barry halls
Registered User
- Nov 13, 2018
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Do players own their jerseys? Or does the team?
- Thread starter barry halls
- Start date
Beauner
Registered User
Depends. Teams supply the jerseys. Usually a player wears one road/home jersey for 1/3 of the season (could be less or more, varies by team). After they're done being used they usually end up on Meigray, sold to collectors, put up for auction, put in storage, etc. If a player hit an important milestone in that jersey they'll probably be allowed to keep it, or it goes off to the HoF. For special jerseys like in the Winter Classic, they actually may wear multiple jerseys during the course of a single game. Then they usually can keep one, one goes to auction, HoF, etc.
hirawl
Used Register
- Dec 27, 2010
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What a breath of fresh air this is. An actual interesting question and a nice and educated answer. Well done guys.
Sorry to mess it up but it just felt so unusually good that I had to.
Sorry to mess it up but it just felt so unusually good that I had to.
jetsforever
Registered User
- Dec 14, 2013
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Often other organisations (like the team store or MeiGray as you mentioned) have claims on the jerseys before they're even worn, and sometimes they are even pre-sold. As a result the players can't just take them whenever. I think they might get their first ever or other very special ones potentially.
Vijo Morganstein
Registered User
- Nov 29, 2019
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These are copyrighted items. NHL and team logos belong to them so an individual player legally can't lay claim to it regardless of whether their name is on the back. That's not to say the team would prevent them from keeping one or as seen in other sports where a player hands their jersey to a fan.
barry halls
Registered User
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Very interesting replies here! Frequency of wear is something I was wondering about too, like whether players get to wear a brand new jersey for every game or if they have to keep the same one for a while. It makes sense that teams wouldn't want to just give them away, considering a $200 jersey worn by someone like McDavid or Matthews for a game suddenly becomes worth $10000 or more.
On another note those game worn jersey featuring tears and puck marks from game action are way too cool and I'm very jealous of the fans who have enough dough to buy them.
Rangediddy
The puck was in
- Oct 28, 2011
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So what you're saying is that "It's time to start talking about who owns the jerseys?"
Rangediddy
The puck was in
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He was traded to Calgary mid game and the team asked for his Habs jersey back before he left. Just think about how that conversation went... "Mike, you've been traded, please take off your jersey, we're going to hold on to it"
Wow that's brutal lmao. How can such a rich organization pinch pennies that much
Refuse
Sin City Soldiers
- Aug 23, 2005
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1857 Howitzer
******* Linesman
Most teams wear two sets of jerseys during the season, a new set for playoffs and another set for the SCF. There may be a one off game jersey once or twice a year.
If I recall, Geoff Molson eventually intervened and Cammalleri eventually did get the jersey, but it was an embarassing time for the Habs.
To be fair, some teams actually sell the jersey before they are worn by the player. As in, you, the fan, pay the team and can watch the player skate around in a jersey that you 'own' and then you get the jersey after the segment of the season is over that it's worn for. I don't know/remember if the Habs did that but it's possible the jersey had been spoken for, but I believe there's usually a clause that the team can cancel the sale if they want to.
To be fair, some teams actually sell the jersey before they are worn by the player. As in, you, the fan, pay the team and can watch the player skate around in a jersey that you 'own' and then you get the jersey after the segment of the season is over that it's worn for. I don't know/remember if the Habs did that but it's possible the jersey had been spoken for, but I believe there's usually a clause that the team can cancel the sale if they want to.
- Feb 23, 2014
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Unless the NA laws are vastly different from those of mine, I don't think copyright has much to say about the ownership of an item. Copyright has a lot to say on manufacturing an item and reproducing an item if there are elements protected by copyright in the item, but after such an item has been legally obtained, then it falls into the owner's competence under the ownership to decide what happens to the item. You go buy a CD from a store, you can then as the owner sell that singular physical piece of copyrighted work to a third party on graislist.
What happens to the ownership of a singular jersey item when a team provides one to a player for the purposes of fulfilling his duties in him employment is a question outside the scope of copyright. NHL possibly has some general by-laws on the subject.
- Feb 23, 2014
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CBA 16.14 (d) on the 14 Goaltender Professional Try-Out Agreement:
Other than that, the CBA hasn't much to say on jerseys except that the sale of certain jerseys with their value enhanced by the association to a player is listed under Hockey-Related Revenues of the Club and the League in 50.1 (a)(i)(V)(3):
Both strongly suggest that there is some high-level NHL statute on the jerseys as a main rule remaining under the club ownership, but that statute is not in the CBA. I would guess there either is some paperwork involved whenever a player is allowed to keep one, or (more likely) there is some specific general exceptions set in said the NHL statute on specific occasions when the player gains the ownership of the singular jersey that has been provided to them by the club for the purposes of employment.
Jersey collectors with the proofs of purchases and the proofs of the genuinety probably could tell us who exactly are they buying the jersey from according to the receipt and what parties are associated in the genuinety-assurance process. I would guess there should be a list of all transfers that the jersey went through since having been held by the original owner (=club).
Other than that, the CBA hasn't much to say on jerseys except that the sale of certain jerseys with their value enhanced by the association to a player is listed under Hockey-Related Revenues of the Club and the League in 50.1 (a)(i)(V)(3):
Both strongly suggest that there is some high-level NHL statute on the jerseys as a main rule remaining under the club ownership, but that statute is not in the CBA. I would guess there either is some paperwork involved whenever a player is allowed to keep one, or (more likely) there is some specific general exceptions set in said the NHL statute on specific occasions when the player gains the ownership of the singular jersey that has been provided to them by the club for the purposes of employment.
Jersey collectors with the proofs of purchases and the proofs of the genuinety probably could tell us who exactly are they buying the jersey from according to the receipt and what parties are associated in the genuinety-assurance process. I would guess there should be a list of all transfers that the jersey went through since having been held by the original owner (=club).
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LeafsNation75
Registered User
Every couple of months the Maple Leafs have auctions of game used merchandise and some of the items are game worn jerseys. For example during one of their recent auctions they were selling one of Auston Matthews game worn jerseys he had during his rookie season and they specifically said he wore it when he broke Wendel Clark's rookie goal scoring record, the night he scored his 40th goal and their home playoff games against Washington. The final price was well over $25,000 which is a lot, however I can see why someone would pay that much for a jersey like that.
Honour Over Glory
Fire Sully
- Jan 30, 2012
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Makes sense its the Oilers, didn't they spaz at Comrie to pay back some bonus before they traded him?
