Two badges, one press conference
Alphonso Davies pulled on a hockey jersey at Sabener Strasse this morning. Leon Draisaitl and JJ Peterka stood either side of him. The photo said most of it before anyone reached a microphone.
Bayern Munich and the NHL announced a multi-year partnership on Thursday, tying Germany’s biggest football club to North America’s top hockey league. The agreement covers digital campaigns, co-branded content, merchandise, street hockey events around Munich, watch parties, activations at the Allianz Arena, youth programmes, hospitality experiences and player appearances.
Davies made obvious sense as the face of it. The Bayern left-back grew up in Edmonton, which happens to be Draisaitl’s NHL home. Peterka, now with the Boston Bruins, was born in Munich. The three of them in one frame is the whole pitch.
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Four games on German ice
Munich will host two NHL regular-season games during the 2027/28 season, with the Bruins bringing Peterka back to the city he came from. Cologne gets the other two, and Draisaitl returns to his hometown with the Edmonton Oilers.
The NHL has taken regular-season games to Europe before, including Sweden, Finland, Czechia and Germany. What it has not done is anchor that push to a football club with Bayern’s reach. Scheduling the games for 2027/28 also gives both cities close to two years to build something around them rather than parachuting a fixture in and leaving.
The timing helps. Germany has never had a stronger group of players in the league, and Draisaitl has sat among the NHL’s leading scorers for most of the past decade. Peterka gives Munich a local name. Cologne has Draisaitl. The league is not guessing at where the interest already is.
What each side is actually after
Rouven Kasper called it a partnership that can “set a new benchmark” for what cross-sport collaborations achieve, arguing the connection between the two regions creates synergies on several levels. Keith Wachtel, the NHL’s president, described Germany as one of the league’s most important international growth markets and Bayern as one of the most respected sports brands in the world.
Strip the language back and the trade is straightforward. The NHL wants German attention it cannot buy with a one-off exhibition. Bayern wants a North American foothold that does not depend on another pre-season tour of stadiums. Whether street hockey in Munich turns into anything durable is a question for 2028.
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