As you know by now, there's going to be a new look for the Columbus Blue Jackets' jerseys next season.
The club officially announced its sponsorship agreement with Safelite Auto Glass last weekend. Safelite’s logo will be displayed on the home, road, and alternate jerseys starting for the 2022-23 season.
NEWS: The Columbus Blue Jackets announced today that Columbus-based @Safelite will be the first jersey sponsor in franchise history beginning in the 2022-23 National Hockey League season. https://t.co/GZWtHmegFz
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) March 19, 2022
Upon word of the announcement, the reception online, and in the arena during Saturday’s 5-4 home win against the St. Louis Blues wasn’t as well-received as perhaps the Blue Jackets organization or Safelite might have had in mind.
#CBJ will have an ad on the sweater next year. Mixed reaction from the crowd. https://t.co/B7scOVMBb6
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) March 19, 2022
The agreement is said to be a seven-figure deal that lasts for three years. Columbus is the first team to have a sponsorship for all of their jerseys including the home, alternate, and away.
The Washington Capitals announced their sponsorship agreement with Caesars Sportsbook for home and alternate uniforms last September.
Starting with the 2021-22 season, the Blue Jackets started displaying the DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse) logo on their blue home helmets and iDesign on their white road helmets. The league permitted teams to add sponsors to helmets as a way to recoup financial losses amid the COVID pandemic.
Fans are often not receptive to change when it comes to anything that alters a uniform, whether it be a small logo on the front or side of a jersey.
While it’s the first time in the 104-year history of the NHL that there will be sponsors prominently displayed on uniforms, it’s essentially no different than adidas being shown on all sweaters across the NHL, the Nike swoosh for MLB, NFL, and NBA jerseys, and existing sponsors on NBA jerseys.
We’ve seen this happening in the MLS and international soccer for some time.
Though fans might not be keen on the new-look jerseys being adorned with corporate sponsors, the added revenue stream can be a benefit for the teams and league—as well as exclusive promotional opportunities between the team and local businesses.
A clean and minimalistic look isn't the worst thing and is likely something we're going to forget about.
Similar to the ads on helmets.
That clean look is a sentiment shared by Columbus Blue Jackets chief operating officer, Cameron Scholvin.
We knew we wanted to have a clean and consistent look on our jerseys, but it would have to be the right partner at the right investment. We were comfortable with Safelite as the right brand and that we were getting fair market value for both the home and road jerseys, so it made sense to work with just one partner as opposed to multiple partners as we did with our helmets.
The decision might not be by popular fans, and that criticism was only heightened by the flashy drawn-out marketing tease.
Building up an ad reveal was dumb. No one really (besides those who profit) want ads on jerseys to boot.
— will chase (@willgchase) March 19, 2022
We're all going to forget about it pretty soon. Especially by next season, when the real business is getting excited about what the team is doing on the ice, not what they're wearing.
