Let’s face it. Within a couple of seasons, the National Hockey League will be putting advertisements on its jerseys whether or not the fans, players, and coaches like it. The NHL is looking to gain as much money for the league in any way possible, making ads on jerseys the one thing that would be a win-win for the NHL administration and advertising companies. However, it would cause chaos between the NHL and the fans.
Since the beginning of the NHL, the only advertisements on player uniforms have been the tags of the company that made their jersey, or the brand that made their sticks and skates. This is normal since the players like to have the best gear and like to look good at the same time. But, the NHL is looking to rain on their parade and place advertisements for places like McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and other mainstream companies.
The ads have a high probability of tainting the style of the uniforms and even making it harder for the fans watching hockey games to take the players and potentially their uniforms seriously. No one in the NHL fanbase wants the players they love to look like billboards with advertisements all over them. It would look hideous.
Most NHL uniforms are very stylish and creative, and the colors compliment each other. A jersey like the Colorado Avalanche’s jersey, which is burgundy, blue, white, silver, and black would look terrible with a bright red and yellow McDonald’s “M” on it. A uniform like the Anaheim Ducks’, which is 99 percent orange, would be tainted with a blue and yellow Advanced Auto Parts logo on them.
The NHL makes plenty of money from tickets to team gear, so what is the need for advertisements? The amount of revenue that would be brought in from the advertisements would be an immense amount, but is it worth breaking a part of the culture of the NHL by doing this? Yes, the advertisements could potentially bring hundreds of millions of dollars to the NHL. That funding could go towards salary caps for players, as well as spending money for teams to get players that could potentially be a good addition to the team.
The money that could come from advertisements is not worth it to make uniforms in the NHL look like uniforms in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). The nets even have advertisements on the crossbars! Instead of tainting the style and class of an NHL uniform, the NHL could come up with different ways of raising money, such as creating new things that could appeal to the fans, having sales on their official shop website, and placing their products in more stores around the world. Advertisements on NHL uniforms would just ruin the enjoyment and excitement of even owning your favorite team’s jersey.
