Alex Ovechkin is closing on Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goals record, and the Washington Capitals are prepared to take full advantage of the history-making moment.
Jim Van Stone, the chief commercial officer of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the holding company for the Capitals, said the team kicked plans into high gear at the start of the current season, knowing that Ovi breaking the record was a real possibility. As a result, business this season has been the best in the team’s history, according to Van Stone, even surpassing the Stanley Cup-winning run in 2017-18.
“Every business metric that we have is really ballooning to the top,” Van Stone said in a video interview. “We’re going to create our best regular-season gate that we’ve ever had … Our suite and premium business is really at an all-time high from that standpoint, our sponsorship business booming.”
Early in the season, the Capitals withheld a number of tickets for late season home games in anticipation of high demand as Ovechkin moved closer to Gretzky. Those tickets are now being released as Ovechkin has scored 42 goals, increasing his career total to 887, within seven of Gretzky’s record total of 894. Van Stone said the team also is planning on having viewing parties throughout the region for those unable to get to Capital One Arena.
Yet there’s a decent chance that he can at least tie the record on the road, and teams may upsell their own tickets for fans wanting to witness history. In making sure the Capitals are represented on the road, Van Stone said that their on-ice rivals have been cooperative. “They’re going to help us secure some tickets because we’re going to have a big contingent of people [when Ovechkin is] probably five goals [away] that are going to go to a lot of these away games.”
The Caps will be featured on four exclusively national telecasts in April—one apiece for TNT/TruTV/Max, ESPN+/Hulu, ABC and ESPN—to close out the regular season. Yet in an unusual agreement, the NHL has allowed Monumental Sports Network to produce its own local broadcasts for archival purposes. If Ovi scores during any of those games, the RSN will release its recorded video and audio of the goal call. The full Monumental broadcasts will be available the following day.
Overall, the regional sports network has experienced a 31% increase in viewership for game broadcasts in the D.C. and Baltimore markets compared to last season. Thus far in the month of March as Ovechkin draws closer to Gretzky’s record, viewership has gone up by 60%.
Back in October, Monumental signed a sponsorship agreement with Arlington, Va.-based Venture Global, making the liquefied natural gas company the presenting sponsor of “The Gr8 Chase.” (The LNG firm also signed a separate sponsor deal with Ovechkin.) That multiyear presenting sponsorship includes the “Gr8 Chase Throne,” a display originally made from 802 hockey pucks when Ovechkin passed the late Gordie Howe on the career goals list in March 2023. The throne, updated with additional pucks with Gretzky’s record in reach, made its return to Capital One Arena on March 1.
It’s worth noting that in January, Venture Global went public to disastrous results. As of last Monday, shares in the firm dropped by more than 60%, erasing nearly $39 billion in value after its valuation target had already been slashed by $65 billion.
Neither the Capitals not Venture Global responded to requests for comment on the stock’s freefall and any potential impact on the sponsorship.
In addition to the in-arena activities, the Caps have commissioned two murals in homage to Ovechkin to be painted in Washington, D.C.; one in the Adams Morgan neighborhood and another at Union Station, with other murals going up at the famed Smithsonian museums throughout the city. Longtime Capitals sponsor Papa John’s has its own goal prediction promotion where the winner and three friends will have a meet-and-greet with the Capitals superstar. The media company Cllct, billed as Monumental’s “Official Cultural History and Collectibles Partner,” is offering its own collectibles.
The most poignant partnership will come from Ovi’s own wallet. In concert with Hockey Fights Cancer, a charitable initiative of the NHL and the NHLPA, Ovechkin is donating a dollar amount matching his goal total to the long-venerated V Foundation for Cancer Research for every goal he scores. For example, when he scores his 888th goal, he’ll donate $888 dollars. Monumental will match Ovechkin’s donation each time.
There are still conversations to be had during this run for the record, Van Stone said, such as one about what mementos will be sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. “I think a lot of our conversations have really been with the league,” Van Stone said. “Also working with David Abrutyn, who represents Alex, and everything on the marketing side. So there’s been really great dialog in conversations.”
With Ovechkin himself already collecting each puck and stick along the way, the club wants to make sure fans have their moments throughout as well. “This legacy is something that we want to make sure it gets the accolades and the exposure that it rightfully deserves from that standpoint.”
