Multiple ads? Referees wearing ads? The future of NHL jerseys

“Disgusting.” “Repulsive.” “Rolling in their graves.” If you popped open Twitter after the Montreal Canadiens revealed their new jerseys last week, you waded through a cesspool of rage.

The Bleu, Blanc et Rouge? Placing a Royal Bank of Canada patch on their storied sweater? After 104 NHL seasons, 24 Stanley Cup victories and countless legendary players?

Yes. The Canadiens are one of eight NHL teams debuting advertising on their sweaters for the 2022-23 season. They join seven other clubs in doing so. The complete list:

1. Arizona Coyotes (Gila River Resorts & Casinos)
   
2. Columbus Blue Jackets (Safelite)
   
3. Minnesota Wild (TRIA Orthopedics)
   
4. Montreal Canadiens (RBC)
   
5. Pittsburgh Penguins (Highmark)
   
6. St. Louis Blues (Stifel)
   
7. Vegas Golden Knights (Circa Sports)
   
8. Washington Capitals (Caesars Sportsbook)

Perusing that sponsor-laden list feels like reading house-league hockey standings, but as NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly explained to Daily Faceoff in a conversation last week at the NHL Player Media Tour in Las Vegas, it’s a necessary step toward making back the catastrophic NHL revenue losses that occurred when the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons and vacuumed up gate revenues. The same rationale went into teams debuting ads on helmets during the 2020-21 season.

The eight teams opening 2021-22 with jersey ads won’t be the last. As Daly explains, the only reason the NHL doesn’t have all 32 doing it yet is because the other teams haven’t struck deals yet with sponsors willing to pay what the ad space is worth. Daly anticipates the jersey ad sales will be a “significant revenue stream” for the league, so the clubs will demand large sums of money to rent the space.

“I think that process plays out over a period of years,” Daly said. “Once it plays out, it’s a very significant piece of real estate being sold by the clubs, and it’s a great opportunity for potential sponsors, and I think it’s going to continue to be very valuable.”

It’s one thing for every team to tuck an icon in the upper right corner of its sweater. Like the helmet ads, the jersey patches will soon become ubiquitous and fade to the background of most fans’ brains. An initial overreaction followed by gradual acceptance is fair to expect.

“My own view is it’s not the end of the world,” Daly said. “People have adjusted to other things we’ve done over time, and it doesn’t turn out to be such a big deal. We’ll see. The response we’ve gotten to this point is exactly what we predicted.”

In short: We have a good sense of what the current jersey ad landscape looks like. As Daly explained, it was a necessary revenue stream completely born out of the pandemic.

What does the future of jersey ads look like in the NHL? How ugly will it get?

What happens if, someday, NHL jerseys begin to look like the a fabric billboards we see in European pro leagues, completely engulfed by ads? At what point would the jersey aesthetic become unappealing enough that it would create a nosedive in jersey sales, offsetting the advertising gains?

Will we soon live in a world in which NHL jerseys have more logos on them than the average university student’s guitar case? No. At least, not for a while. There is no plan to add multiple ads on each jersey in the short and maybe even long term.

“It is not at all in the current plan to create multiple patch opportunities,” Daly said. “I would suggest that to the extent it’s ever done, it’s a long time from now, well after I’m out of the game, so it won’t be my decision.”

There’s another potential revenue stream for NHL uniforms just sitting there, waiting to be exploited. Who on the ice gets the most screen time in a telecast and wears the most uniquely recognizable kit? Without knowing the exact amount of time dedicated to showing them, there’s a good chance it’s the officials. Why not sell ads on their black-and-white sweaters, then? If the officials get the most screen time, the ad space could be worth even more money, as long as sponsors don’t mind being associated with the zebras.

So, Mr. Daly, what do you think of the pitch?

“I think I must’ve been watching the World Juniors and I saw that they had sold the jersey position on officials’ uniforms, which I don’t know that I ever noticed before,” Daly said. “It’s a logical next question. I can’t tell you we have a current intention to do it. Once we’ve made that next step with players, I don’t know why we wouldn’t take that step with officials.”

Don’t be surprised if we see the officials’ sweaters adorned with ads some season soon. For now, though, it’ll just be a quarter of the NHL teams. Sorry, Bleu, Blanc et Rouge. These are the realities of the pandemic.