The real “heated rivalry” might be between people who actually like hockey and the NHL executives who “promote” the sport. Subscriber AR alerted me to an NHL story that, upon first glance, I assumed was elaborate satire. There’s a Sports Business Journal article titled “NHL rolls out romance-themed ‘Hot for Hockey’ campaign.” The cult success of the gay hockey romance TV series Heated Rivalry has apparently inspired NHL executives to craft fictional romance stories around these stick-wielding jocks.
The stories put out by the NHL won’t feature any actual romance between real-life NHL players. The presentation, however, winks at the genre. The first two installments, “Jack of Hearts” and “The Storm Between Us,” feature Golden Knights C Jack Eichel and Hurricanes C Sebastian Aho, respectively.
Usually when I use the phrase “top-down marketing,” I’m not referring to a major sports league’s promotion of steamy sex fantasies. I hope you’re all horny for hockey, a condition that, according to league executives quoted in ESPN, is all part of their TikTok-pitched effort at “humanizing” the players for Gen Z audiences.