There will be advertisements on NHL players’ helmets this season as teams try to recoup revenue lost to the pandemic.
The New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals and Nashville Predators became the first teams to unveil helmet ads Tuesday. It’s a one-year trial with fans not allowed in most arenas and a financial shortfall coming with a shortened 56-game regular season.
“Of course, the teams are in a big hole,” Nashville chief revenue officer Chris Junghans said after the team announced its deal with Bridgestone. “So, they’re looking for valuable, real valuable, tangible assets that will help us, guys like me, make partners whole. And it needed to be valuable, it needed to be dynamic.”
The NHL is leaving jerseys alone, largely because it was quicker and easier to sell ads on helmets than anything else.
Commissioner Gary Bettman said in 2017 after the NBA approved jersey advertisements that it would take an “unusual circumstance” to make that leap in hockey. This would qualify, though helmets were a natural first step.
The NHL could sell jersey ads at some point when it feels it could make significant money from the venture. In the immediacy of the pandemic, it’s expected to roll out other places for arena ads that will be visible on television, such as tarps covering empty se