The NHL board of governors has unanimously approved the introduction of 3.5”x3” jersey ads beginning in the 2022-23 season. Teams are now free to begin negotiating with potential partners on logo placements as an additional source of team revenue. The location of the logo is reportedly going to be left up to the teams themselves.
The league introduced helmet ads during the 2020-21 season in an effort to counter the loss of revenue teams would face as a result of the ongoing pandemic. The addition of jersey patches was the logical next step for the NHL which has seen revenues lag behind the growth of the other “Big 4” North American sports leagues in recent years.
European leagues have long been making use of helmets, jerseys, pants, and even strategically placed ads on the ice to maximize revenues for its member clubs, so the idea is not new. The NHL however has long resisted the urge to tap into the jersey ad market, as there is a belief in many circles that hockey jerseys should remain “pure” in the world’s premiere hockey league.
The NBA however likely played a role in changing owner’s minds on the matter after the league began selling ad space on jerseys in the 2017-18 season. While official figures are unavailable, conservative estimates put the revenue in the $150M range annually since the program’s inception. Since then the WNBA and MLS have both followed suit with the ad space program to great success.
The NHL’s 3.5”x3” rectangle will be slightly larger than the NBA’s allocated space for logos. The knee jerk reaction from fans has been largely negative since news leaked. However the same was seen when the league announced plans to have helmet ads last season, of which nearly no one was talking about anymore once the year began.
No partnerships have been announced as of yet for jersey ads.