Business News: Norqain Scores Multi-Year Sponsorship Deal With NHL Aimed At Vaulting Swiss Brand To The Big Leagues

We’ve seen some big moves in the Swiss watch brand sports sponsorship arena in the past year, with Breitling winning a deal to be the official timepiece partner of the NFL and LVMH and its motorsports-heavy brand Tag Heuer returning to Formula 1 as the title sponsors in a multi-brand, decade-long agreement that saw Rolex step away. Today, a smaller Swiss brand is getting in on the major league sports sponsorship action, with Norqain scoring a deal to be the official sports watch of the National Hockey League as part of a multi-year, international partnership accord. 

Under the new deal announced today, family-owned independent Norqain will have full international licensing rights in the United States, Canada, and Europe to use the NHL and its thirty-two team logos and branding in products, at retail points of sale, through events, and media. The NHL partnership is expected to give the brand, founded in 2018 by Switzerland’s Küffer family and a group of investors and executives that includes former NHL star and Norqain co-founder Mark Streit, a significant boost in profile through television broadcasts and in professional hockey arenas. 

“Our partnership will give Norqain incredible brand visibility on NHL broadcasts across the world”, says Kyle McMann,
NHL Senior Vice President, Global Business Development. Alongside the NFL, Major League Baseball, and the NBA, the National Hockey League is one of the top four professional team sports leagues in the U.S. and Canada, and is considered the world’s premier ice hockey league. However, with annual revenues of about $6.6 billion and total in-person attendance of about 22.9 million in the most recent season, it still trails football, basketball, and baseball revenues and audience by a wide margin. 

“Ice hockey has been part of the brand since day one. Everything you are passionate about is always very authentic, so when we started the Norqain brand with Mark [Streit], we were all about sports, and ice hockey was a big part,” Ben Küffer, Norqain’s founder and CEO, says in an interview ahead of the announcement. Indeed, Norqain has previously partnered with the Spengler Cup international hockey tournament and the NHL Players Association, which granted it a role at the annual NHL All-Star Game. The new NHL agreement brings Norqain’s association with hockey to the next tier. “It’s really a dream come true to be associated with the NHL at this level. Everyone knows how popular the sport is in North America, and the U.S. is our number one market,” Küffer adds.

Perhaps best known for its ‘Wild One’ sports watch model developed with help from legendary Swiss watch executive Jean-Claude Biver, Norqain’s association with hockey runs deep. In addition to co-founder Streit, a Swiss who won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2017, Norqain shareholders and brand ambassadors include all-time great Sidney Crosby, the Canadian who currently captains the Penguins and shared the Cup with Streit in 2017, as well as Nashville Predators captain and Swiss player Roman Josi.  

The partnership deal comes as the 2025 NHL Global Series takes place in Stockholm, Sweden that will see Crosby’s Penguins face off against Josi’s Predators in two regular season games on Nov. 14 and Nov. 16. The brand says that after each contest in Sweden, a unique Norqain Wild One watch in 18-carat gold, will be awarded to the Player of the Game.

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Hero image courtesy Norqain.