Are ads on NHL jerseys on the way?

The NHL's new deal with adidas means we may soon see corporate logos on team jerseys.

Author:
Allan Muir
Publish date:
Aug 17, 2015

Could a reported deal with a new supplier lead to advertisements on jerseys in the NHL? That’s the buzz after news broke on Monday that Adidas will become the league’s official jersey supplier beginning in 2016–17.

According to TSN’s Rick Westhead, the previous deal with Reebok netted the NHL $35 million per season. The new contract will pay twice that amount. Nice for the league’s coffers, but Adidas isn’t throwing that much money at the NHL simply because the apparel company wants to appear “cool” again.

Such a significant investment could lead to radical changes in the appearance of the new Adidas jerseys, starting with the prominent use of the company’s famous three-stripes logo. And if that’s allowed to take up any significant amount of space, well, it’s easy to make the leap to what comes next.

The 20 Worst NHL Jerseys of All Time

#20: 1995-97 Vancouver Canucks thirds

The spaghetti skate might be the NHL's biggest logo fail outside of Vancouver's own original stick-in-a-rink, but it never seemed quite so excessive as when it was applied to these shocking alternates. Add in the unbalanced yellow V that bisects the logo and slides off to the right side and take away the shoulder and arm piping and you're left with a jersey that's somehow overly busy and sadly plain at the same time.

#19: 2009-11 Ottawa Senators thirds

The Canadiens have an abbreviated nickname too, but you'd never catch them slapping it on the front of a jersey.

#18: 1998-2006 Calgary Flames thirds

Their home/roads from 1995-2000 could have made the cut as well—does anyone know what was going on with the section of trim that leapt up from the bottom and pushed the logo higher?—but the silliness of the flame-snorting horse gives these the edge. That black base didn't go over too well with fans who loved the C of Red, either.

#17: 2001 All-Star Game

This one feels like the designer was romancing fans of soccer or rugby kits, because it doesn't much look like hockey ... oh wait, there's the NHL logo all tucked away over there!

#16: 2003-07 Atlanta Thrashers thirds/homes

The burnt red “motocross” thirds worn from 2008-11 might be more universally despised, but these get the nod because they went from seldom-worn thirds to their standard home kit. The baby blue base that works for the Penguins fails here because of the complementary colors, but the real disaster is the trim that runs down the left sleeve only emblazoned with the word Atlanta—you know, in case the fans watching at Phillips Arena forgot what town they were in.

#15: 2001-07 Nashville Predators thirds

Honestly, the alternate logo on these is pretty awesome, maybe better even than their traditional tiger head. But that hideous mustard yellow base and that square-cut neckline ... did Anne of Brittany design these things?

#14: 2001-07 Edmonton Oilers thirds

Books should have layers of meaning. Movies, songs ... sure, they can too. But team logos? They just need to look cool. That point was lost on artist/minority owner Todd MacFarlane who tried waaaay too hard when he was asked to come up with something new. Ditching the traditional colors was another big mistake.

#13: 2015 All-Star Game

2015-NHL-All-Star-Game-Jonathan-Toews-Ryan-Johansen.jpg — Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Yes, these were widely panned when they were revealed late last year, but I don't think we've quite yet come to terms with how awful these really are. Give it time, though. The oozing toxic green trim and oversized chrome NHL shield will soon be as fondly regarded as KISS's disco years.

#12: 2011-14 New York Islanders thirds

You know how things work these days. Nothing gets into production without market testing, focus groups and God knows how many meetings. At some point in the process, there had to be alternatives on the board ... and yet somehow, a black jersey with a “dynamic” Islanders wordmark above a player number was the option everyone agreed on. Or maybe they just left the whole thing up to an intern.

#11: 1995-96 Los Angeles Kings Burger King

Ray Ferraro wrote just today on Twitter that the worst-dressed game he ever saw was when the Kings trotted these paeans to fast food out against the salmon-clad Canucks. Why am I hungry all of a sudden?

#10: 1998-93 Phoenix Coyotes thirds

A reminder of just how bad things got in the '90s, these green alternates combined an under-designed alternate logo with a desert green background and a cactus-festooned trim that was as richly detailed as the old 8-bit High Noon game. Peyote may have been ingested during the design process.

