Advisory on the Deutsche Eishockey Liga

Period: 24/25-27/28 | Client: Deutsche Eishockey Liga

The Swedish based sports media rights company Commercial Sports Media was appointed in April 2022 by the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (PENNY DEL) to advise the league in the upcoming media rights sales process of all media rights inventory under PENNY DEL`s control.

PENNY DEL and Deutsche Telekom reached an early agreement to extend the TV contract by four years up to and including the 2027/28 season. This decision means that all PENNY DEL games will continue to be shown live on MagentaSport. Originally, the contract ran until June 30, 2024.

The new agreement for PENNY DEL, starting with the 2024/25 season, will include more than 400 matches per season. German ice hockey in general, and the PENNY DEL in particular, have seen strong growth over the last years in terms of followers and sportive quality. PENNY DEL has three clubs among the top 10 in arena attendance rankings in Europe and the national team reached the final at the Winter Olympics 2018.

Gernot Tripcke, Managing Director of PENNY DEL, says:

“I am very happy about the decision and thank all parties involved for the very constructive and trusting discussions. We have achieved remarkable growth in recent years in close partnership with MagentaSport for our sport and we are building on this foundation to take the next steps. In the area of production, in even greater use of moving images for online and social media channels, and the integration of innovative tools, we want to make ice hockey even more interesting for the TV audience.”

Arnim Butzen, responsible for Telekom’s TV business in Germany, says:

“We are delighted to extend our partnership with the PENNY DEL ahead of schedule. The PENNY DEL contributes greatly to the attractiveness of our sports offering. This is shown by our viewer figures and the positive feedback from ice hockey fans. With this long-term decision, we can continue our successful cooperation and further develop the league together – from coverage and marketing to innovations in production and additional offers for our viewers.”

Commercial Sports Media acted as the exclusive advisor of PENNY DEL, following very successful sales processes of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), Finnish Ice Hockey League (Liiga) and the top level league in Norway during the past years.

“We are very pleased that our previous work with ice hockey leagues and federations has been recognized in the European marketplace for sport media rights” says Jonas Persson, CEO of Commercial Sports Media.

“Ice hockey has gained a significantly improved position in the German sport and media market. From a sporting point of view, the years ahead look very interesting. The following of the top clubs is massive and the impressive work put in over time by the DEL and its partners is really paying off. The future for German ice hockey is great”, Jonas Persson continues.