Fastest Growing NHL Brand? Pittsburgh Penguins

Posted on May 13th, 2009. Written by Emmett Jones.

It will never be argued that Pittsburgh doesn’t love its sports (even the Pirates still draw fans, right?  right?).  According to a Forbes Magazine report, the Pittsburgh Penguins now have the fastest growing team brand in the NHL and one of the fastest growing brands in all of sports.

The Forbes analysis values a team’s brand as the “portion of a team’s overall value that is derived from their name, as opposed to their market and league.” The magazine said the value of Penguins’ brand has grown by 88 percent over the past three seasons.

The Penguins will record their 113th straight sellout tonight, and the team recently signed a naming rights deal with Consol Energy for the new Consol Energy Center. The Penguins have the most-visited NHL team website in the United States, set a record for local television ratings on FSN Pittsburgh for the second straight year, and continue to establish new standards for suite sales and sponsorship sales.

Wow. I live in Pittsburgh and I had no clue about the record website attendance.  I’ve only visited once myself…obviously other people are a bit more fanatical about the website than I am.  I’ve experienced first-hand the strange animal that is Pittsburgh sports.  While I’m sure, as the article mentions, that the Penguins staff put together a great marketing plan/brand strategy, for Pittsburgh fans, all it really takes is for the team to competitive and people will buy their merchandise (actually, even in those few years recently that the Steelers haven’t been good, there was never any lack of Steelers merchandise sales).

In any case, the Penguins brand is on the rise.  Now the question becomes, how will the Penguins continue to capitalize off of their brand?  Hint Hint: there is no hockey equivalent to the Terrible Towel….

NHL.com –  Forbes Magazine analysis says Penguins have fastest growing brand in NHL

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