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Arizona Coyotes: Adidas Contract For Uniforms – Ads Next

By William Grigsby

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With Adidas Taking Over NHL Uniform Making In 2017-18 Season, What Would Advertising Look Like On Arizona Coyotes’ Uniforms?

Adidas has signed a long-term deal with the NHL, per Rick Westhead of TSN. Reebok, who currently was paying the league $35 million per season will lose out, since the new deal with Adidas will be for more than twice that amount. Will future NHL uniforms be marked with ads? It could happen.

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Club soccer and NASCAR are some sports which use uniform advertising, and it comes with big rewards. NHL officials state that an estimate of approximately $120 million per year could be raked in if advertising were used on NHL players uniforms.

A source told TSN that the deal would surely mean big changes to uniform designs, perhaps with Adidas’s familiar three-stripe trademark being added to some or all team jerseys.

"“The NHL might not want big changes like that, but for the money Adidas will pay, they’ll be pretty aggressive pushing to make the NHL jerseys identifiable with their brand,” the source said."

Westhead also tapped in on the ads on jerseys:

Moving to a new jersey supplier may be a natural transition for the NHL to begin introducing on-jersey advertising, several league sources told TSN

While this high finance of the advertising world may have NHL teams seeing dollar signs, how does the average NHL fan feel about seeing ads for companies on their teams’ jerseys? I personally would DEFINITELY NOT like it ! I mean comeon’… what’s next changing the team names to get naming rights? For crying out loud!

We already have face-offs, and power plays brought to us by a sponsor when listening to a Arizona Coyotes game on the radio, or TV. What’s next? THE ARIZONA BURGER KINGS, or THE ARIZONA STARBUCKS ? I mean how ridiculous would Shane Doan, or any Arizona Coyotes player look with a jersey like that? Perhaps, Oliver Ekman-Larsson wouldn’t mind advertising his underwear line on his jersey, but most players would probably feel like a moving billboard on ice. Crazy huh?

The naming rights for sports facilities and concert venues change so much I’ve lost track. Some of the ones you enjoy and can remember, like Bank One Ballpark (aka B.O.B) get changed, and it’s all about money.   Every business has a bottom line to meet and gain success in their industry. I think, ads on NHL jerseys is a bad idea. I get annoyed enough when they went to electronic signs on the boards of NHL rinks for advertising. I mean that has got to be distracting for the players, and I know it’s distracting for the fans.

BUT, in the end the BIG BUCK usually wins battles like this. I just know that I personally would not be inclined to buy a particular product or service because I saw it advertised on my favorite team’s jersey. It’s definitely mind control, as is all advertising. Why do you think that when you enter your favorite grocery store, the staples like milk, bread, etc. are in the back of the store? They do that to get you to stroll down the aisles picking up impulse items along the way. It’s deep research which got them to this conclusion.

I wasn’t going to do this, but I will add a poll here to see if any of you want to voice your opinion on this topic.

Next: Arizona Coyotes: Special Teams Need To Step It Up

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