It’s All About the Money Money Money

We learned last week that the NHL is going to debut advertisements on the jersey’s during the World Cup tournament as a “test run.” The way I see it, almost every aspect of watching hockey right now is monetized. It would be nice if the NHL could keep at least ONE aspect of the game un-touched by corporate money, especially the jerseys. Unfortunately the truth of the matter is that this was bound to happen, and we can’t do anything about it. 

We all saw this coming. It feels like hockey in North America is the only place in the world right now that doesn’t have ads on their jersey’s. But you know that if it means making money, the NHL will do it. I’m sure it will make A LOT of money too. Imagine how much camera time a Tim Hortons will get by being on a jersey? It’s safe to say that the NHL will be charging a heavy penny for a company to use their logo. 

The money aspect is the only benefit from having ads on jersey’s. It’s tough to say right now if the fans will ever see benefits from the ad money. As far as disadvantage of ads on jersey’s? I can think of a ton. The first one that comes to mind, is how hideous they will look. Obviously the NHL would ween into the idea, but some jerseys in the European league’s look awful. I would have a hard time staring at these things for every game. 

The jerseys will look painfully ugly, yes. But there’s another aspect to it. Jerseys from the National Hockey League each carry some level of history with them. Some with over 100 years of history. Sewing ads on these jerseys would ruin the integrity of them. Granted, some teams have new jerseys coming out every two years, BUT STILL, jerseys are cool and ads are not. 

One thing I’ll be paying attention to is how retail sales will do with ads on the jersey’s. Everyone will probably be hesitant, but years down the road, we’ll all be lining up to buy the next new one. In comparison, no soccer fan in Europe blinks an eye when purchasing their ad-full jersey’s.

Boycotting the NHL wouldn’t do anything, mostly because you couldn’t get enough people to stop watching games. Ads on jersey’s suck, but it won’t deter me from watching Connor McDavid embarrass the rest of the league season after season. If people really did want to protest, it would probably be best to harass the brands who are actually paying for the ads. If they are being harassed, then they’ll want to pull their ads. Although fighting the system is cool to a lot of people, I have a better idea. 

Instead of protesting, why don’t we embrace the ads? Why don’t we raise enough money for ourselves to put Oilersnation logos everywhere in the NHL! I mean, who wouldn’t donate to a kickstarter for us to put a Nation logo on a Flames jersey? It might take some time, and a few of Wanye’s smooth words, but if the league wants ads, we’ll give them ads!

In reality, there is really no fighting this. Currently the NHL sits fourth in revenue among North American sports, over $10-billion away from the NFL. They are going to do what’s necessary to catch up to the rest of the leagues, and if putting ads on jerseys helps, then they’ll do it. Unfortunately, ads on jerseys is something we’re just going to get used to, just like we did with ads on boards, and ads ice. 

This week Chris gets fired up about music bingo, the boys talk Sidney Crosby the cheater, overtime nuggets, and wrap up the Memorial Cup before Chris hosts a round of the Newlywed Game with JS and BM! 
Then it’s another life affirming edition of Ask The Idiots in which the panel gives you advice to propel you forward in life.

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