Adobe and the National Hockey League Partner to Deliver AI-Powered Fan Experiences Globally

The NHL's audience of over 200 million fans across 147 countries gives the planned personalization effort a global scope.

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• As an Official Creative, Marketing and AI Partner of the National Hockey League (NHL), Adobe is providing AI technology to support the NHL’s global expansion efforts, delivering the ability to highly personalize fan experiences and enable individual creativity.
• As the game moves beyond the arena and across digital channels, Adobe CX Enterprise solutions will activate AI for the NHL to deliver the right fan experience, at just the right moment.
• In the future, the partnership could give fans AI-powered tools to express their love of the sport and its Players—content they can share on social platforms and beyond.

SAN JOSE, Calif. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) — the global technology leader that unleashes creativity, productivity and customer experiences through innovative tools and platforms — and the National Hockey League (NHL) have announced a partnership to transform fan experiences with AI. As the NHL gets ready to drop the puck on the 2026-27 regular season, Adobe becomes an Official Creative, Marketing and AI Partner of the NHL. Adobe will provide AI technology to help power how the NHL creates and personalizes fan experiences across every touchpoint, as the League looks to expand its footprint globally (with over 200 million fans across 147 countries) and deepen engagement with its audiences. The partnership could also provide fans new creativity tools to express their passion for the sport and its Players.

“The NHL’s greatest strength has always been the passion our fans bring to the game,” said David Lehanski, NHL Executive Vice President of Innovation and Growth Strategy. “As the ways people follow sports continue to evolve, our focus is on creating experiences that feel as dynamic and compelling as the game itself. Adobe will help us unlock new ways to tell the stories of our Players, Clubs and moments that define hockey, while giving fans more opportunities to be a part of it. This partnership reflects our commitment in continuing to evolve how fans connect with the game they love.”

“The National Hockey League has built an extraordinary connection with its fans, and Adobe is helping them take that relationship to the next level by using AI to deepen personalization and empower everyone to create,” said Lara Balazs, CMO and EVP of global marketing, Adobe. “With Adobe’s enterprise solutions, the League will be able to scale relevant, engaging content across every channel where fans spend their time, fueling operational efficiencies and unlocking individual creativity.”

The Adobe and NHL partnership will provide the League and its 32 Clubs access to Adobe CX Enterprise solutions, combining marketing, creativity and AI tools to drive impactful customer experiences. Over 20,000 brands across industries leverage Adobe solutions to drive Customer Experience Orchestration (CXO), creating systems where organizations can anticipate customer intent and ensure interactions are relevant and engaging. The NHL is partnering with Adobe to enhance fan experiences through accelerating CXO and drive its long-term growth strategy.

Adobe and the NHL will partner on AI initiatives including:

• On-brand content, at global scale: Adobe GenStudio—the AI-powered content supply chain solution — will help the NHL transform how it creates and delivers content, keeping pace with the speed of the game and fan expectations. By powering the content production process with AI, the League can easily create highly personalized experiences for channels such as NHL.com, the NHL app, social media and digital advertising, while also customizing content for individual markets and languages. Adobe GenStudio solutions also help ensure that every piece of content created adheres to brand standards and preserves the look, tone and feel of the NHL experience.
• The right experience, wherever fans engage: The league will leverage Adobe Experience Platform, which can provide a real-time view into customer needs and preferences. These insights can be activated through Adobe Journey Optimizer—the customer journey management solution—and allow the NHL to deliver the right fan experience, at just the right moment. With real-time customer insights, the League can also help make content produced in Adobe GenStudio tailored to individuals, across major channels such as app, web, email and in-arena. Whether it is a fan browsing stats online or experiencing a game in-person, they can receive relevant content that speaks to their tastes and preferences. This helps centralize personalization efforts as a League-wide initiative that keeps pace with consumer expectations, going beyond market-by-market experiments that are difficult to scale.
• Fans could become creators: Looking ahead, Adobe Express—the quick and easy create-anything app—could give NHL fans new ways to convey their passion for the game. With the ability to use generative AI capabilities powered by Adobe Firefly for high-quality image generation, along with NHL-themed templates, fans could create compelling content designed to be easily shared across channels such as social media. Adobe Express could also allow each piece of content to be personalized based on individual creativity.

The partnership will enhance the fan experience across the NHL’s global footprint and its 32 Club markets, spanning some of the biggest moments including the Stanley Cup Playoffs, NHL Global Series, North American events and U.S. and international game broadcasts. As sports fandom moves beyond the arena—with fans looking to engage across social media, mobile app, live broadcasts and more—Adobe and the NHL are working together to ensure the League delivers an impactful experience across every moment. This will enable the League to bring the sport of hockey to a bigger audience and deepen the longstanding connection it has built with fans.

About Adobe

Adobe’s mission is to empower everyone to create by building innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. For more visit www.adobe.com.

About the NHL

Founded in 1917, the National Hockey League (NHL^®) consists of 32 Member Clubs and showcases the world's best hockey players competing for the most revered trophy in professional sports – the Stanley Cup. Each team roster reflects the League’s international makeup with Players from more than 20 countries represented.

The League reaches hundreds of millions of fans worldwide through live game attendance, television, radio, digital platforms and social media. Fans in more than 250 countries and territories engage with the NHL through a global network of media partners, including ESPN, TNT Sports and NHL Network in the United States; Prime Video, Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada; and SiriusXM NHL Network Radio™, Sports USA and TuneIn. Fans around the world can also stream NHL games in nearly 200 countries and territories via NHL.TV on DAZN. NHL.com and the NHL App provide fans with access to scores, statistics, highlights, news and original content, while NHL Productions creates compelling programming that brings fans closer to the players, teams and personalities that define the game.

The NHL is committed to fostering inclusive, healthy and vibrant communities through hockey. Through NHL Unites, the League's social impact platform, the NHL works to ensure that hockey is welcoming and accessible to all, celebrating fans, players and communities of every background. For more information, visit NHL.com.

© 2026 Adobe. All rights reserved. Adobe and the Adobe logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

NHL and the NHL Shield are registered trademarks of the National Hockey League. © 2026 NHL. All Rights Reserved.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260928143410/en/

Kevin Fu
Adobe
kfu@adobe.com

Brad Klein
NHL
bklein@nhl.com

Source: Adobe

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