Business the NHL Way: Lessons from the Fastest Game on Ice

Business the NHL Way draws on hockey-inspired stories to show how brands, institutions, and individuals associated with the NHL have consistently survived a variety of challenges and thrived as a result of its decisions. This revised and expanded edition explores business-related scenarios from the sport of hockey and links each lesson back to business, leadership, diversity, management, and sport outcomes.

Using ice hockey as an analogy for life, Norm O’Reilly and Rick Burton – leaders in the business of sports and former amateur hockey players – inform business and industry professionals on best practices to achieve strategic outcomes and career advancement. The book aims to help businesses emerge from the financial and health disruptions of the global COVID-19 pandemic that not only altered the future of hockey but threatened business sustainability in every sector. Business the NHL Way will appeal to both casual and passionate hockey fans, as well as anyone eager to follow in the footsteps of a successful professional sports organization.

Norm O'Reilly is dean of the Graduate School of Business at the University of Maine. He is a regular columnist for Sports Business Journal and the lead researcher on the Canadian Sponsorship Landscape Study. He has authored or co-authored numerous books, including Sports Business Management: Decision Making around the Globe and 20 Secrets to Success for NCAA Student-Athletes.


Rick Burton is the David B. Falk Professor of Sport Management at Syracuse University and former commissioner of Australia’s National Basketball League. He is a regular columnist for Sports Business Journal and Sportico and co-author of numerous books, including Forever Orange, 20 Secrets to Success for NCAA Student-Athletes, and Sports Business Unplugged.