Month: December 2020

Helmet Ads Are Here and They’re Fine

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Photo via Washington Capitals

Stop bitching about company logos on helmets. Stop bitching about the idea of company logos on jerseys. This is the 21st Century and it’s an inevitability it was going to happen in hockey– so just sit back, grit your teeth, and let it take you in. The NHL is going from ads on practice jerseys to helmets and it’s just another evolution of the sports business. You’re not a traditionalist, calm yourself.

The Washington Capitals announced they’ll be one of the first teams to have sponsors on their helmet, with Capital One on their helmets. The New Jersey Devils also announced they will have Prudential on their helmets. Both of those sponsors are the sponsors of the team’s arenas.

The minor leagues have done this for decades and it’s what has kept them alive. Many minor league hockey fans may not even notice them today because they’ve been such a part of the uniform. Some junior league teams have ads on jerseys to help off-set costs and get their name out there more in the community. It’s how brands do things and it’s just a small part of how sports are done masquerading as a game and being more open about being an actual business– if you hadn’t figured it out before.

Nathan Fournier of the Lewiston Sun-Journal made mention of NASCAR drivers and if those fans were pissed off when company logos were displayed on cars and fire-suits for the first time. I counter with the fact they probably weren’t mad; but felt closer to the driver and team because they bought the certain sponsor or ate at the restaurant on the fire-suit.

Yes, the European sports leagues have logos every which way but loose, though that’s more of a situation where sports aren’t the big moneymaker there and the teams need everyone dollar to pay the players and survive from year to year. North America doesn’t necessarily have that problem, so they can make small patches doable. Of course, you’ll have people out there trying to make a mountain out a mole hill claiming traditionalism and the sanctity of the sports– but it’s a business. It needs to make money to survive. Until capitalism dies, this is how it’s gonna be. I will say, I don’t think the NHL is as stupid than to make their member teams have their crest be dwarfed by a sponsor on the jersey. They’re silly geese in the NHL offices, but not that silly.

The NBA has made plenty of money with it and the MLB have tried to dip their toes into the waters, why shouldn’t the NHL; especially considering the times we’re living in and the unknown of when they can have full arenas of people– not only by lifting of restrictions, but people’s willingness to spend money they may not have budgeted for and go out in public during a pandemic.

Your team is going to have the same color and pattern to their jerseys, they’re going to still have the same players out there, there’s just addition Hockey Related Revenue on their person to make the game more profitable, which raises the salary cap, which allows more players to get paid, which allows less transactions due to a stagnant salary cap.

To quote Gandhi (or was it Ric Flair), “Whether you like or don’t like it, learn to love it, because it’s the best thing going today. WOOOOOOOOOO!!”

Pretty sure that was Gandhi.

NHL, PA Agree To Season Start Time

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Alright, here we go, the NHL is coming back with a vengeance on January 13th and it’s going to be…something.

When the 56-game season was announced Sunday, the people rejoiced, and why wouldn’t they?? The idea that a season would happen this early (if at all) was a welcome surprise. For me, the biggest eyebrow cocking moment was the length of season, with eight more games added than past shortened seasons have been. I understand that the NHL wants to get the most games out of the season, but for some reason, the idea of 56-games is a little odd to me given past history.

The revamped divisions will have all the Canadian teams in one, then as much regional content as possible.

Chaos happens in the Central with a nice mix of Midwest and Southeast content, which will really make travel fantastic for them. Along with the Canadian teams, these squads will be either battle-hardened by the playoffs or completely exhausted.

All the games will be within the revamped divisions for this season divisions with the playoffs almost being the same format until the final four teams are there. There’s not going to be any conferences this year and the final four teams out of their divisions will be reseeded on regular season points– which could create an all traditional Eastern or Western Conference Stanley Cup Final. The idea of that could be one of the better ones to come out of this whole season. If the NHL really wanted to shake things up…do that every year. To hell with the idea of Eastern vs. Western, just make the final four reshuffle and go from there. If it goes to a traditional match-up, sobeit– but the idea of a non-traditional Final is pretty solid to me.

In some locations, there will be fans. Dallas has hinted at going for the amount of 5,000 fans in attendance, which other teams haven’t been as clear on their plans. More over, the California teams can’t play in their home arenas due to restrictions in the state, while the British Columbia health ministry will stay strict when outside teams to come into the province to play. The NHL has said neutral location games might have to happen, while the idea of a baseball style series– three games in three days in the same location– could be a very prevalent look for the NHL this season.

