The Mountain West Hockey League is designed to meet the competitive needs of Senior Elite hockey players while enabling clubs to operate as cost effectively as possible. Studies show the number one reason minor league teams fold is a failure to focus on business as opposed to sporting aspects of operations. That's why the MWHL collaborates with teams to help them control costs, increase revenue, build brand, draw fans, attract sponsors, and recruit talent.
Managing Expenses
The league works with member teams to devise a schedule that fosters existing rivalries while introducing new opponents. Due to the vast distances between some participating teams, regional divisions and new multi-team match-ups have been developed to control travel costs. The league works to leverage its group buying power to pursue sponsorship programs with travel and lodging companies, as well as uniform and equipment manufacturers.
Creating and Enhancing Revenue Streams
Home teams provide ice time and officials for their home games. They also retain the revenue from ticket sales, concessions, and merchandise sales inside their arena. In order to supplement this revenue, the league partners with teams in a number of ways. The league offers centralized online ticketing to enable teams to sell advance tickets. The league also shares a licensing fee on sales of team logo merchandise via the MWHL Network.
Maximum Marketing
While individual teams are free to market locally as they always have, they also benefit from league-wide marketing programs designed to raise awareness, build brand, and generate revenue for the league and its member teams. One of the ways the league promotes member teams is through the MWHL Network - a central league website and affiliate team sites featuring news, features, scores, stats, standings, highlights, merchandise, tickets, and more.
Team affiliate websites offer efficiency in content production and operating costs, as well as maximum marketing power through cross-promotion. Affiliate sites include easy-to-use web-based tools to allow teams to update their own news, stats, and photos while taking advantage of league generated features, stats, standings, video programming, products, ticketing, and more.
Best of all, the MWHL Network's ad model enables teams to earn income from local advertising campaigns while developing new revenue streams from Google AdSense campaigns and national sponsor campaigns in partnership with the league. The league offers commission-based sales positions nationally and in team markets to maximize ad revenue.
Attracting Fans
The league operates a year-round public relations campaign intended to raise awareness among hockey fans throughout the western United States and beyond. The campaign includes weekly press releases, photos, and videos distributed to local, regional, and national media outlets.
The league operates a Google AdWord campaign designed attract fans and to drive traffic to the MWHL Network with traffic flowing through to each team affiliate site. The league operates a year-round search engine optimization (SEO) campaign to position the MWHL Network and affiliate team sites at the top of search engine rankings. The league also works to develop affiliations with other hockey-oriented websites to raise awareness and increase traffic.
The MWHL works with regional and national sponsors to develop high-visibility promotions - both public and in-game - to attract and retain fans.
Improving Competition
The league works to steadily improve the level of competition league-wide while maintaining balance by assisting teams in recruiting top talent to complete their rosters. While teams are under no obligation to sign talent outside their local market, the league operates player try-out camps each Fall. Try-out camps are designed to showcase regional and national talent. General managers and coaches attend to scout and sign potential players. As the league grows, a draft format may be implemented.
These are just some of the ways the Mountain West Hockey League works with teams to provide benefits. The league welcomes additional ideas and feedback.
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