Here’s where we stand: the league is no longer hiding its intent to obliterate the classic and novel look of its athletes in action and replace it with something grotesque and profane and indefensible and never to be purchased by its fans. Gary Bettman, confirming hockey fans’ worst instincts about him, recently told Reuters that he was genuinely excited about the sweater redesign, despite the fact that everyone who’s viewed them judges them worse-looking than Bjork at the Academy Awards.
And a league “insider” sent this gem to ESPN recently:
“I recently viewed a promo DVD of the new NHL uniforms. From what I can tell, traditionalist fans are going to be pissed. The tucked-in jersey style looks weird, especially because the new pants from Reebok ride up real high on the sides of the back to help protect players’ kidneys – so high, in fact, that it creates somewhat of a V shape on the back, and almost obscures the bottom of the uniform number.
“The coolest thing about the new unis was actually the new technology in the socks. They’ve kept the horizontal stripes, instead of Nike’s shinguard look. What’s interesting is that they’ve added reusable compression into the sock itself. No more need for poly tape around the socks to ensure a tight fit.“
Fine, tinker with the socks if you must — genuine technological advances are welcomed. But for the love of the Charlestown Chiefs, leave our beloved sweaters intact! Caps’ owner Ted Leonsis fielded chat questions with Washington Post online readers last week, and one irate inquisitor pointed out the harming effects the slimmed-down sweater would have on more portly fans . . . which is to say, most of us in the stands.
About the “snug jerseys”: Ted,
Have you seen the typical hockey fan? To put it politely, “snug jerseys” won’t fit well. Stick with the loose fitting ones or I think you’ll have problems in selling them to the fans . . .“
During the same chat session, another irate fan chimed in:
The Phone Booth, D.C.: Please, Ted, is there anything you can do to stop Bettman’s upcoming snug-jersey plan? I love the idea of the Caps changing colors to some sort of red-white-blue combo, but the idea of tight, tucked-in jerseys seems ridiculous.”
So far, though, the owner is following the league’s company line. He responded in the WaPost chat by claiming that the public would be purchasing wider, better-fitting sweaters. Meaning, of course, they would be purchasing non-authentic sweaters. Umm, Memo to the NHL’s New York marketing braintrust: have you monitored the market for sports’ authentics over, say, the past 10 years? And of all professional sports in North America, which fanbase attending games is most closely associated with dressing in the authentic uniforms of its heroes?
This disconnect between league executives, marketers, and owners and a loyal fanbase so fervid it’s been parodied in television commercials (those “Hockey Falls” ESPN spots we at OFB so miss) is beyond inexplicable. On the CapsReport last week, Caps’ senior writer Mike Vogel, again embracing the grassroots uprising against the league’s fashion fascism, eloquently termed the new look “a total abomination.” As our friends north of the 49th would say Mike, “Good on you!”
Meanwhile, something semi-seismic is occuring with the online petition we first mentioned a few weeks back. Back in early November it struck us as cathartic to add our individual signatures to the petition, which calls for Mr. Bettman to cease and decist in offending every hockey fan over the age of 11. We were among the first six or seven hundred to add our names. But in the past two weeks, more than one thousand signatures have been added each week. This needs even more MoJo; if you haven’t clicked on the link and added your name to the protest, do so today.
You know during every public skating session at every Washington area ice rink there’s always at least one patron skating ovals proudly outfitted in the NHL team sweater of his or her passion. And most often it’s five or ten such skaters. In the colder months these skaters are able to continue showcasing their allegiance precisely because hockey’s jerseys are sweaters: they can easily be fitted atop sweatshirts or sweaters or even some jackets. And this is no accident; hockey sweaters as they were first conceived out on the prairies of frigid, frontier Canada were tailored for this very purpose. It’s so basic and established an observation that it necessarily escapes the notice of Bettman & Co., but this is free advertising for the league.
Why would the NHL’s brass want to maintain an enduring (and uncompensated) advertising vehicle when it can replace it with something infinitely less attractive and effective? That’s the new NHL way.
7 Comments
I think I’ll wait until I actually see the new jerseys before I decide whether or not to be outraged. If they don’t work, or the players don’t like them, or fans aren’t buying them (which I really, really doubt; fans want to wear what their team is wearing – see the new Buffalo jerseys), then the league will eventually go back to the old style. It won’t be a tragedy.
bikng – the new sweaters actually debuted at last February’s Olympics. Your observation about hockey fans wanting to wear the sweaters of their heroes obviously is right. So . . . how many of those international ones have you seen in the stands the past 10 months?
Unless I’m mistaken, the slimmer jerseys at the Olympics were designed by Nike, and the new NHL sweaters are being designed by Reebok; so I wouldn’t necessarily assume that what we saw in February is what we’ll next year. Maybe Reebok’s will be better, maybe they’ll be worse. And while the Nike jerseys weren’t exactly an incredible leap forward in jersey design, they weren’t really THAT different (in terms of size/cut), and if the NHL were to go with something like that, I think people would get used to it pretty quickly.
How many international jerseys do you ever see in the stands? I mean, there’s always a few, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many team USA jerseys, for example.
bikng – this is a *slight* exaggeration on my part, but if you peruse the new-look international sweaters in the River City Sports catalogue or web site, you’ll notice them priced at least $50-100 below the traditionals; and that as further inducement to purchase, buyers are generally offered a lifetime’s supply of Timmy Horton donuts and a date with Neve Campbell or Nelly Furtado.
Are you serious?! Lifetime Tim Horton’s donuts AND Nelly Furtado?! I’ll buy the whole inventory!
One point about safety: Obviously, the jersey does not have to be tucked in to the new shorts to provide greater protection to the player.
Interestingly, both the Ducks and Sabres unveiled new jerseys this year, and you’d think they’d be designed to accommodate the new jersey style, so as not have to make yet another modification after just one season. However, the Ducks jersey has stripes (though asymmetrical) on its new uni. Why would they do that if next year’s tucked-in style would obscure the stripe? Maybe they’ll just get rid of the bottom stripes, who knows.
This is the greatest hockey travesty ever to occur to the greatest sport on earth. Execs need to get a grip on reality
We’ve actually seen this movie before in other sports. Baseball played around with form-fitting uniforms some years ago . . . they’re back to the looser-fitting natural fabric style, and it looks better (watch any film clip of 1908’s baseball to see what it used to be like). Football? Well, here’s an every-Sunday look at what awaits hockey fans. Look at just about any offensive lineman and his virtually sprayed-on jersey. Now imagine the stands at hockey games filled with that look. Makes you want to pluck your eyes out with a fork, doesn’t it?
Gary, Ted, all you suits in the NHL marketing department . . . JUST SAY NO!
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