UFA Sports to market Kontinental Hockey League

19 May 2010 | Posted in Agencies, Ice Hockey, Europe, Asia | By Adam Fraser

UFA Sports is set to market the global TV rights for Eurasia's Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

UFA Sports will act as a marketing service partner, while the rights themselves remain with KHL. The KHL was created in time for the 2008/09 season and is an international league stretching across Eurasia, comprising teams from Russia, Belarus, Latvia and Kazakhstan. From September to April, a total of 24 teams battle it out for the Gagarin Cup, which is named after the famous cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The league's strategic partner is the energy company Gazprom.

"This is an important contract for UFA Sports," said UFA Sports managing director Robert Müller von Vultejus. "With this marketing partnership, we have opened up opportunities in the ice hockey market, adding to our successes in the worlds of football, handball, basketball and boxing. The KHL is Europe's fastest-growing ice hockey league, and we want to play our part in allowing the league to continue on its growth course."

"Our contract with UFA Sports is another milestone in the development of the KHL as a modern organisation focusing on national and international markets," added Ilya Kochevrin, general director of KHL Marketing LLC. "UFA Sports will henceforth provide us with professional assistance for challenges such as strengthening the KHL brand in western Europe, marketing TV rights outside of Russia, and working closely with international media. I am confident that this partnership will bear fruit by significantly boosting the popularity of the KHL and therefore furthering the league's economic growth."

In the same vein, Tigran Sirunyan, who is responsible for the KHL project at UFA Sports, said: "The KHL has ambitious plans. We are looking forward to working with the league and to helping it realise its plans."