The Canadian Hockey League (CHL) is bringing its corporate sponsorship and media sales functions in-house, as well as those for its member leagues: the Western Hockey League (WHL), Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).

The CHL has worked with Canadian Controlled Media Communications (CCMC) as its exclusive sales agency for the last 20 years. The sports marketing firm – which also worked with SCOREGolf, the Toronto Blue Jays, the NHL and the CFL over 41 years in business – shut its doors earlier this year.

To facilitate the new media process, the CHL is creating a new corporate sponsorship team led by former CCMC executive Ryan Hudecki, who has been hired as VP of partnerships. Hudecki has helped manage CHL’s sponsorship business over 18 years with CCMC, where he was most recently, as its chief operating officer.

Working under Hudecki will be Rishi Lal and Randy Paul, who will be national sales directors for the CHL, focusing on integrated media and event sponsorships. The team will also have regional directors leading sales for its member leagues: Alysia Olsen for the WHL, Joe Gallello for the OHL and Caroline Vanasse for the QMJHL.

“As we continue to innovate and grow, we are excited about the new opportunities that will be born out of bringing both corporate sponsorship and media sales in-house,” said Dan MacKenzie, president of the CHL, in a press release. “Building on the great work done by CCMC, our newly structured corporate sponsorship team at the CHL will maximize existing revenue drivers, while identifying exciting new ones across our league’s three-member leagues.”

The league is planning a commercial outreach strategy that will be developed with local execution in as many as 60 CHL communities across North America. The CHL will also be looking to create new revenue opportunities and optimize its current streams, such as the Memorial Cup national championship tournament and the Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.

A total of 4.5 million viewers in Canada watched this year’s Memorial Cup broadcasts on TSN and RDS, including an AMA of 687,000 who watched the championship game. Across its leagues, 8.5 million fans attended games for its 60 member clubs over the course of the 2022-2023 season, which represented an increase of over 30% from the previous year.