#9: 1978-85 Vancouver Canucks deep V

This beaming yellow sweater with deep black and red V neckline instead of an actual logo was the first of many ill-conceived designs trotted out by the franchise. Many fans revere it as an important part of the Canucks' history. And this is why that team can't have nice things to wear.

#8: 2011 Calgary Flames Heritage Classic

Okay, so maybe they do have a bit ol' timey flavor, but they also look a lot like Ronald McDonald's outfit, especially next to the Canadiens' more dignified threads.

#7: 2003-06 Dallas Stars “Mooterus” thirds

No less a fashion expert than Sean Avery ranked this design as the worst jersey ever in an article in Men's Vogue, and he's not far off. In introducing the design, the Stars said “the new logo depicts a constellation of individual stars aligning to form an unstoppable force of nature, a charging bull.” What they overlooked was that stars also aligned to resemble the female reproductive system.

#6: 1995-97 New York Islanders fish sticks

New-York-Islanders-fisherman-uniform-1995-Darius-Kasparaitis-Travis-Green_0.jpg — Jim Leary/AP

It could have been worse. They could have been inspired by another islander for the logo ... like maybe Gilligan.

#5: 1996-99 Tampa Bay Lightning thirds

Another standout of the sublimation era, this one was the work of someone who finally made the connection between slashing rain and high seas and hockey. And we're all better for it.

#4: 2013-14 Buffalo Sabres thirds

Before #thedress, this horrorshow was the social media fashion phenomenon ... except in this case, everyone agreed: it was mustard yellow and it sucked. In fact, the online animosity was so relentless that Buffalo president Ted Black was moved to utter one of the greatest lines in hockey history: “If it's a turd burger I'll have to put it on a bun and eat it.” We hope that burger came with a shake to wash it down, Ted.

#3: 2009 Montreal Canadiens 1912-13 throwbacks

Looking more like the uniform of a 1920s chain gang rock breaker than a legendary hockey team, this tribute to Montreal's centennial season was so ugly that coach Bob Gainey refused to let his team wear it a second time after its Feb. 1, 2009 debut. Boston's Shawn Thornton, whose Bruins beat the Canadiens 3-1 that night, thought that was the right call. “I was really concerned about it in warmup,” he said. “When there were 23 guys skating around, I was dizzy and I didn't know if I got enough sleep or what.”

#2: 1995-96 Anaheim Ducks Wild Wing

This is the “Showgirls” of hockey sweaters, a debacle so gallingly bad that for some it comes all the way back around to great. Featured a cartoon version of the team's mascot leaping forward in an apparent 'roid-fueled rage along some of the worst name/number graphics ever.

#1: 1995-2006 Bruins Winnie The Pooh thirds

Objectively, this wasn't even the worst third jersey introduced in 1995, but it stuck around so long—10 humiliating seasons—and was such a downgrade from their classic traditional sweaters that it earns the top spot. The dijon yellow body and jagged trim were bad enough, but that sleepy bear head logo? It's like replacing San Jose's fearsome fish with Katy Perry's left shark, only there's no kitsch value here. It was no coincidence the team was so bad for so many of those years. Wearing these took two inches and 20 pounds off those poor souls.

“If you’re already deciding on a major NHL jersey overhaul, maybe with Adidas striping on the jerseys, then it seems like it would be a good time to introduce the ads, if you plan to do it anyway,” a league source told TSN.

And from all indications, that’s exactly what the league has decided. COO John Collins said last November that jersey sponsorship is “both coming and happening.” By “happening,” he meant that the current presence of Reebok’s logo on uniforms was one type of sponsorship. What he meant by “coming” though is likely to be far more dramatic.

During a meeting of NHL team presidents last year, league officials estimated they might generate $120 million annually by allowing corporate sponsors to put their logos on jerseys. It’s not clear whether that money would count as Hockey-Related Revenue—which would mean that it would have to be split with the players—but it seems likely.

Are new NHL uniforms on the way for 2015-16?

The question now is: How far would the league be willing to go? Nobody wants to see the Canadian Tire logo replace Toronto’s blue maple leaf, or a Dunkin’ Donuts emblem in place of the Bruins’ spoked B. But as I wrote previously, sponsors might be allowed to purchases shoulder patches, or perhaps a nice piece of real estate to the right of the team logos on the front of jerseys, to help promote brand awareness in front of North America’s most affluent sporting audience.

