Los Angeles Kings take sponsors into the boards: team adds company names and logos to promotional signs.

USUALLY, when you see a sports team billboard, it shows a star player and is designed to sell tickets.

But the Los Angeles Kings will now take a different approach for the new season: The team is highlighting its sponsors alongside its hockey stars.

Kings billboards and the slogans that appear on them have been worded to promote the team and its sponsors, and sponsor logos have been added prominently to the Kings advertisements.

For example, one co-branded billboard with sponsor San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino has the tag line "Great Games," with logos for both. Kings executives said that the double meaning emphasizes the partnership.

"This is a great example of how we can go that extra step with one of our partners and go beyond just the elements of a contractual agreement," said Luc Robitaille, Kings president of business operations. "We like this strategy going forward and believe it benefits all parties involved."

The Kings marketing team has taken a role usually filled by an outside advertising agency. As part of the new campaign, the marketing team serves as consultant, creative adviser and ad agency, and then evaluates the success of the advertising campaign.

So not only will the Kings monitor whether the team sells more tickets, the marketing executives will have to make sure that San Manuel knows whether the campaign is effective. With a deal like this, the future of the sponsorship will depend on the results.

Robitaille himself is part of the draw as a former hockey star.

"We are excited to work with Hockey Hall of Famer Luc Robitaille," said Steve Lengel. executive director for San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino.

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Staff reporter David Nusbaum can be reached at dnusbaum@labusinessjournal.com or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 236.