2022-2023 NHL Jersey Changes

[Ricky_Roby]

10 hours ago, Ridleylash said:

 QC has a much better argument since not only can they capture Atlantic Canada by extension

 

 

As someone who has lived in Atlantic Canada their whole life, I think folks might overestimate the allure of the Quebec Nordiques here. Fans here have almost universally been split 3-ways between Toronto/Montreal/Boston.

 

If Quebec City ever got a team, I can't imagine it would make a big splash in Atlantic Canada. We would, by and large, think "we'll that's interesting" but then go back to cheering for the Leafs, Habs or Bruins. Even when the Nordiques were around, they had as much presence in the Maritimes as, say, the Senators do now. Which is to say not zero, but also not enough to really register anything on a scale.

[habsfan1]

The Montreal Canadiens are giving away 1 jersey for free with an ad on it.

 

Poor Habs account runner had to post a picture of an ad-free jersey, so that they don't get blasted in the comments. Like I said, they're feeling the heat.

 

Viewers will still watch no matter what. But it gives me hope that sales will tank and the NHL will reconsider turning teams into Euro League hockey, for the sake of merch dept. employees.

 

We shall see.

 

Nascar toy cars have ads on them. Corporations see sports merch no differently.

[dont care]

48 minutes ago, habsfan1 said:

The Montreal Canadiens are giving away 1 jersey for free with an ad on it.

 

Poor Habs account runner had to post a picture of an ad-free jersey, so that they don't get blasted in the comments. Like I said, they're feeling the heat.

 

Viewers will still watch no matter what. But it gives me hope that sales will tank and the NHL will reconsider turning teams into Euro League hockey, for the sake of merch dept. employees.

 

We shall see.

 

Nascar toy cars have ads on them. Corporations see sports merch no differently.

Only sweaters sold at the arena can have ads on them

[DTConcepts]

The Bruins have announced a five year (!!!) jersey ad deal with cybersecurity company Rapid7.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the first announcement to acknowledge that the ads aren’t a one-year deal.

[M4One]

11 hours ago, PlayGloria said:

Does it mean anything that all of the fans are wearing that burnt orange color in the stadium video?

 

I was going to make a joke about them being all Flyers fans, but  the rumored burnt orange alternate could be testing the waters for a switch.  Moving into a new building would be a perfect time to do it.  Their current home jersey is too dark and either a purple or orange jersey would be a nice change.

[WSU151]

Nothing certain in life except for death, taxes, and speculation that a new alternate hockey jersey is a sign of a uniform change in a few years.

[The_Admiral]

11 hours ago, Ricky_Roby said:

Even when the Nordiques were around, they had as much presence in the Maritimes as, say, the Senators do now. Which is to say not zero, but also not enough to really register anything on a scale.

 

They had farm teams in Fredericton and Halifax, but they didn't have an English TV deal. It would have been interesting if they had tried to make a bigger play for the Maritimes, but no one in the NHL knew how to do marketing then.

[Kevin W.]

Expanding into Quebec City doesn't expand the game in the same way that it does larger markets in the US.

[The_Admiral]

12 hours ago, Kevin W. said:

Expanding into Quebec City doesn't expand the game in the same way that it does larger markets in the US.

 

That's right. It makes money! ho ho ho ho ho

[AFirestormToPurify]

15 hours ago, DTConcepts said:

The Bruins have announced a five year (!!!) jersey ad deal with cybersecurity company Rapid7.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the first announcement to acknowledge that the ads aren’t a one-year deal.

Wait, some people thought it was just gonna be a one-year deal?

[CreamSoda]

48 minutes ago, AFirestormToPurify said:

Wait, some people thought it was just gonna be a one-year deal?

 

I though most teams were announcing 2 year deals

[DTConcepts]

1 hour ago, AFirestormToPurify said:

Wait, some people thought it was just gonna be a one-year deal?

 

Nobody realistically thought the ads were only gonna last for a year, but I don't believe any of the teams that announced jersey ads acknowledged how long the deals were for.

[spartacat_12]

Carolina has revealed the patch for their 25th anniversary, and I guess this answers the question about where patches will go now that ads have polluted the jerseys.

 

[WSU151]

1 hour ago, spartacat_12 said:

Carolina has revealed the patch for their 25th anniversary, and I guess this answers the question about where patches will go now that ads have polluted the jerseys.

