Where Are All the Stadium Jerseys?
Tuesday · Oct 29 · 2013 | 1:30 PM PDT
There are still nine sweaters we haven't seen yet
The question I'm asked most these days is the title of this post. Where are all the NHL Stadium Series jerseys? Why haven't any of them been unveiled — or leaked — yet?
Now that all of this year's new third jerseys are out, I thought I'd address it. The short answer is, I don't know. But I'm happy to engage in a little educated speculation if it gives us something to talk about.
To begin, really the only concrete thing we've heard on this subject was back in June when Islanders GM Garth Snow mentioned it briefly. He said his team had something special in development and that every Stadium Series participant does as well.
With seven clubs taking part in the series, it's a great opportunity for the NHL to add a whole mess of new merchandise to the mix. But when do they make the designs public? As someone who makes a living in marketing, that's probably the best way for me to approach this. Hence the educated speculation.
Make the new stuff available by Black Friday
Depending upon how long the new designs have been in the works, the smartest option — in my opinion — would be to get everything on store shelves by the biggest shopping day of the year — Black Friday. (This year, that's Nov. 29.) These jerseys would probably make great Christmas gifts. And the timing would be great since the first Stadium Series game takes place exactly a month after Christmas.
But that begs the question, when do you reveal the designs to fans? The week of Thanksgiving (only talking U.S. since Canada's not involved in the Stadium Series) is tricky because people are out of their normal routines and may miss the announcement. Not ideal for maximizing exposure.
The week before might be good, though. So should the teams hold individual unveilings or should the NHL knock out all seven in one fell swoop? (I'm assuming the Rangers get only one jersey despite playing in two separate stadium games.) All at once would be more efficient but you're probably only buying the jersey if you're a fan of the team. So maybe it's better left to the individual clubs.
But there's a problem. If you introduce a sweater in November and tell people it won't be used for two months or more, it's possible they could simply lose interest. So what's another option?
Hold off on any unveilings until Winter Classic
Another plan could be to wait and get the new sweaters in front of more eyeballs across the U.S. and Canada. Forget about Christmas. Wait a week and unveil them all in Ann Arbor during one of the intermissions of the 2014 Winter Classic. Put them in stores the next day.
There's still plenty of time until the first of the four games, which takes place in L.A. on Jan. 25. And let's not forget about the Heritage Classic. There's two more jerseys right there — but they're Canadian so NBC won't care about that. Still, with the Leafs in the Winter Classic, Canadians will surely be watching.
This idea may be kind of a bummer for jersey geeks like us because it means waiting longer, but it has a lot of merit from a marketing standpoint. It could certainly play into the excitement of the first outdoor game of the season.
What's your theory?
Those are my two theories and, of course, they could both be completely wrong. What's your take?
By the way, my Flames third jersey review is still to come. Just wanted to get this out of the way first.
Reader Comments (22)
Maybe I'm just evil, but instead of having all of these teasers and early releases, just keep them secret until the teams take the ice for the game. You could buy the new sweater during and after the game, and they'd be on sale by the teams for the rest of the year. I'm sure they'd still sell better than the new Winter Classic jerseys, which have been available for a good four months.
If you're going to sell any jerseys though, they gotta be good.
''Still, with the Leafs in the Winter Classic, Canadians will surely be watching.''
I have to correct you right there: Canadians will watch mostly everything hockey related.
I live in Quebec and I haven't missed an outdoor game yet and don't plan to.
IF the jerseys are ready to be revealed, I think Black Friday makes more sense from a marketing standpoint - you capitalize on Christmas gift sales and THEN you get boxing day and THEN you get another swing of sales in the lead-up to the games. It doesn't make any sense (to me) to withhold them for a month, during the busiest shopping season of the year, in hopes that there will be sufficiently higher sales in a shorter period of time after Christmas.
But then again, I'm no marketing expert.
I like Steve's idea about not revealing them until the teams are on the ice, but the NHL knows its fans too well. We like to wear proper kit to games whenever we can. The sense of urgency for people to buy jerseys will never be higher than pre-game, because people will want to roll up to the arena with the new sweater on their backs. All that said, I agree with Chris... would've thought we'd see them by now.
As an Islander fan and someone who plans on purchasing this "special" jersey to wear to the game, I have done some investigating of my own. What I have come up with is that yes the Islanders will wear a special jersey for the game and the rangers will wear one as well. The rangers will have a different jersey from their "Winter Classic" jersey and they will wear it for both Stadium games. As far as unveiling and availability, well I have heard 1st of the year and they will all be unveiled together, as in all Stadium Series jerseys. I have also heard that the Islander jersey is done and ready to go.
