John Collins: How do you determine who to partner with?

“I think you have to know what your brand is and be really clear about what you are going to do in the marketplace. For any sports league, the size of our budgets is dwarfed by the size of the marketing and advertising budgets of people like a Nike or an Apple or a General Motors. So the way to get them on board is to take the power of our brand, the connection that we have with our fans, and create new programs that are not only going to propel what the NHL wants to do, but is also going to sell products and services that make this emotional connection with hockey fans and our partners’ brand.” — John Collins