Fanatics Will Be NHL’s new on-ice uniform partner starting in 24-25

[GindyDraws]

Fanatics still sucks. Everything they touch is worse than when they got there. So this MLB jersey thing could be a coincidence, but I don’t give them the benefit of the doubt.

We can say about anything that venture capitalists get their grubby fingers on.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Got an adidas golden seals jersey to add to the adidas collection.

 

[jkrdevil]

The thing that can really help bring down Fanatics is the fact that the companies who used to make quality merch for fans was so much better quality that it will LAST LONGER than Fanatics stuff.

Unless you're Kevin Smith or living the World of Chel in real life, you're probably not wearing your hockey sweaters more than 10 times a year each, so any old jersey you have is probably in great shape.

I hope all die hard fans just rock their vintage old merch and stop buying new stuff. Everyone in the arena is gonna know Fanatics sucks, know you've been a fan for a while, and even the stuff we have that we'd be embarrassed about is gonna be retro and cool again.

That birthday gift Ziggy Palffy Fishsticks jersey that I was embarrassed to wear is cool now.

We should all be rocking our OG gear for the length of the Fanatics deal.

The last jersey I bought was a CCM throwback Devils red/green jersey about 13 years ago. Prior to that I have a koho Devils red jersey from 2004. Wear them both for games (which admittedly is only a few times a year as I don’t live in market anymore). Both in good shape.

It also helps that I root for a team that stubbornly refuse to change uniforms for many years (thanks Lou!) and when new ownership did want to cash in on a uniform change didn’t make to drastic of a change for fear of pissing off the fanbase.

 

[KevFu]

The last jersey I bought was a CCM throwback Devils red/green jersey about 13 years ago. Prior to that I have a koho Devils red jersey from 2004. Wear them both for games (which admittedly is only a few times a year as I don’t live in market anymore). Both in good shape.

Right, I bought my most recent jersey purchase (a 2021 Pete Alonso Mets jersey) because I was at a road Mets game with like 10,000 Mets fans and chuckled that 95% of the jerseys were of former or inactive players.... and I was one of them, in my 2004 David Wright jersey. That 18-year old jersey looks "not brand new" but totally fine.


There's a line of "your jersey is old because he's not on the team, are you that serious of fan?" and Fanatics is tipping that towards "you've been a fan a long time and new jerseys suck."

 

[Fish on The Sand]

Their championship hats for the finals have been God awful.

Compare Vegas' last year to say Washington in 2018, Pittsburgh the two years before, Blackhawks 2015 etc.

Is that advertised as authentic? It looks like cheap replica shit.

 

[Voight]

Is that advertised as authentic? It looks like cheap replica shit.

That I'm not sure, but from what ive read I believe even the infield versions will no longer have embroidered logos.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

That I'm not sure, but from what ive read I believe even the infield versions will no longer have embroidered logos.

The Fyre Fest of sports uniforms.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

Their championship hats for the finals have been God awful.

Compare Vegas' last year to say Washington in 2018, Pittsburgh the two years before, Blackhawks 2015 etc.

Really insane they left New Era Cap to let Fanatics make such lazy and bad hat designs. The sad thing is I could see Fanatics buying off New Era Cap one day just to make this point moot lol.

 

[KevFu]

Really insane they left New Era Cap to let Fanatics make such lazy and bad hat designs. The sad thing is I could see Fanatics buying off New Era Cap one day just to make this point moot lol.

If that happens, I'm literally buying a full box of New Era caps. I regret not doing that when they switched from wool to polyester.

I also was kinda spoiled, because I worked in college sports and shared a rare hat size with a player on the baseball team. The equipment guy had to buy a box of each hat for one guy and our team had four hats. The kid wasn't going through 60 hats in 56 games, so he got 20, I got 20 and the equipment room kept 20 on hand. It only occurred to me to buy a box of hats for that reason.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

I still don't understand why they pulled the plug with New Era but still can partner with '47. I get consolidating the team-issue rights to 1 brand if you want, but New Era should still be able to make fan hats.

 

[Yukon Joe]

I still don't understand why they pulled the plug with New Era but still can partner with '47. I get consolidating the team-issue rights to 1 brand if you want, but New Era should still be able to make fan hats.

I would think the explanation is pretty simple.

Money.

 

[KevFu]

I still don't understand why they pulled the plug with New Era but still can partner with '47. I get consolidating the team-issue rights to 1 brand if you want, but New Era should still be able to make fan hats.

Someone can correct me if I'm incorrect, but New Era can/does make fan hats.

The deal Fanatics have with the leagues is that in addition to all the other (horrific for fans) stuff Fanatics controls, they control and have exclusivity for the official Championship/Playoff hats.

Not the on-field during the games, but "spray champagne on" hats.

 

[ponder719]

That I'm not sure, but from what ive read I believe even the infield versions will no longer have embroidered logos.

