Ads on jerseys..

[nutman]

I am just wondering what the thoughts  of the gang on here are on putting ads on our beloved Leaf jersey.

My thoughts are that it would push me away as a fan. I believe the jerseys belong to there fans and we do not want them tarnished by some greedy people looking to make a buck. All I can say is if this happens it will be a sad dark day in sports, and for me a life time fan of the game, it just would never be right with my teams logo fighting for space with ads.

whats next ads on your suit... Reading the morning sports news sucks when things like this pop up. if they try for this I hope the fans step up and crush this stupid idea.

 

[Kin]

I don't really care. Given my druthers I'd prefer not to see ads on jerseys but it strikes me as weird that this is where we'd become Pollyannas about commercialism in sports. It's like that bit in Futurama:

Leela: Didn't you have ads in the 21st century?"
Fry: Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio, and in magazines, and movies, and at ball games... and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts, and bananas and written on the sky. But not in dreams, no siree.

We have ads on the ice, on the boards, the game breaks for ads every few minutes, the stadiums are effectively ads themselves both by being covered by them and named by companies, post game press conferences take place in front of ads, players already essentially wear ads on their equipment...but jerseys are sacrosanct?  Soccer jerseys are more ad than logo and their fans still seem to be able to enjoy their sport.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I really don't mind the ads on the World Cup jerseys. As long as they're done tastefully it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[bustaheims]

I really don't mind the ads on the World Cup jerseys. As long as they're done tastefully it shouldn't be a problem.

Agreed. Small shoulder patches that are barely noticeable wouldn't be a big deal to me. As long as they don't end up like a lot of the European leagues' jerseys have, it's a non-issue - and, really, even if they do, that won't stop me from watching, it'll just stop me from buying a jersey of my own.

 

[Mack674]

Its coming, no way around it. Greed always wins.

There was an uproar about putting ads on the boards, but eventually the boards became a convoluted mess of ads.

Then came ads on the ice itself.

It might start with "small tasteful ads" but will eventually progress to full on european nascar style walking advertisements, whether it takes 5 years or 15.

The wolves were already let into the hen house long ago, its too late now nomatter what anyone or the fans say. People will tolerate it as long as its implemented slowly over time.

Ever heard of the frog in the boiling pot?

 

[Highlander]

Ya sort of like when they introduced the 3% sales tax back in the 70's promising that it was capped. What a joke?  The game is big business. I don't mind  some tasteful but don't remove the Crest logo like in European Football.

 

[Peter D.]

We have ads on the ice, on the boards, the game breaks for ads every few minutes, the stadiums are effectively ads themselves both by being covered by them and named by companies, post game press conferences take place in front of ads, players already essentially wear ads on their equipment...but jerseys are sacrosanct?

All these reasons are exactly why I don't want to see ads on jerseys.  We're beaten over the head to death with these stupid ads, and now they are going to make their way on to one of the last things that are pure and untouched?

A Toyota ad on a Leaf jersey?  Screw that.

 

[Mack674]

Dont get me wrong I hate this as much as the next guy. I dont mind the boards so much but...

Maybe Im wrong and there IS a point where it will become too much, but I feel itll just keep slowly being fed in until its eveywhere. It already is.

I was fine with the boards but the first time I saw Mastercard right in the ice I didnt like it and still dont. Then you have all the arenas going from names like Maple Leaf Gardens, Montreal Forum etc to Mastercard Arena, Scotiabank Place, Air Canada Center... its disgusting but accepted.

Maybe theres a critical mass somewhere but so far there doesn't seem to be. It isnt just hockey either and the joke Nik said earlier from Futurama is essentially true and the ads might as well be in our dreams. We have VR coming soon and all the delightful AD presencr that will bring.

Its only getting worse.

The only way this doesnt happen eventually is if some kind of decision is made in the near future to set in stone limits or boundaries on the jerseys, otherwise todays NHL uniforms will look as strange to my children when they are in their 30s as the rinks, boards and ice do for me from my fathers time in the 60s and 70s.

They know fans wont stand for it all at once. An inch here, an inch there over 10 seasons though...

 

[nutman]

I am in the club of no way!!!. give them an inch and they will take a mile. leave the jerseys alone they are iconic, and should not be messed with. European sports gave into that crap lets hope we don't.

 

[jdh1]

Maybe political ads as well......Your electricity rates are going up  Vote Liberal

 

[Kin]

All these reasons are exactly why I don't want to see ads on jerseys.  We're beaten over the head to death with these stupid ads, and now they are going to make their way on to one of the last things that are pure and untouched?

I don't want any of those things. I've just more or less made my peace with the fact that businesses typically don't choose to make less money.

 

[sneakyray]

I wouldn't mind it as much if there's something in it for fans.  For example remove tv timeouts during the game and trim a good 30 minutes off the length of the entire event.

 

[ZBBM]

We have ads on the ice, on the boards, the game breaks for ads every few minutes, the stadiums are effectively ads themselves both by being covered by them and named by companies, post game press conferences take place in front of ads, players already essentially wear ads on their equipment...but jerseys are sacrosanct?

