The NHL has decided to put sponsorship patches on their jerseys starting in the 2022-2023 season.
A change is in the air, and it’s coming in the form of advertising on hockey sweaters. Earlier, the commissioner of the NHL, Gary Bettman, announced that the league would allow placement of sponsor’s logo’s on the front of each team’s jerseys. A change that has been in place in the NBA since 2017, and truthfully isn’t as drastic as fans thought it would be.
The NHL has a rich history, and as NBA fans did upon the league’s announcement, hockey fans hold the same reservations. Starting in the 2022-23 season, each team will feature a rectangular patch measuring 3″ x 3.5″ that may be placed anywhere on the front of the jersey, per team discretion.
Deciding to allow sponsorships on their jerseys was not just a cash grab by Bettman, as the board of governors voted in favor of advertising placements after discovering that more teams were in favor of adding the advertisement patch than against it.
"“Teams retained over $100M in revenue through new sponsorship inventory.”"
Last season, before fans started coming back to games, teams had advertising throughout their arenas, from tarps draped over empty seats, window stickers placed along with the glass, and of course, the helmet sponsorship. “Teams retained over $100M in revenue through new sponsorship inventory,” Bettman told the Sports Business Journal in an interview earlier this year. An assumption is that the glass and drape advertising won’t make a return, but you could expect the helmet sponsorship to be around going forward.
Tampa General Hospital featured on the Lightning's away helmet.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are one of the few teams in the league that had two different advertisers for their helmets. Tampa General Hospital was featured on the team’s white away helmet, while Dex Imaging was placed on the blue home helmet. As the announcement came just this evening, it remains to be seen if the Lightning will rotate jersey ad’s for home and away sweaters or have one across the board. Teams can actively begin negotiations with businesses to start, or renew, a partnership.