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Adidas to start making NHL jerseys in 2017-18 season


The Hornet

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The National Hockey League appears poised for radical changes to its team jerseys in the wake of a deal that may pave the way for advertising on team uniforms.

Adidas has won a long-term deal to make uniforms for the 30 NHL teams, beginning in the 2017-18 season.

Adidas takes over from its corporate cousin Reebok, a sports brand owned by Adidas.

For Adidas, the NHL deal is a big, if curious, win. The company beat out rivals Under Armour and Bauer Hockey for the NHL jersey contract, three people familiar with the matter told TSN. The NHL’s deal with Reebok pays the league about $35 million per season, a source said. The new deal with Adidas will see the rights fee double, the source said.

Both the NHL and Adidas declined to comment. A source said the agreement would be formally announced in mid-September. It's unclear whether the NHL will receive a cut of revenue from jersey sales or if it's a straight rights-fee arrangement.

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.

It's believed that Adidas will also produce jerseys for the eight teams that will play in next year's World Cup of Hockey, although that could not be confirmed.

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.


During a meeting of NHL team presidents in New York last year, league officials estimated they might raise $4 million per team – or $120 million annually – by allowing corporate sponsors to put their logos front and centre on jerseys.

“If you’re already deciding on a major NHL jersey overhaul, maybe with Adidas striping on the jerseys, then it seems like it would be a good time to introduce the ads, if you plan to do it anyway,” a league source told TSN.

Adidas has already been quietly preparing for the new hockey contract. This summer, Edmonton Oilers phenom Connor McDavid filmed a commercial to promote the brand.

Adidas also hopes to feature Sidney Crosby in its marketing plans. Crosby has an endorsement agreement with Reebok that expires at the end of August and his agents have been negotiating with Adidas.

The NHL deal is somewhat curious because it wasn’t too long ago that Adidas said it would move away from league partnerships.

In March, Adidas announced it was quitting its partnership with the National Basketball Association after 11 years. The company said at the time that it would instead emphasize new products and sponsor individual players, Bloomberg News reported at the time.

In 2014, Adidas signed deals with four of the top six NBA draft picks, including Canadian Andrew Wiggins. In June, Nike announced an eight-year agreement with the NBA worth a reported $1 billion.

In 2012, Adidas’s Reebok unit lost the right to produce National Football League jerseys to Nike.

Adidas has struggled to boost its sales in the competitive North American sport market, particularly against dominant Nike.

Overall, Adidas has global sales of $14 billion (U.S.) and a global market share of 10.5 per cent, compared to $36 billion and 15.9 per cent for Nike. Adidas has increased its marketing budget by more than 25 per cent, Reuters reported in March, and the company has put a new emphasis on the U.S., the world's top sportswear market.

Investment analysts have speculated for several years that Adidas plans to sell off the struggling Reebok unit.

While Adidas bought Reebok in 2006, Reebok has since been repositioned as a fitness brand, perhaps suggesting its ties to the NHL no longer make sense even if Adidas rejects calls from investors to sell Reebok.

http://www.tsn.ca/talent/adidas-lands-nhl-jersey-deal-1.346839

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Looks like AD's and jersey re-designs are coming (again). Just when I was getting used to the Reebok ones!

*Fixed error where article had wrong year

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The jerseys they sell won't have ads on them. Just the ones the players wear while playing.

Still, it would look ugly if they go as overboard as European leagues.

I think the key is going to be keeping it tasteful.

Maybe this will pave the way for some incremental design changes to the Canucks jersey. I think that the Stick in Rink logo has been in the marketplace long enough for a good portion of the fan base to identify with it as the primary logo. Revert to the Spaghetti Skate as the alternate logo/color scheme and you're good.

I'd keep the color scheme for the current jersey's the same. I just want the goddamned Orca and the ridiculous VANCOUVER wording removed.

Regarding ads, I think small shoulder based badges, or ones that fit elsewhere near the bottom of the jersey might not be too bad.

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Where have I heard that before?

Plus, as another poster said, fan jerseys won't have them.

Probably from a lot of other people.

I know the CFL doesn't have ads on the fan jerseys, but I wouldn't be surprised if that became a thing in the NHL

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Sports team owners are just shameless whores. They know it's going to make a very large amount of fans angry, but they'll still do it to make a few extra million.

Yeah...cause most people who want to run a business, want to lose money.

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At least it didn't go to Nike after what they did to the Olympic jerseys.

Hope they don't mess around with the well-designed jerseys, and since they're all about striping, fix the ones that don't have it.

Ads are another thing, one that I will be disgusted to see when they include them.

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There are only a few teams that can use that cash. It should be left up to each individual organization if they want to be billboards on skates.

What difference does it really make? There's adverts all over the rink and on TV - heck, they even have the annoying TV only advert on the glass behind the nets.

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What difference does it really make? There's adverts all over the rink and on TV - heck, they even have the annoying TV only advert on the glass behind the nets.

Personal preference. I'm not a fan of them doing that.

After 25 years of watching hockey, I always hoped that the jerseys would be sacrosanct.

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The team should be the brand, the manufacturer is not the brand. As for corporate advertising, no thanks. It makes the sweaters look bush league and cheap. Just look at the difference between the CFL and NFL jerseys.

It's rumoured that all of the big 4 sports want to do it, especially the NBA. How embarrassing.

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