The ads jumped from their proper position on the screen in an incredibly distracting manner and even covered up the players themselves at times. The debut of the NHL's virtual board ads did not go smoothlyįans quickly grew irritated with the ads during Wednesday’s season opener between the Canucks and Edmonton Oilers when the ads glitched multiple times. It’s a lot harder to ignore the other ads that the NHL is pushing this season: virtual board ads that cover up the actual, physical ads for television viewers. The tiny ads on the helmets and jerseys are barely visible as the players fly around the ice and can safely be ignored as you watch the game on television. While there are plenty of people who have concerns about besmirching such iconic jerseys with ads, they at least don’t change the viewing experience all that much. Nine other NHL teams have added a sponsor to the jerseys, even two Original Six teams in the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. The Vancouver Canucks have a new helmet sponsor this season - NexGen Energy, a company primarily involved in mining uranium - and are reportedly seeking a jersey sponsor as well, which could go wrong in many ways. At publishing time, PITB can neither confirm nor deny whether there was any kicking or screaming involved. “It would take a lot, a lot, a lot of money.”Įither the NHL and its teams are getting a lot, a lot, a lot of money or the pandemic was enough of an interruption to revenue streams to shatter Bettman’s resolve. “You’d have to drag me kicking and screaming,” said Bettman in 2015 about adding ads to jerseys. It’s something that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said would never happen. That has now been followed by ads on what is sometimes treated as sacred by hockey fans: the hockey sweater. The NHL’s endless search for more advertising revenue has already crossed some lines that would seemingly never be crossed.Ī global pandemic that removed a key revenue stream for NHL teams - ticket sales and in-arena purchases - so they made the unprecedented move to allow teams to put advertising on helmets.

Nhl 21 digital