Preds Honour Nashville Hockey History with 2020 Winter Classic Uniform

If you didn’t know Nashville had a history with hockey, you will now. That’s thanks to the new Nashville Predators 2020 Winter Classic uniform, unveiled by Adidas at noon today.

With a heavy nod to the old Nashville Dixie Flyers, who played in the Eastern Hockey League from 1962-1971, the uniform replicates the Dixie Flyers style of a large horizontal stripe across the middle of the jersey and the team name scripted within it.

“The new jersey was created with a heritage aesthetic, featuring designs inspired by Nashville’s rich hockey history and its passionate hockey fanbase”, read the release from Adidas. “The script crest, felt block lettering and classic striping create a nostalgic look suitable for the NHL Winter Classic’s celebration of the game’s origins outdoors.”

The uniform had leaked earlier this morning via a pre-emptive banner reveal in Downtown Nashville. Twitter user @mcgreevyben spotted the new look and snapped a pic.

With the leak, we’re able to see number placement, large outdoor-style numbers above the horizontal sleeve stripes.

On the shoulder is a “fauxback”-styled Predators logo which had already been unveiled a month ago. The new logo “represents the Predators’ size, strength, and speed” and is given a retro look “to pay homage to the history and heritage of hockey in Nashville”.

The jersey also includes a patch featuring the 2020 Winter Classic logo on the opposite shoulder:

As mentioned earlier, this entire jersey a clear tribute to the uniforms worn by the Dixie Flyers, Nashville’s minor league hockey team in the 1960s. Like this Predators jersey, the Dixie Flyers uniforms included a similar horizontal stripe and scripted wordmark.

The 2020 NHL Winter Classic will be held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on January 1, we’re still waiting to see what uniforms the Dallas Stars will wear for the game but we do know what the logo will look like, and you can see that here.

Special thanks to @ldconcepts and @cazmw for the original tip! This story originally was about the leak, then updated considerably when the jersey was officially unveiled. All images in this post courtesy Adidas unless otherwise noted.