Report Adidas wins rights to NHLs jerseys big changes coming

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As important as the game itself is, theres nothing quite like a hockey jersey. A teams logo and its colors are intertwined with the raw emotions, memories and general pride for many fans Wyatt Hubert Jersey  of the sport. Thats what makes this jersey news rather big in the hockey world.The NHL has struck a new long-term deal with apparel giant Adidas to produce the leagues jerseys beginning in 2017-18 according to Rick Westhead of TSN.ca. Adidas will be a suming the role of the NHLs official jersey provider from Reebok, which has been making the leagues jerseys since 2007. :For Adidas, the NHL deal is a big, if curious, win. The company beat out rivals Under Armour and Bauer Hockey for the NHL jersey contract, three people familiar with the matter told TSN. The NHLs deal with Reebok pays the league about $35 million per season, a source said. The new deal with Adidas will see the rights fee double, the source said.Both the NHL and Adidas declined to comment. A source said the agreement would be formally announced in mid-September. It's unclear whether the NHL will receive a cut of revenue from jersey sales or if it's a straight rights-fee arrangement.Adidas, which bought Reebok in 2012 for a reported $3.8 billion, recently ended its relationship with the NBA as its jersey manufacturer. Presumably the NHL was cheaper and kept the brand in a major North American profe sional sports league.While details of the framing of this deal in terms of revenue generated and what this means for the future are scant, here are a few things to know about this reported deal.Adidas doesnt have much of a hockey history.While  Daxton Hill Jersey it is not traditionally known as a hockey company, Adidas has been in the hockey busine s before. The company has been the official brand of several major NCAA programs. Among big-name schools that have utilized Adidas hockey jerseys before: Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Michigan.  In those cases, the company didnt really materially change the jerseys. Notre Dame kept its cla sic script jerseys, Michigans Block M was left alone and Wisconsins jerseys have pretty much been the same for decades. That's probably somewhat comforting to NHL fans, but not nece sarily what should be expected for the NHL agreement.Additionally, the company is reportedly in pursuit of a deal with of  B.J. Hill Jersey the . According to TSN, Crosby's current contract with Reebok expires at the end of August. Landing one of the game's biggest stars should help get the Adidas brand out there more among hockey fans despite the limited history, a suming they strike a deal.How will this new deal change the look of NHL jerseys?This remains to be seen, but heres more from TSNs report.  A source told TSN that the deal would surely mean big changes to uniform designs, perhaps with Adidass familiar three-stripe trademark being added to some or all team jerseys.Hmmm. This could make a few hockey fans nervous about the status of their favorite team's jersey.Reeboks Edge jerseys have been met with mixed reviews over the years. The technology had to be tweaked early on and some of the leagues redesigned jerseys in the 2007-08 season were pretty rough.Remember all the vertical piping? Theres a reason many teams that used to have it dont anymore. That said, Adidas does now have Reebok under its umbrella, so it will be interesting to see just how Michael Thomas Jersey  big the changes will be.Traditionalists will say to leave the design of jerseys alone, but expecting many to remain completely untouched might be overly optimistic. Adidas has done a lot of experimenting in other sports, particularly among its football properties in the NCAA, and some of those designs might have hockey fans pulling their favorite jersey over their eyes.One of the major testing grounds could be the World Cup of Hockey, , the jersey rights for that event have not been sold. A suming the NHL goes with Adidas to handle the jerseys for the event which will take place in the fall of 2016, we might get an idea of what Adidas wants to do for their hockey jerseys. So perhaps we can reserve judgment until then.  But heres another reason hockey fans ears will remain perked up and brows furrowedCould this change open the door to selling ads on NHL jerseys?As Westhead noted in his piece on the deal for TSN, the new jersey setup could also open the door for the NHL to consider advertisements on its team uniforms. Its something the league has reportedly discu sed in the past and there may be a number of owners receptive to the revenue bump such an initiative could bring in.  If theres one thing that will get traditionalist fans fired up, its this. Each teams logo, particularly the older clubs, is one of those things fans wouldnt stand for diminishing. Theres no guarantee anything like that will happen yet.Last January, NHL Commi sioner Gary Bettman told reporters in Vancouver that he was and that it was an idea he would probably have to be brought to kicking and screaming before supporting it.If the new uniform contract with Adidas opens that door again, it will be very interesting to see where the league goes considering how aggre sive it has become in attempting to boost revenues. Just in the last year the league has made major busine s decisions like reformulating the World Cup of Hockey, opening up the expansion proce s and forging a digital media deal with MLB Advanced Media.Anything is po sible when theres millions of dollars involved, but ads on jerseys remains a fairly delicate topic, even among those standing to Ja'Marr Chase Jersey  gain from it.
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