NHL courts BookTok romance fandom with Hot for Hockey
Why the NHL's Hot for Hockey campaign is borrowing BookTok romance tropes to reach new fans, and the brand risk in joining a subculture it didn't build.
Ice hockey has quietly become the default setting for a booming corner of romance fiction. Now the National Hockey League wants to bring some of that heat onto its own channels.
The league’s new “Hot for Hockey” campaign is designed for BookTok, the TikTok subculture where readers discuss romance novels and cast real athletes as leading men. NHL executives told ESPN the effort will court BookTok creators and use the genre’s pull to “demystify what’s happening behind the helmet,” in the words of new chief marketing officer Sean Eggert.
Where the campaign comes from
Per Sports Business Journal, the league is releasing short Spotify audiobooks with titles such as “The Storm Between Us” and “The Summer I Turned Gritty” — a playful nod to the Philadelphia Flyers’ mascot. The stories spotlight real players and are written by contracted hockey romance authors, starting with C.R. Jane, author of the Pucking Wrong series.
The official description pitches “the NHL’s biggest stars and fiercest matchups, told in a way you’ve never heard before.” The league has been clear, however, that the audio won’t be explicit and won’t feature romances between players. It borrows the genre’s tropes and tone without its spicier edges.
Why fan sponsorship beats borrowed interest
Hockey has long dominated the sports romance category. Recent screen adaptations of Heated Rivalry and Off Campus have produced passionate fan bases that have spilled into real attendance at NHL games — what some fans call the “boy aquarium.” More hockey romance projects are already in the production pipeline.
For brand managers, this is the crucial distinction: the NHL did not create this demand. It is stepping into an existing community and asking for a role. When a brand enters a fan subculture, the upside is reach and relevance; the downside is that the community controls the interpretation. The Seattle Kraken learned this in late 2022, when it began making BookTok content after fans had already been casting Kraken players as romantic protagonists.
What to do when your customer has a fantasy about your product
- Partner with the scene, not around it: the NHL says it worked with real romance authors, illustrators and voice actors.
- Define the line early: playful tropes are in, explicit or speculative player romance is out.
- Check whether fans feel seen or simply harvested, using both sentiment and creator response.
In a statement to Fast Company, the NHL called “Hot for Hockey” “a small way to give a playful nod to something that’s clearly going on in the cultural zeitgeist.” That framing may be the campaign’s best defence. A nod respects the community’s authorship. A takeover would invite the exact fan backlash the league is trying to avoid.
Source: Fast Company
