Key Takeaways:
-International competitions create powerful opportunities for rights holders to showcase athletes, deepen the connection with fans, and accelerate global audience growth.
-Localized, short-form storytelling helps global fans connect emotionally with players, turning fleeting tournament moments into lasting engagement.
-AI-powered content technology enables rights holders to scale multilingual, personalized content across markets, transforming global exposure into meaningful, measurable fan relationships.
The caption read, “From the rink to the pitch”. The photo, posted in late August by Inter Milan, showed five top European NHL players with Nerazzurri players and head coach Cristian Chivu at Inter’s training ground. The occasion: a new partnership between Serie A and the National Hockey League, designed to promote NHL players’ return to the Olympics at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
The return of the best players in the world to the Olympic stage is one of the main storylines of the 2025-26 NHL season, which kicked off this week. It has been a long time coming; NHL players have not been at the Olympics since 2014 in Sochi. The League anticipates that 160-180 of its players will compete in Milan, and the question of who will secure a spot on their respective national team will be a hot topic of discussion leading up to the roster announcements around New Year's.
But it goes deeper than that. The NHL has its eyes set on expanding its global footprint, and the league believes that giving players greater exposure can accelerate its growth — even if it means stopping play for nearly two weeks during the Olympics. “Ultimately, in terms of balancing the pros and cons,” said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, “we decided it was important to go back and be on what is one of the most visible platforms in the world.”
Building on the Olympic Momentum
While the Olympics are the crown jewel of the NHL's global expansion plan, it's only one part of a far broader strategy. In February, the league replaced its All-Star Game with the 4 Nations Face-Off, an international tournament featuring four national teams – Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the US – with NHL players filling the rosters. The one-off event drew massive viewership across North America and, perhaps more importantly, was broadcast in over 200 countries.
During the 4 Nations Face-Off, the NHL announced the return of the World Cup of Hockey in 2028. Previously held in 1996, 2004, and 2016, the 2028 tournament will be organized by the league and the players' association (NHLPA) to establish a calendar of biannual international best-on-best play. “There’s a collective desire from players to not only represent their countries, but also to grow the sport outside of North America,” said Rob Zepp, Senior Director of International Strategy and Growth at the NHLPA.
With roughly 30% of the league’s players coming from Europe, much of the effort is focused there. Regular-season games in Europe date back to 1997, and have been played under the banner of the "NHL Global Series" since 2017. And though the league has traditionally targeted countries where hockey is already a popular sport, such as Sweden, Finland, and the Czech Republic, it plans to hold games in new markets in the near future.
Building Digital Bridges
The NHL isn't only meeting European fans where they are physically; it also makes it a point to speak their language. In 2011, the league launched websites in Czech, Finnish, French, German, Slovak, and Swedish. A Spanish-language NHL.com was added in 2019, giving the league seven non-English language owned platforms.
In addition, the league has recently renewed its partnership with global sports marketing agency IMG. The extended agreement will see IMG continue to manage 28 international social media channels for the NHL across eight markets. The players, for their part, are fully on board, augmenting goals, assists, and saves highlights with personality-driven content fans have come to expect.
“We’re all thinking about, ‘How can we take this sport and grow it in a meaningful way?’” said the NHLPA’s Rob Zepp. “And from a player perspective, ‘How can we utilize all these moments and opportunities and platforms to build familiarity and shine a light on the players who bring the product to life and help them grow their platforms, both as an individual but also as a collective?’”
Technology Meets Strategy
The answer to both questions lies in building a consistent short-form content pipeline that makes every moment count. By turning each performance, jaw-dropping skill, and behind-the-scenes peek into stories in formats and languages that resonate locally, organizations can amplify both individual athletes and the collective product — expanding their reach while making global fans feel truly connected.
Scaling that type of operation across multiple territories is only possible with the right technology. AI-powered content creation solutions enable organizations to instantly generate, personalize, and distribute multi-format clips across every fan channel, complete with automated voiceovers in multiple languages. It’s how rights holders can translate international storylines into global engagement. The start of a new season, especially one that includes an event like the Olympics, is a great time to prove just how powerful that approach can be.
Actionable Insights
-Turn international competitions into storytelling opportunities: capture and repurpose player-driven moments to build emotional connections with fans in every market.
-Localize your content strategy: go beyond translation; adapt tone, visuals, and references to reflect each region’s culture and fan preferences.
-Automate at scale: use AI-powered content tools to generate and distribute multilingual, short-form clips that amplify global reach while staying authentic to local audiences.