All these reasons are exactly why I don't want to see ads on jerseys.  We're beaten over the head to death with these stupid ads, and now they are going to make their way on to one of the last things that are pure and untouched?

A Toyota ad on a Leaf jersey?  Screw that.

You, sir, are an inspiration.  Thank you.

Double-screw that.

Why the fatalism?  There is no innate reason why jerseys can't be the one place ads don't appear.  You CAN draw a line somewhere.  There are no ads on hearses, for example.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Guys they put 56-Wozniewski on a Leafs jersey. Nothing is pure and untouched.

 

[Kin]

You, sir, are an inspiration.  Thank you.

Double-screw that.

Why the fatalism?  There is no innate reason why jerseys can't be the one place ads don't appear.  You CAN draw a line somewhere.  There are no ads on hearses, for example.

So here's a question then. What sort of internal monologue do you think I'm going to have with myself where after 30 years of being a fan of this particular franchise I'm going to decide that ads on the Jerseys are going to be my breaking point?

That's the thing. You can draw a line if you want but it only matters if you're willing to stick by it. If the league announced that they're putting small ads on jerseys will you stop supporting the team? Because if so then kudos on the righteous principles and everything but if not then it's not a line in the sand at all. It's just voicing your displeasure. Unless it actually negatively affects the team's bottom line they won't care.

 

[Deebo]

You, sir, are an inspiration.  Thank you.

Double-screw that.

Why the fatalism?  There is no innate reason why jerseys can't be the one place ads don't appear.  You CAN draw a line somewhere.  There are no ads on hearses, for example.

So here's a question then. What sort of internal monologue do you think I'm going to have with myself where after 30 years of being a fan of this particular franchise I'm going to decide that ads on the Jerseys are going to be my breaking point?

That's the thing. You can draw a line if you want but it only matters if you're willing to stick by it. If the league announced that they're putting small ads on jerseys will you stop supporting the team? Because if so then kudos on the righteous principles and everything but if not then it's not a line in the sand at all. It's just voicing your displeasure. Unless it actually negatively affects the team's bottom line they won't care.

Yeah, I don't think there are nearly enough people who will care enough about ads that they will actually stop watching or going to games.

 

[bustaheims]

Yeah, I don't think there are nearly enough people who will care enough about ads that they will actually stop watching or going to games.

Yup. The only thing I can it see having a significant impact on is jersey sales - and, even then, that's likely only a short-term impact.

 

[McGarnagle]

An ad patch here or there isn't going to bother me much - but if it becomes more like the jerseys on ads they you see over in Europe - it would be a shame.

 

[ZBBM]

You, sir, are an inspiration.  Thank you.

Double-screw that.

Why the fatalism?  There is no innate reason why jerseys can't be the one place ads don't appear.  You CAN draw a line somewhere.  There are no ads on hearses, for example.

So here's a question then. What sort of internal monologue do you think I'm going to have with myself where after 30 years of being a fan of this particular franchise I'm going to decide that ads on the Jerseys are going to be my breaking point?

That's the thing. You can draw a line if you want but it only matters if you're willing to stick by it. If the league announced that they're putting small ads on jerseys will you stop supporting the team? Because if so then kudos on the righteous principles and everything but if not then it's not a line in the sand at all. It's just voicing your displeasure. Unless it actually negatively affects the team's bottom line they won't care.

When did I say I would stop following the team if they put ads on jerseys?  There are all kinds of economically punishing things a fan can do short of that.

And ... So you don't have any lines at all?  There is nothing they could do that would make you stop following the team? 

If enough fans objected loudly enough and long enough, they wouldn't put ads on the uniforms.  Because all their revenue, all of it, ultimately depends on us.

 

[Kin]

When did I say I would stop following the team if they put ads on jerseys?  There are all kinds of economically punishing things a fan can do short of that.

Not for everyone. I already don't buy much in the way of merch. The only ways I contribute to the bottom line of the team(paying my Rogers bill, going to a game once in a blue moon) is directly related to following the team.

And I don't think you need to explicitly state you'd take drastic action when using a metaphor like "drawing a line in the sand". Typically "drawing a line in the sand" doesn't result in only giving the team 75% or 50% of the revenue you'd normally give them.

And ... So you don't have any lines at all?  There is nothing they could do that would make you stop following the team? 

See, again, now we're back to lines being an absolute thing. I didn't say I have no absolutes, just that ads on jerseys don't exactly rise to a level that decades of ineptitude, bouts of outright contempt for their fans didn't and the hundreds of ways they advertise at me already didn't. Again, ever since the bringing in of the cap, and the resulting de-linking of fan revenues and team salary, I haven't given the team much money that isn't directly related to watching the games.

If enough fans objected loudly enough and long enough, they wouldn't put ads on the uniforms.  Because all their revenue, all of it, ultimately depends on us.

Only if it got to a point where the ad revenue from the jerseys was less than the revenue it cost them from these loud fans. If/when we see jerseys on ads, it'll be a result of the team figuring that won't happen.