ATLANTA and NEW YORK — Honeywell and the National Hockey League (NHL) recently announced a new multi‑year global partnership naming Honeywell the Official Building Automation and Energy Management Partner of the NHL.
Under the agreement, Honeywell “will support the NHL’s efforts of modernizing and creating more resilient, energy efficient arenas, practice facilities and community rinks across North America,” according to the joint announcement.
Honeywell provides scalable and artificial intelligence-enabled building automation technologies “to help facilities manage increasing power and cooling demands, improve uptime for revenue-critical operations and enable reliable, uninterrupted events,” according to the company announcement.
These solutions integrate fire and life safety, security, access and energy management “to help safeguard fans, players and staff, while improving operational performance and the overall gameday experience,” the announcement says. The partnership “also supports community rinks by helping them operate more efficiently and maintain secure, well-managed environments that make hockey more accessible at the local level.”
Why is Honeywell Partnering with the NHL?
“Today’s hockey venues are highly complex, dynamic environments where efficiency and reliability directly impact performance and business outcomes,” says Juan Picon, president, Americas, for Honeywell Building Automation, in the joint announcement.
“By optimizing building automation and energy management, Honeywell is well-positioned to help the league, its teams and local communities create more resilient, digitally enabled facilities that reduce operating costs, protect revenue streams and deliver seamless, secure and high‑quality fan experiences,” he says.
“Our business requires an unprecedented level of interconnectivity and flexibility to deliver best-in-class experiences vital to the game on the ice and the fan experience off the ice,” says David Lehanski, NHL executive vice president, business development & innovation, in the announcement.
“The partnership with Honeywell unlocks proven technology and expertise that can help our clubs expand efficiencies, intelligence and optimization, while creating a blueprint for strategic, long-term investments to support community rinks that are essential to the future of our great game,” he says.
Why is This Partnership Important?
The partnership comes as hockey continues to see sustained growth across North America, increasing demands on both professional and community facilities.
More than 23 million fans attended NHL regular‑season games this season, marking a fourth consecutive year of record attendance, while the hockey programs of the National Hockey League Players’ Association, NHL and 32 member clubs have seen record growth in participation this season.
Honeywell’s technologies “can help venue operators optimize core systems, monitor performance in real-time and turn insights into action,” according to the announcement. Platforms such as Honeywell Forge can help the NHL and facility operators improve energy efficiency, anticipate maintenance needs, protect critical systems and reduce unnecessary downtime.
This supports reliable performance across both physical infrastructure and the digital experiences fans expect.
Looking ahead, the partnership “creates a foundation for long‑term innovation across the hockey ecosystem and an opportunity to modernize building systems while protecting the data infrastructure that supports fan engagement and digital operations,” according to the joint announcement.
Honeywell and the NHL “will explore how advanced building automation, data‑driven insights and integrated energy management can enable new concepts such as a ‘Rink of the Future,’: facilities that are more efficient, connected, secure and resilient.
“By reimagining how arenas and rinks are designed and operated, the collaboration aims to shape the next generation of hockey facilities,” the joint announcement says.
