Fanatics signs 10 year deal to be uniform supplier of NHL

[nickp91]

Fanatics seriously steps up their production game

 

[Sheppy]

What made up, non existent poll will Gary us to say the players and fans were overwhelmingly happy about this?

 

[Kairi Zaide]

No shit, guess where this sport is primarily played and marketed too. Go elsewhere if you want to talk about starving children.

What a dumb comment.

Your comment is even dumber and in fact you're pretty much confirming what I said.

I'm not referring to starving children or anything explicitly. Just that you'd think the NHL committed something unforgivable, a crime or something really, terribly awful reading these comments - i.e. massive overreaction.

 

[antman12]

Michael Rubins a toolbag. Hate this move by the NHL.

 

[Machinehead]

Next they're going to announce that Jofa has become the NHL's helmet supplier across the league.

This would actually slap

 

[TheTotalPackage]

Hopefully this forces them to step up the quality of their products, because right now they are awful. Cheaply made, non-conforming (one XL shirt has the sleeves way too short compared to another shirt) and poor fit. Disappointing news to say the least. Instead of a marquee manufacturer, they go for the second rate one who likely overpaid (which is all the NHL cares about) so they can build their brand name.

You’re correct. But, Biosteel is actually kinda good. But I get it brand wise it’s not Gatorade.

Personally, I find Biosteel absolutely disgusting. Tried it a few times, and thought it was okay. Then it left that grimey aspartame taste in my mouth for hours, only to realize a main ingredient is stevia leaf. Gatorade is a million times better.

Don't know who pulled out of that one, but Gatorade was synonymous with the NHL.

 

[Sky04]

Your comment is even dumber and in fact you're pretty much confirming what I said.

I'm not referring to starving children or anything explicitly. Just that you'd think the NHL committed something unforgivable, a crime or something really, terribly awful reading these comments - i.e. massive overreaction.

No, it's a negative reaction to the NHL committing to a low quality, low reputation brand, which is fair game considering it affects the outlook of the biggest hockey league in the world, sorry marketing and general business is beyond your comprehension level that your immediate thought goes to privilege.

What's ironic is you sitting there whining on your phone/computer about other people on an internet forum, now that's 1st world privilege.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Stockpile of adidas gear! https://m.kohls.com/search.jsp?sear...1216967191006998256695189846&PPP=48&WS=96&S=1

 

[Rabid Ranger]

A lot of these deals the NHL is making reeks of desperation. That's troubling.

 

[Svechhammer]

Your comment is even dumber and in fact you're pretty much confirming what I said.

I'm not referring to starving children or anything explicitly. Just that you'd think the NHL committed something unforgivable, a crime or something really, terribly awful reading these comments - i.e. massive overreaction.

Found the league exec

 

[Kairi Zaide]

No, it's a negative reaction to the NHL committing to a low quality, low reputation brand, which is fair game considering affects the outlook of the biggest hockey in the world, sorry marketing and general business is beyond your comprehension level that your immediate thought goes to privilege.

What's ironic is you sitting there whining on your phone/computer about other people on an internet forum, now that's 1st world privilege.

Marketing and business, while I would in no way consider myself an expert (just like 99% of people here), are within my comprehension.

Yes, Fanatics sucks, I don't think otherwise.

But this remains an overreaction by many. It's not like they're going to spew out jerseys that tear apart from a simple touch to the players. It won't affect what really drives their business (broadcast deals) negatively. And while jersey sales might go down (and I say might, because Fanatics might be more willing to expand the customer base), it will most likely be made up by whatever that deal with Fanatics offers, monetarily, that other brands didn't.

(Also, internet is accessible to like 60-70% of the world population today from a quick search, it's not exactly a 1st world privilege anymore)

 

[Koivu11]

This is a disaster for NHL jerseys.

Ads on helmets, ads on jerseys, shitty digital board ads, non-stop gambling ads and now Fanatics jerseys for 10 years. The race to the bottom continues.

 

[Gabrielor]

Big mistake.

I don't buy fanatics anything.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

What I learned today is that hf boards has a lot more money than me.

 

[DownIsTheNewUp]

The Fanatics replica gear is not great, but that doesn't mean the company isn't capable of making a great product if they want to. From the ESPN article about this:

"For example, Nike is the official outfitter of Major League Baseball, but Fanatics has made MLB's Nike-branded uniforms for all 30 teams since 2017, when it acquired Majestic. In total, Fanatics makes close to 100,000 MLB uniforms each season. Fanatics also makes authentic NFL jerseys that carry a Nike logo, which are sold online and in stores."

Fanatics replacing Adidas as NHL uniform partner

 

[ClydeLee]

To make it worse my team is absolutely ass right now. Nobody worth buying a jersey for. (Reichel maybe?)

Im gonna need to buy a jersey this summer of whoever we take in the top 5.

The Hawks sweater since Adidas took over have been awful though. They made slight improvement to their 17-18 design but the collar is still brutal. I can't get behind outright hating this Fanatics buy when Adidas was a major flop to begin with.

 

[Hire Sather]

The material on their tshirts is brutal

 

[Quack Shot]

I bought a fanatics ducks third this season. I’ve liked it. Maybe because I haven’t worn it too much though

 

[Rabid Ranger]

This is a disaster for NHL jerseys.

Ads on helmets, ads on jerseys, shitty digital board ads, non-stop gambling ads and now Fanatics jerseys for 10 years. The race to the bottom continues.

The NHL seems like its at the phase where any deal is the best deal. Not great.

 

[njdevil26]

I have Fanatics replicas of the Devils home, third black, and retro white/green jerseys and they are okay. Comfortable. Obviously not made great... but I haven't had any problems.

A friend of mine on the other hand has had immediate quality problems with the two replicas she's purchased.

I just imagine (and hope) the NHL has some strict standards for the materials/quality with the on ice jerseys and the authentic sold to the fans.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

You can just not spend hundreds of dollars on hockey jerseys and then this won’t affect you

 

[Sharkbomb]

Hilarious how we were all sitting here worried about the NHL adding more ads to jerseys. And then the NHL comes out of left field and throws us a curve ball: Yes, you still have to worry about ads, but now you also have to worry about those ads on shitty overpriced jerseys produced by a shitty company. And for our fellow fans north of the border, nothing like buying gear from your local team and paying US shipping for it.

But hey, if you own counterfeit-looking Fanatics merch, you can now call it official!

 

[HockeyVirus]

I can only hope that the NHL got an utterly absurd about of money, because they just bought themselves a helluva lot of bad publicity for no good reason otherwise.

The NHL is completely out of touch with it's fanbase so I am not surprised. Their attitude seems to be the fans can deal with it and the quality of the product continues to decline.

 

[Hollywood Burrows]

the NHL is a cheap, shabby, also-ran sports league so this makes sense!

 

[Pavels Dog]

The NHL has just shot themselves in the foot. I don't know how much the rest of you know about hockey culture (I'm an expert) but the make and quality of jerseys are huge parts of it.
This means the public, after hearing about this, is not going to want to purchase any more jerseys for any team. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but the NHL has alienated an entire market with this move.

NHL, publicly apologize and cancel this deal or you can kiss your business goodbye.