NHL News: Are Ads On Jerseys Really Happening?
Hockey, to those who grew up in the regions on earth where winters are cold and harsh, is the equivalent of the iconic backyard basketball hoop, sometimes tacked onto the side of a barn or a garage, or the sandlot baseball diamond where bases are made up of bundled up t-shirts or pieces of torn cardboard. Hockey is a game that is played on a frozen surface, usually a flooded backyard, or even a pond. Kids grow up skating, imagining themselves as Wayne Gretzky, or Sidney Crosby, pulling crazy dekes and one-timers into a goal. All a player needs to participate is a curved stick, a rubber puck, and a sweater.
In the NHL, the hockey sweater has grown to become a fashion statement on par with NFL football jerseys. Fans represent their teams with the long-sleeved, thick-cut material adorned with the team’s logo with pride. But that may soon change. As reported by the CBC Canada, and posted by Yahoo! News, the NHL is moving toward a future where the hockey sweater — sometimes called a jersey — will become a billboard, as the game’s best players advertise goods and services while skating up and down the ice making incredible wrist shots, and for goalies, amazing saves in the crease.
As Sports Business Daily recently revealed, NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins has publicly stated that ads are “coming and happening.” Adding advertisements to jerseys is not a new development. The Major League Soccer (MLS) circuit, as well as FIFA, have plastered ads on their sportswear for years. NASCAR lives and dies by the countless sponsors that fill every open space on the cars that race in circles, and as reported by the Inquisitr, even the NBA is looking to sell space for ads on their jerseys, a practice already in place in the WNBA. And international hockey teams wear ads on their jerseys, presumably giving Gary Bettman the idea to add revenue to the NHL.
What separates the international game from the NHL is private ownership. The teams in the NHL are privately owned, whereas international play is usually nation-driven and the players’ contracts are underwritten by sponsors. The NHL, and the NBA for that matter, is run by millionaires and billionaires, and the placing of ads on their jerseys shows the owner’s greed more than anything else.
While NHL hockey is not on the level as, say, NFL football (who sells advertising on practice jerseys, particularly during teams’ training camps), the hockey sweater is iconic to some. Can hockey fans really see a future where the Montreal Canadiens “C” is accompanied by an ad for Molson Beer? Will the Toronto Maple Leafs logo have a Toyota logo in the center of it? Will the New York Rangers soon be sponsored by Papa John’s Pizza?
All signs are pointing to “yes” on all accounts, and the NHL is fine with it. Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA is fine with it. And very soon, those kids skating in their frozen backyards each winter will be walking, talking advertisements for beer, pizza, and even Viagra. Do you think ads on jerseys are a good idea? Do you prefer your sports jersey — an advertisement itself — to display more advertising? Sound off in the comments below.
[Images courtesy of sports mockery.com and TS4Team.com]
