Cleveland Monsters win AHL awards for sponsorship sales and creativity
Cleveland’s business team was honored in Grand Rapids for selling 26 new partners and turning sponsorships into theme nights, rink upgrades and youth hockey support.
The Cleveland Monsters left Grand Rapids with a clear message for the AHL: business wins can change the hockey experience as much as a hot line or a power-play surge. At the league’s Team Business Meetings at DeVos Place Convention Center, the Monsters were recognized with Sponsorship Sales Department of the Year and Most Unique Sponsorship Entitlement, awards that spotlighted both the scale and the creativity of their commercial operation.
The sales honor reflected a record-setting 2025-26 season in which Cleveland added 26 new local business partners, including Century Federal Credit Union as a jersey patch partner. That work helped create four new theme nights, among them a revamped Blue Jackets Nights presented by Re-Bath and an I-71 Interskate poster giveaway featuring Monsters players who had advanced to the NHL. For fans, those sponsorships show up in the form of fuller game nights, fresh activations and a team identity that feels built around the arena experience, not just the standings.
One of the clearest examples of how the business side now touches the sport itself came through the Monsters’ extended partnership with University Hospitals, which the club renewed on Feb. 20, 2026. UH remains the team’s official health care partner and primary care facility for players, while the deal also supports the Rink Refresh Initiative, which can award up to $20,000 in yearly rink renovation help, and the Mini Monsters Scholarship Program, which covers enrollment fees and equipment needs for 10 local hockey players each year. That is not just branding. It is infrastructure for the next generation of players and rinks around Northeast Ohio.
The Most Unique Sponsorship Entitlement award went to the Monsters’ work with Rocket, a partnership that went far beyond a standard logo placement. The club and Rocket created a fan-designed Cleveland Rocks Night T-shirt chosen through fan voting, a social series called The Home Team that told the stories of four players and reunited them with their parents as they watched the features, and concourse activations that turned fans into Monsters-themed visuals. Rocket vice president of sports Doug Buser said the collaboration is helping define a new era for the company’s creative ideas and create moments of real connection with a passionate fan base.
The recognition landed in a bigger league setting, with more than 250 representatives gathered in Grand Rapids and about 40 merchandise, promotional, ticketing and technology companies taking part in the Vendor Showcase. It also fit a broader rise for Cleveland, which extended its affiliation with the Columbus Blue Jackets in October 2023 after the Monsters had led the AHL in attendance in three of the previous four seasons. Ben Adams, who won the league’s Ken McKenzie Award in 2025 after 11 years with the club and Rock Entertainment Group, has been part of that climb, and Cleveland’s selection as host of the 2027 AHL All-Star Classic at Rocket Arena only adds to the sense that the franchise has become one of the league’s most complete operations.
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