This is correct. The Phillies have lost their chain stitched logos, any team patches are screened instead of embroidered, the pants are semitransparent, the only two known (sort of) exceptions to any of the Nikenatics f%*^ery are the Cardinals fought to keep their chain-stitched logos (but even then, they're being applied as two patches instead of being directly sewn onto the jerseys) and the Royals complaining until they gave them properly-sized player names back.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

Someone can correct me if I'm incorrect, but New Era can/does make fan hats.

The deal Fanatics have with the leagues is that in addition to all the other (horrific for fans) stuff Fanatics controls, they control and have exclusivity for the official Championship/Playoff hats.

Not the on-field during the games, but "spray champagne on" hats.

No, they don't anymore. The NHL doesn't even exist on their website.

 

[Voight]

This is correct. The Phillies have lost their chain stitched logos, any team patches are screened instead of embroidered, the pants are semitransparent, the only two known (sort of) exceptions to any of the Nikenatics f%*^ery are the Cardinals fought to keep their chain-stitched logos (but even then, they're being applied as two patches instead of being directly sewn onto the jerseys) and the Royals complaining until they gave them properly-sized player names back.

Hilarious cause they are basically knockoff jerseys at this point.

Actually, I bet you even knockoff websites will have logos/patches embroidered.

 

[aqib]

We can say about anything that venture capitalists get their grubby fingers on.

Not to nitpick but there is a difference between venture capitalists and buyout funds (even though they both fall under the category of private equity). Venture capitalists fund startups and that's generally a good thing (think Shark Tank). Buyout funds buy existing companies and either consolidate them with other companies, load them up with debt, or strip the operations down (think Other People's or the original Wall Street with Michael Douglas/Charlie Sheen).

 

[TheLegend]

This is regards to the MLB uniforms but the story is the same. Now Fanatics CEO wants to put the blame on the designer rather than his companies workmanship.

Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin on MLB uniforms: 'We're doing everything as we’ve been told and we’re getting the s*** kicked out of us.'

Michael Rubin, the CEO of Fanatics, has weighed in on the backlash against the new MLB uniforms manufactured by his company.

awfulannouncing.com

 

[The Lighthouse]

Really, really dreading Fanatics taking over for the NHL based on all the customer complaints and what's going on with MLB.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

This is regards to the MLB uniforms but the story is the same. Now Fanatics CEO wants to put the blame on the designer rather than his companies workmanship.

Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin on MLB uniforms: 'We're doing everything as we’ve been told and we’re getting the s*** kicked out of us.'

Michael Rubin, the CEO of Fanatics, has weighed in on the backlash against the new MLB uniforms manufactured by his company.

awfulannouncing.com

Fanatics bought the Majestic plant and manufactured the exact same jerseys they did for years. The only change was eventually adding the Nike logo.

Nike didn't need to make changes to the specifications, they could've ordered Fanatics to keep using the Majestic template, and none of this would've happened.

The NHL will be in the reverse situation. SP will continue to manufacture the jerseys on behave of Fanatics. From what I've read, they'll be keeping the Adidas cut until 26-27. Hopefully Fanatics doesn't tinker too much when the time comes.

 

[KevFu]

No, they don't anymore. The NHL doesn't even exist on their website.

Ah, I misunderstood. I was thinking baseball, not hockey, since Fanatics is bad in all sports but ruining on-field gear in baseball at the moment.

 

[Rob Brown]

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

If this turns into a complete disaster, what legal recourse do the leagues have to source apparel elsewhere?

 

[DrandonBudinsky]

I hope all die hard fans just rock their vintage old merch and stop buying new stuff. Everyone in the arena is gonna know Fanatics sucks, know you've been a fan for a while, and even the stuff we have that we'd be embarrassed about is gonna be retro and cool again.

That birthday gift Ziggy Palffy Fishsticks jersey that I was embarrassed to wear is cool now.

We should all be rocking our OG gear for the length of the Fanatics deal.

^^ This.

Agreed! Not intending to turn this into a “Back in my day…” moment, but the “vintage” jerseys really have an “It” factor.

The golden era of the mid to late ‘90s through the early 2000s replicas is underrated. In a span of about 10 years, CCM, Starter, ProPlayer, Koho (and to a lesser extent, Nike/Bauer) put out some good to excellent quality jerseys for decent prices. If you were to put some of them up to what Fanatics offers these days, you’d be shocked at the difference.

 

[Dale Gribble]

Would have loved to see CCM return.

Having only seen, but thankfully never purchased Fanatics products, I don't see this deal working out well for the fans or even the players for that matter.

 

[tucker3434]

Would have loved to see CCM return.

Having only seen, but thankfully never purchased Fanatics products, I don't see this deal working out well for the fans or even the players for that matter.

I don’t think companies like CCM can afford it anymore. The last Adidas deal was reported to be $70m/yr. The best revenue figure I can find for CCM is $350m annually.

There was a chance back it was Bauer/Nike or CCM/Adidas we might see a hockey brand doing it. But their current p/e firm owners aren’t going to see the value in it. Which sucks for us.