegas, a number that—for comparison—is only 28% of the Las Vegas Raiders sponsorship makeup, according to SponsorUnited.
In its report, the Stamford, Connecticut-based company analyzed how that “strong local backing has made the Golden Knights the top team for sponsorships in both the NHL and Las Vegas.”
“We’re open for business,” Baulsir said. “We’re open to talking to anyone. And not every company is going to end up working with us, but we’d love to learn more about members of the community, (the) business community, and we’d love to try and find a way to partner with anyone that’s out there.”
