NHL owners approve jersey advertisements for 2022-23 season

Golden Knights jerseys might have a new look a year from now.

NHL owners approved jersey advertisements for the 2022-23 season Tuesday. The move could help bring in additional revenue to the league after its finances were “dramatically impacted” by the COVID-19 pandemic, commissioner Gary Bettman said in June.

“It will be modest, but it is a terrific marketing tool for all the teams to utilize,” Knights owner Bill Foley said. “It will help all teams as they recover from the losses of revenue in 2020 and 2021.”

The NHL is following in the footsteps of the NBA, which has featured jersey advertisements since the 2017-18 season. Sports business website Sportico reported the NHL’s ads must fit in a rectangle 3 inches by 3.5 inches, making them slightly larger than the NBA’s but still smaller than the ones many professional soccer teams worldwide wear.

Bettman said the league was discussing jersey advertisements before the Stanley Cup Final.

“It’s something that it makes good sense for us to be considering and looking at, but as I said, certainly not for next season,” Bettman said. “What happens beyond then, I’m not prepared to predict, but it is something we’re looking at.”

The NHL dipped its toes in similar waters by having helmet sponsors last season. The Knights had Credit One Bank decals for home games and Allegiant ones on the road. Bettman said the helmet logos, along with other new revenue streams such as division sponsors and digital advertising, helped the league retain more than $100 million in revenue.

The helmet ads are expected to stay next season.

“We didn’t get much pushback,” Bettman said. “It didn’t turn out to be a distraction. All the fan feedback and research we’ve gotten and done said this isn’t a problem for us, so we’re comfortable with the steps that we took during the season.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.