Should the NHL put ads on players' jerseys? It already does

Advertisements are coming to National Hockey League jerseys, according to its chief operating officer. Speaking at the NeuLion Sports Media and Technology Conference on Thursday, John Collins reportedly stated that adverts on jerseys are both “coming and happening”.

The internet duly exploded in anger, as it is wont to do. Some fans vowed never to buy another jersey. Some said the idea was an affront to the very tradition of the sport’s most storied franchise.

One person was apparently made physically ill by the idea. Others simply panned it.

They can all relax. Probably. First of all, it’s not a new idea. Secondly, the last time it came up was just a scant two months ago, in mid-September, when the story was that the NHL was refusing to go through with such a plan. As TSN’s Rick Westhead reported:

The NHL has once again said no – for the time being – to selling prime space on team jerseys to sponsors, a move the league estimates would generate at least $120m.

Still, one notices the parenthetical “for the time being”. How long will this trend continue, especially when such large sums of money are at stake?

Another clue lies in Westhead’s report. A source told him that while NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and team owners liked the idea of more money – surprise! – “they don’t want to be first out of the box with this in North America”. They will, apparently, wait for the NBA or NFL to do it first.

Likely no amount of delay will ease the panic, but why is anyone panicked at all?

Perhaps there is an argument to be made that hockey is somehow special, the unused space on its team’s jerseys ought to be left untouched, and that the encroachment of further commercialization would somehow ruin the sanctity of the sport or offend its history. But I suspect that argument would not stand for long.

Romantically, in Canada anyway, hockey is still seen as the sport of the masses. But that’s not necessarily the reality. More and more, those masses are finding it difficult to pay for their kids to play, or even to take their kids to a game. The league is constantly debating its next move to expand profits, or to deal with a franchise whose margins are razor thin or in the red. And no conversation about the future of hockey is complete without discussing the next major TV deal, complete with lucrative American advertising dollars.

This is a sport, like any other, wrapped up in money. It should come as no surprise if someone wants to make more of it.

And isn’t there already a professional league, for an originally North American sport (apologies, MLS fans), that does this? I suppose that depends somewhat of your thinking on the Canadian Football League’s stature, but assuming we can all agree that it is a pro sports league (it is, by the way), then the answer is yes. And it’s not gone all that badly.

For years, the CFL has allowed sponsors to buy ad space via small patches near the shoulders of team jerseys. So far, anyway, the CFL has executed its ad placement a bit better than the NFL did with a certain practice jersey last year. There’s no reason to think the NHL wouldn’t be as careful as the CFL, should the time come. They still want people to buy the shirts, after all.

Let’s not forget, either, that there are already two corporate logos on each NHL jersey: the manufacturer (Reebok at the moment) and the team’s emblem, itself the branding of a multi-million dollar organization, funded (in part, at least) by money from large corporations. In other words, we’re already wearing ads.

But if you’re still depressed, try to look on the bright side: all this commercialization of hockey hasn’t ruined it for us yet. There’s no reason to think a bit more of it will.

Unless the new jersey looks hideous. In which case, don’t buy it.