Serie A and the NHL are teaming up for a groundbreaking collaboration that blends sports activities, tradition, and life-style forward of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. Right here’s how two iconic leagues plan to develop globally collectively.
Simply over every week faraway from our inside the stunning recreation, and we’re again with one other one. However as a substitute of merch that blends one sport with soccer, this time it’s two skilled leagues coming collectively for a Voltron-like partnership.
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Italy’s Serie A and the NHL have joined forces to advertise soccer and hockey on a world scale main as much as the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina. It’s very uncommon to see a collaboration on this scale, and the 2 leagues will look to attach audiences of their respective sports activities. The timing of the announcement is apt, as 2026 won’t solely see the Winter Video games, but additionally after all, the World Cup.
One of many highlights would be the NHL and its respective Gamers’ Affiliation’s European participant media tour in Milan on August 22, only a day earlier than the brand new Serie A season begins. This occasion will characteristic prime NHL and Serie A stars making joint appearances, visiting membership coaching grounds, and attending a match on the San Siro.
The roots of this partnership can date again to March of this yr, when Italian soccer icons Andrea Pirlo and Marco Materazzi traded jerseys with NHL star heart Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers. Now, Serie A and the NHL will increase to a broader content material marketing campaign that can spotlight the shared spirit, tradition, and storytelling energy of each leagues.
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With Milan poised to develop into a world sports activities hub forward of the Winter Video games, executives from each leagues see this as a possibility to interact followers throughout continents. , CEO and Managing Director of Serie A USA, advised City Pitch that the partnership isn’t only a play for social media engagement.
Serie A USA CEO Andy Mitchell.
“This collaboration shouldn’t be an ‘influencer swap’ or a easy social media play, it’s a broader partnership rooted in shared storytelling and viewers progress,” Mitchell mentioned. “Our focus is on constructing a robust basis by means of built-in activations and significant alignment between the worlds of calcio and hockey.”
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Mitchell additionally highlighted how this distinctive cross-league technique aligns two sports activities that, whereas vastly well-liked globally, are nonetheless thought-about area of interest within the U.S.
“We’re forming a strategic alignment with a historic league that has a loyal following in North America,” Mitchell mentioned. “By partnering with the NHL and elevating their European Participant Media Day in Milan, Serie A can profit from a robust media infrastructure in a method that mutually accelerates our progress.”
The NHL, for its half, has made important strides in worldwide markets. With gamers from over 20 nations and video games broadcast worldwide, the league’s world footprint is increasing, significantly by means of initiatives just like the NHL International Collection, which brings mid-season motion to cities like Stockholm and Prague.
Serie A president Ezio Simonelli (left) with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
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Mitchell believes the collaboration affords mutual worth.
“The NHL is a pacesetter in digital storytelling, fan engagement, and content material innovation, particularly in the way it highlights its worldwide stars and appeals to youthful demographics,” he mentioned. “Serie A and different world sports activities federations can completely study from that playbook.”
Maybe most significantly, each leagues share a want to fuse sport with tradition. Serie A has been making massive strides to connect with an American viewers, and that is the most recent initiative from the Italian prime flight.
“One in all Serie A’s biggest strengths in North America is the admiration for Italian tradition,” Mitchell mentioned. “Our analysis exhibits that 51 million Individuals have an affinity for Italian tradition, and 6 million journey to Italy yearly. By combining sport, tradition, and life-style, we’re constructing a deeper and extra lasting reference to followers.”
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Because the NHL continues its world outreach, so does Serie A in America. Each sports activities have nice fanbases and fervour within the stands, and it seems to be like a singular and apparent merger for each leagues’ world enchantment.