{
  "id": 11232668,
  "title": "The NHL is skating on thin ice by cozying up to BookTok",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/the-nhl-is-skating-on-thin-ice-by-cozying-up-to-booktok",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-01T16:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91616277/the-nhl-hot-for-hockey-campaign"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The National Hockey League (NHL) is partnering with the popular BookTok community to launch a campaign aimed at promoting the popular hockey romance genre. The NHL's executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Sean Eggert, announced that they will work with BookTok creators to market their players and demystify the sport behind the helmet. The league plans to release a series of short-form audio books on Spotify featuring real players narrated by contracted hockey romance authors. The campaign aims to bring a playful and fun tone to the sport, similar to the success of previous hockey romance-related content. However, critics argue that this move may encourage parasocial behavior, where fans feel an intimate connection to players and normalize sexualization and harassment.",
  "summary": "The National Hockey League is rolling out a “Hot for Hockey” campaign intended to build upon the success and popularity of the hockey romance genre. League executives told ESPN they were going to court BookTok creators and market their players in a way that will “demystify what’s happening behind the helmet,” said Sean Eggert, the NHL’s new senior executive VP and chief marketing officer. The NHL…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}