NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Blackhawks sweaters are iconic, and are considered among the best in all of professional sports when outlets do their annual rankings. So when the NHL opened the door for teams to find a sponsor partner to put a brand on jerseys, lots of Chicago fans weren’t huge fans of having another logo somewhere on them.
Nine teams — the Canadiens, Maple Leafs, Penguins, Capitals, Blues, Wild, Blue Jackets, Golden Knights and Coyotes — have added brand logos to their jerseys. Right now, the Blackhawks only have Belle Tire on their helmets. This is the third season for the Belle Tire relationship.
So when are the Blackhawks going to add an ad? Not yet. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to.
On Monday morning, Ben Pope at the Chicago Sun-Times reported the Blackhawks are intentionally slow-boating the process.
“We want to find a partner with whom we share the same values [and] brand principles,” Jamie Faulkner told Pope. “We’re having conversations with many organizations, but we want to be thoughtful and careful about who we put on this jersey. Thankfully, financially, we don’t need to rush into throwing a patch on there.”
Thus far, only the Habs and Leafs have put logos on their original six sweaters. Without question there would be brands lining up for the other four, including the Blackhawks. Having no logos on jerseys in Chicago and New York — two of the biggest markets in the NHL — is noteworthy.
It is good to hear Faulkner say they don’t need to do it because of the money — yet. But if attendance slides this season (which may become the case if Sunday’s attendance of under 15,000 is any indication), that may be a consideration.
This season the Bulls have partnered with Motorola for the ads on their jerseys.
