The 2016 World Cup of Hockey will be the latest major North American sporting event to have ads on in-game player uniforms.
After basketball’s Philadelphia 76ers announced they would be wearing StubHub patches on their jerseys in 2017, NHL CMO Brian Jennings told Ben Fischer of the Sports Business Journal that the league has already sold some sponsorships on the shoulders of their World Cup jerseys. The eight-team NHL-run tournament will be played this September in Toronto.
But the NHL will be listening to what the fans think about the in-game ads.
“With the use of technology, you’re in a real-time dialogue that lets you know what they think and feel about it,” Jennings told Fischer.
So keep that in mind when voicing your opinion about it on social media later this Summer.
Fischer later Tweeted that Jennings “left impression there’s a big diff. in eyes of league between one-off for WC and NHL”. So there’s that.