No one knows what will come of this season, there are some on the fence on whether it should happen at all with the vaccines just rolling out into the world. That said, it gives people some joy in an otherwise dreary Christmas season.

Why I Don’t Like the Capitals Reverse Retro Jersey

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There is not much Adidas could do with the Capitals Reverse Retro (TM) jerseys than what they did. The inaugural era has been done and it was onto the bronze era for the Caps. But if you would have told me it was going to be the #1 seller for the week it came out, I probably would have rolled my eyes and then not think highly of your opinion for a while. That still goes, mind you, but it’s still a shock.

Note– jerseys are quite subjective and everyone has their own style and what-not, but this is my opinion of this bullshit cash-grab jersey Adidas has put out.

For me, the jersey is not very aesthetically pleasing, mainly because I think the Capital dome logo and jersey would have been a better choice for the RR collab. However, more than aesthetics, it’s about what that era represented to me as a fan and the memories– or heartache– it brought in those jerseys.

Before I get started– we all know this is a throwback to the white jerseys from 1995-97, right?? The ones where there’s two colors on the home jersey and it still said “Capitals” up the side which they got rid of before the Stanley Cup run?? Okay, just making sure. Many places have it equated to the blue away jersey, but that was all one color whereas the homes had that clash.

The move to the screaming eagle was one that was very unexpected and one that I still think was a mistake to this day. Not once when I think of Washington, DC do I think about blue, bronze, and black. More over, it was the start of the Capitals move to DC; which personally ended my in-arena attendance of games– which is part of my loathsome attitude towards it.

On the ice, that jersey conjures up very bad memories. The Petr Nedved goal in the fourth OT in 1996 to knot up the series they will eventually win. To lesser extents because it wasn’t the white jersey at the time– the whole Stanley Cup run ending in a sweep and the Jaromir Jagr drama which led to the Caps need to rebuild. Sure, Ovechkin wore the updated white jersey and the black dome jersey– but they switched soon after. Not only that, but the dome logo would have been a great link of the time where the Caps turned the team around with Ovechkin and Backstrom coming onto the scene. I mean, that was 16 years ago that Ovechkin got drafted to the team– I think that’s enough time to have a retro linking his drafting to the new era.

Again– your results may vary, but this is kind of an explanation/reference point to anyone who asks what I think of the jersey and if I’ll buy one or not. Though, the latter can be answered by the simple fact I don’t wear jerseys much anymore and wouldn’t want to shell out the cash for it to just hang in my closet when I dislike it as much as I do.

On the Topic Of Outdoor Hockey Games in a Pandemic

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Not since the Williamsport Outlaws of the Federal Hockey League have some many teams clamored to play an entire hockey season outdoors. But a pandemic will do crazy things to you if you’re not careful, which is why the extreme measures seem to be looked at as an option. Elliotte Friedman made mention of this in an article stating that four teams have investigated playing outdoors and three others are at least interested.

For context, the Williamsport Outlaws attempted to play their entire home schedule of the 2012-13 season at Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania while they were awaiting completion of their own rink. Oddly enough, the plan didn’t work out for the low-minor league team and they ceased operations in January of 2013 before the FHL took over and made the team a traveling team for the rest of the year. The team collected about $240,000 in debt despite average over 1,000 per game and having a decent record to get people in the stands. Bus League Hockey has a great breakdown of the Outlaws’ plight.

Granted, these are NHL teams were talking about now and it’s not like their owners don’t have the money to scrape up coin and the connections to get deals on the fields, equipment, and so-on to have outdoor games and have the ability to get some people into the stands to watch their team play. It’s a novel idea to start getting some kind of revenue into the team…even if it won’t made a dent when it comes to operation costs in the long-run. Friedman mentions as much in the article.

But when you get to it, this goes to show that teams want to play and they want to have fans around and they don’t want to go into a bubble again because no revenues for another undetermined amount of time. Sure, part of that is because they’re losing money with every day that passes, but at the same time– I’m sure they want to see some kind of normal life come back into the fold as much as anyone, corporate greed notwithstanding. If anything, the idea of maybe going to a smaller venue that’s fitted for hockey would be better, especially if jurisdictions don’t allow for people into the arenas. The cost would be less, you wouldn’t have to shell for the equipment, and so on. Sure, the broadcasts would be interesting given those small rinks may not be made out for TV; but I think that’s a first-world problem scenario to have when it comes to getting hockey back onto the ice.

Selfishly, however, I would love to see what crazy millionaire owner would play an entire season outdoors, money be damned, just to have paying customers in the stands.