from Matt Larkin of The Daily Faceoff,

Perusing that sponsor-laden list feels like reading house-league hockey standings. But as NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly explained to Daily Faceoff in a conversation last week at the NHL Player Media Tour in Las Vegas, it’s a necessary step toward making back the catastrophic NHL revenue losses that occurred when the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons and vacuumed up gate revenues. The same rationale went into teams debuting ads on helmets during the 2020-21 season.

The eight teams opening 2021-22 with jersey ads won’t be the last. As Daly explains, the only reason the NHL doesn’t have all 32 doing it yet is because the other teams haven’t struck deals yet with sponsors willing to pay what the ad space is worth. Daly anticipates the jersey ad sales will be a “significant revenue stream” for the league, so the clubs will demand large sums of money to rent the space.

“I think that process plays out over a period of years,” Daly said. “Once it plays out, it’s a very significant piece of real estate being sold by the clubs, and it’s a great opportunity for potential sponsors, and I think it’s going to continue to be very valuable.”

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