 

 

I suppose the yoke forces it to be more horizontal than a non-yoke jersey.

 

However, this might mean we’ll see more horizontal anniversary logos or more alternate anniversary logos made for jerseys. 

[DTConcepts]

New center ice logo for the Isles.

A lot of people — me included — disliked the anniversary logo for how plain it was at first, but after seeing the jersey patches and now the center ice design, I think simplicity was the right move. Looks clean and classy both on the jerseys and on the ice.

[JerseyJimmy]

On 9/22/2022 at 5:06 PM, habsfan1 said:

Nascar toy cars have ads on them. Corporations see sports merch no differently.

 

except ads in NASCAR aren't a problem for two reasons:

A.) sponsorships actually are the main financial lifeline for almost all race teams
B.) unsponsored stock cars look weird as hell; a lot of the time, a sponsor's branding can give a good basis for a memorable car design

 

sports teams both don't need the little boost of revenue a garish corpo stamp on their jerseys gives and have fully-formed, sometimes legendary visual identities of their own. ads on a jersey are far, far more heinous than ads on a race car.

[Chewbacca]

On 9/22/2022 at 9:33 PM, Kevin W. said:

Expanding into Quebec City doesn't expand the game in the same way that it does larger markets in the US.

But Quebec City has what multiple NHL cities lack and that's a passionate, loyal fanbase that would constantly fill their arena's seats night in and night out. I know exactly where you are coming from but I just don't understand the NHL's insistence on keeping teams in places such as Florida and Arizona where even when their teams are really good, they have still had attendance issues. That's another thing that has really frustrated me with the NHL's decision to monetize their uniforms. If they are hurting from COVID-related financial losses so bad, then why are they not considering moving struggling teams to cities that would actually pack their arenas every night instead of putting ads on their uniforms. I think the NHL makes enough money that they do not need digital ads during games or corporate ads anywhere on their uniforms. Anyway, that's just my two cents on it.

[sky1324]

22 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

But Quebec City has what multiple NHL cities lack and that's a passionate, loyal fanbase that would constantly fill their arena's seats night in and night out. I know exactly where you are coming from but I just don't understand the NHL's insistence on keeping teams in places such as Florida and Arizona where even when their teams are really good, they have still had attendance issues. That's another thing that has really frustrated me with the NHL's decision to monetize their uniforms. If they are hurting from COVID-related financial losses so bad, then why are they not considering moving struggling teams to cities that would actually pack their arenas every night instead of putting ads on their uniforms.

While Quebec being more passionate about hockey is true, the NHL's main revenue driver is no longer ticket sales - it's TV money. And no matter what, no matter how passionate the fanbase is, having access to the Miami or Phoenix TV market is just more valuable to the league than having access to Quebec City. It took a miracle for Winnipeg to get a team back, the stars would have to align like that again for the Nordiques to return.

[habsfan1]

16 hours ago, CDCLT said:

While Quebec being more passionate about hockey is true, the NHL's main revenue driver is no longer ticket sales - it's TV money. And no matter what, no matter how passionate the fanbase is, having access to the Miami or Phoenix TV market is just more valuable to the league than having access to Quebec City. It took a miracle for Winnipeg to get a team back, the stars would have to align like that again for the Nordiques to return.

 

How much viewership are the Coyotes generating? A lot of people say that there's not much attention around hockey. The part that's hard to understand is how is that crucial TV money being banked, if hockey isn't a ratings juggernaut in certain areas.

[Ridleylash]

8 minutes ago, habsfan1 said:

 

How much viewership are the Coyotes generating? A lot of people say that there's not much attention around hockey.

The viewership numbers aren't the key that decides the value, it's what broadcasters will pay for your TV rights; and Phoenix as a TV market is considerably more valuable than Quebec City is. Add the fact that you'd need to realign the league for such a relocation to even work (meaning fighting one of Detroit or Columbus on going West) and it just becomes far, far too much hassle to be worth losing a large US market for a small Canadian market.

 

Leagues these days make a whole lot more money on the TV deal then they do tickets, so any uptick in ticket revenue an Arizona-Quebec relocation would generate if you even got it through the Board is massively offset by the enormous loss in TV deal revenue.