The NHL Is Releasing Its Own ‘Hot’ Fanfic. Romance Lovers Hate It
The NHL has launched a 'Hot for Hockey' campaign featuring romance-style audio stories about players to attract new fans. The initiative has faced significant backlash from romance readers and authors who criticize it as exploitative and tone-deaf.
Why it matters
This highlights the friction between corporate marketing strategies and the established norms of niche fan communities.
As part of its new “Hot for Hockey,” campaign, the NHL is rolling out romance novel-inspired short stories starring the league’s players on audiobook platforms. According to the Sports Business Journal, the league contacted popular hockey romance writers to write and narrate the 60 to 90 second stories, and will tap creators on BookTok, the romance-heavy literary subculture on TikTok, to promote the content.
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