Montana’s BBQ & Bar has partnered with the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) to become an official sponsor.

Under the agreement, Montana’s will be the CHL’s dining partner for visiting teams’ meals. The restaurant chain will also run ads on TV, and will place advertisements in the league’s arenas and at national events. It will sponsor the Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game 2024 and the Memorial Cup 2024, presented by Dow. 

British Columbia-based Genuine Retail Media is handling media buying for the restaurant. Montana’s and CHL’s in-house teams will manage the creative.

“The CHL is focused on community engagement in 51 Canadian markets, and with the majority of Montana’s restaurants located in our team markets, Montana’s will provide CHL fans and our teams a dining experience with a well-recognized Canadian national brand,” the league’s national director of sales Randy Paul tells MiC. “Montana’s also shares a similar interest both on and off the ice to the CHL, and is committed to both help us grow Canada’s game and develop young athletes across the country.”

The Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game will take place in New Brunswick on Jan. 24, while the Memorial Cup will be held in the U.S. between May 23 and June 2. Both events will be broadcast live on the CHL’s official broadcasters, TSN and RDS. According to the company, a total of 4.5 million viewers in Canada watched last year’s Memorial Cup broadcasts on TSN and RDS.

Last August, the CHL announced that it would bring its corporate sponsorship and media sales functions in-house, as well as those of its member leagues (the Western Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League). This after Canadian Controlled Media Communications, its exclusive sales agency for the past 20 years, closed its doors in early 2023.