NHL and Bayern Munich announce landmark cross-sport alliance and four more games on German soil

MUNICH — The National Hockey League and FC Bayern Munich have agreed to a first-of-its-kind multiyear partnership, joining the world's top hockey league with one of soccer's most iconic clubs in a strategic alliance announced Thursday at Bayern's headquarters.

Alongside the partnership, the NHL confirmed four additional regular-season games in Germany over the coming seasons: two featuring the Boston Bruins in Munich during the 2027-28 season, and two featuring the Edmonton Oilers in Leon Draisaitl's hometown of Cologne. Those will follow two games between the Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators in Düsseldorf in December 2026, with the league already committed to more German games in 2028-29.

A six-month courtship across the Atlantic

The alliance was the product of six months of negotiation, during which senior leaders from both organizations regularly crisscrossed the Atlantic to explore co-branding, content, merchandise and every other avenue of collaboration. There was no template for a strategic partnership between a professional sports league and a foreign club from a different sport — and that made Thursday's joint news conference, conducted concurrently in German and English, all the more unusual.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly sat alongside Bayern's chief marketing officer Rouven Kasper, presented him with a replica Stanley Cup, and welcomed Bayern star Alphonso Davies onto the stage with German-born NHLers Leon Draisaitl and JJ Peterka.

Why Bayern?

The move is part of what Daly described as a "full-out effort to connect with the German fanbase." A league-initiated market analysis identified Germany — a country of 84 million — as having enormous growth potential, and the NHL's board of governors recently signed off on a plan naming Germany a major priority.

"It's a very developed economy here," Daly said. "It's a great sports market. Big population. All of the things lined up here. I don't want to say that it didn't line up in other countries, but it did (here) to the point where we recommended a priority list to the board, and they embraced Germany."

Bayern's scale is staggering: 45.2 million Instagram followers against the NHL's 7.3 million, a trophy case featuring 14 of the last 15 domestic titles, and a payroll more than double any Bundesliga competitor. For Kasper, aligning with the NHL fits the club's ambitions to work only with the best.

"The NHL is one of the biggest leagues in the world, the best hockey league in the world and this is our ambition: We always want to work together only with the best," Kasper said. "What we have in common is that we are very close with our fans, that the dialogue is strong, that the atmosphere is good, and bringing these synergies together. When we were sitting together discussing (this possibility), it just totally made sense."

Crossovers, salary caps and a potential outdoor game

The partnership produced a lighthearted moment when Davies, whose yearly salary can reach 20 million euros with bonuses — well above the $14 million Draisaitl earns as one of the NHL's top stars — was asked about salary caps, which the Bundesliga does not have.

"Obviously I'm happy that there's no salary cap in football," Davies said. "I don't really know how the salary cap works over there."

Daly also told reporters the league could eventually stage an outdoor game in Germany, citing Bayern's 75,000-seat Allianz Arena as a possibility. For Bayern's most senior marketing executive, this is only the beginning of an arrangement unlike any other.

"This is completely unique. Not just for our club. I think you've never (seen) it: that a league like the NHL is cooperating with a club and the other way around. We are both thinking quite innovatively and going new ways," Kasper said. "This is what you saw today, and it's just the start."

Daly framed the deal as a learning opportunity as much as a business one.

"Bayern is a world-class brand. It is known worldwide. It's iconic. It's unmatched in its credibility and its authenticity in terms of how it creates its fans. We want to learn from that," he said.