That might be as far as things would go initially, but it’s only a matter of time before there would be specially sponsored third jerseys, or heavily logoed goalie sweaters. After that a full-on Euro-style kit, with the corporate logo front and center, would be just a matter of time. We could see something like that as soon as next summer's World Cup of Hockey.

And it’s a good bet that advertisers would line up with cash in hand to be part of the grand experiment. A 2011 report in Sports Business Daily found that the NHL would offer serious bang for the buck. “Hockey’s fast pace of play provides for fewer detection opportunities during game action, but when play is stopped in the NHL, the exposure ‘duration,’ or amount of time the jersey is visible on-screen, is higher in hockey than other sports.”

The 10 Worst NHL Logos of All Time

#10 Montreal Canadiens 1909-10

This was from a simpler time before branding became important, sure, but even for that era the large blue C was a bit of a give-up, non?

#9 Edmonton Oilers 2001-07

This alternate logo appears to feature two synched gears and a large teardrop of oil. Because nothing fires up a team like the machinery that powers the province's fossil fuel industry.

#8 Dallas Stars 2007-13

Consider this a stand-in for every word mark logo ever used in NHL history. There's nothing “vintage” about these designs. They're lazy and unimaginative. And sometimes just stupid. You can at least make a case for using a Dallas word mark on jerseys worn on the road. But for homes, like these? Did anyone bother to show up at the meeting or were these adopted in absentia?

#7 Carolina Hurricanes 1997-present

To be fair, it's probably tough to visually represent a natural disaster. Still, it's supposed to look like the eye of the storm, not the swirling pattern created by a toilet being flushed.

#6 Carolina Hurricanes 2008-present

If owning the worst of the league's current primary logos wasn't achievement enough for the 'Canes then here's a nod for the worst alternate as well. It's supposed to represent a hurricane warning. Problem is, a hurricane warning features two flags. It's not just ugly. It's factually inaccurate.

#5 Anaheim Ducks 1995-96

It's not cool when bands wear their own t-shirts. It's even less cool when a cartoon superhero duck wears a jersey of himself while using his powers to, apparently, burst out from under six-inch thick slab of ice. This one also suffers both from being overly large and being sublimated onto the jersey front.

#4 Boston Bruins alternate 1995-06

Not that anyone really expects a logo to strike fear into the hearts of opponents, but if you're going to use a ferocious beast like a bear shouldn't it at least appear somewhat menacing? Apparently the B's were going for a different vibe with the cuddly Pooh bear. He appears relaxed. Insouciant. Almost as if he had a belly full of hunny. . . .

#3 Buffalo Sabres 2006-10

The Buffaslug logo fails on so many levels, but mostly because of the invariable first impression: it looks less like a mighty buffalo than a slime-trailing mollusc. Someone please pass the salt!

#2 Dallas Stars 2003-06

As the great David St. Hubbins said, there's a fine line between stupid and clever. You could tell they were going for something special here with the constellation Taurus extrapolated into the head of a Texas Longhorn. Problem is that no one ever stepped away from it far enough to realize that it also looked a lot like an illustration of the female reproductive organs. Hence the unfortunate nickname “Mooterus.”

#1 Vancouver Canucks 1978-86

It's not a logo so much as it is...a design element, maybe? A pair of chevrons formed a black-and-red or red-and-yellow V neck. Hard to believe it lasted almost a decade before someone was able to pull the plug.

Of course, it would be inevitable that the league would face some degree of fan backlash if it messes with its teams’ looks, especially in Original 6 cities. In fact, the NHL would probably have a better chance of getting the Pope to agree to having a Church’s Chicken patch sewn on his cloak before they could convince Canadiens fans that it would be a good idea to desecrate la Sainte-Flanelle. The problem would be magnified further if the company buying the ad was not generally well liked.

But even the diehard opposition will learn to get along in time. We’ve grown accustomed to the slow intrusion of ads on the boards, on the ice and superimposed on our TV screens. Fans would probably get used to ads on jerseys, too.

They'll have to. You can't fight the future.

GALLERY: Ads we'd like to see on NHL jerseys