The Ducks have already said that their jersey will not be available till after Christmas.
Unveiling/selling them after Christmas would be an incredibly dumb move speaking purely from a profit perspective. Then again, the NHL has made head-scratching moves like that in the past. Unveil them before Black Friday. Fans get to see them earlier and the NHL makes a boatload of money from holiday sales. Everyone wins. This is really the only logical option in my opinion. I could never imagine people "losing interest" because the jerseys got unveiled a couple months before the game,
If this were a normal year, I'd say unveiling a week before Thanksgiving makes sense. But Hanukkah starts on Thanksgiving this year. I know they may be less than 5% of the population, but percentages matter in sales. A lot of Hanukkah shopping will already be done by the time Thanksgiving week comes around.
A week before, perhaps?
Where are the leaks though!? Very unusual for uniforms to be kept under wrap for so long. Unless they're not fully completed yet? Doubtful considering the manufacturing aspect.
I would be shocked if the Devils did anything different than just a white version of their red and green throwbacks that they wear on St. Patrick's Day.
@ISLEGUY could you release your sources? I would be interested in reading them...
I still wonder if there is much merit in the trend that emerged this summer of controlled, piecemeal leaks of uniforms. I'm hoping that, since these uniforms will likely be one-offs (except for the Pens, if history is any index) teams involved won't find themselves making the same mistake Buffalo did. They clearly tried to salvage it with the Steve Ott thing, but it just made the whole thing seem like even more of a migraine, and when the Sabres actually step onto the ice with those monstrosities on, it's just going to be one more cruel joke on Buffalo fans on what is already turning out to be a throwaway season. Contrarily, the nine teams that are yet to unveil their outdoor uniforms have earned or aspired to respectability, so gimmicky leaks will fly in the face of that. I also wonder if the teams who are playing their games after the Olympics will want to wait till after the break. Either way, the more I look at the second half of the season, the more of a minefield it looks to be.
And to answer your questions more directly, I'd argue that team-specific unveilings make way more sense than doing so at the Winter Classic.
It would be unfair to the Wings and Leafs if other teams had their apparel ready to go for Black Friday. My guess at least, and maybe the NHL has figured they'd sell X amount regardless of new merchandise. That way they can create a second boom period in sales after the holiday seasons?
@David Kerr Unfortunately I didn't read anything. I spoke to Terry Goldstein on the concourse at the Barclay's Center during the pre-season game against the Devils. He designs the Islander jerseys. I have bumped in to him numerous times over the years and he is usually pretty approachable. He told me the jersey is ready and that the league wants to do a big reveal.
I also called Gerry Cosby's, a sporting goods and apparel store in NYC. They used to be located right outside of the Garden, now they are across the street. I called to see if they were taking pre-orders or had any info on pricing and availability. They said they don't have much info other than they don't think the on ice authentic will be made available to the public and they have heard it won't be available until after the 1st of the year.
I am pretty bummed about this since I was looking forward to getting this jersey as a Chanukah present myself. Now I am not sure I will have it in time for the game. The NHL is really dropping the ball here. One by not unveiling them or even saying when they will be unveiled. And two by making them available so close to the games, which makes no sense at all.
Hey Chris, did you know the Sweden reveal their Olympic jersey few weeks ago, I was hoping to see a blog about it by now. And I see this.. <_<
I'm disappointed the NHL won't reveal the Stadium Series jerseys until the new year. I was looking forward to buying the Ducks jersey sometime soon. Hoping the NHL gets smart and releases the jerseys around Black Friday.
@Isleguy Thanks for looking into this. I think the Islanders might wear the Dynasty Era Blue Jersey for the Stadium Series with the different striping. Now that they have thankfully gone back to their Original Look, this would be an awesome time to bring back the Royal Blue Cup Era jersey for their Outdoor game.
One of the workers at the Sens Store here in Ottawa told me that the new Ottawa heritage classic jersey should be out by mid November in time for Christmas. Pretty excited to see the black jersey in reverse. That is what the speculations are anyway.
@Kevin
Since the Devils are the designated home team in their outdoor game, i'd be shocked if they don't just wear the red & green throwback jersey they've been wearing the last couple St. Paddy's Days. No need to wear road colors for a home game.
And just to confirm the Devils will most likely be acknowledging their past with the color green...
On their magnetic schedule giveaway to fans, the 1/26 game was colored in green as opposed to all the others, which were colored in red for home and black for away.
@Brian, I just read your comment and the fact that the Devils have the Stadium Series game highlighted in green on their schedule is something I find somewhat interesting. Since the Devils are playing the Outdoor Game against the Rangers as the home team, I wonder if the Devils are going to pull a rabbit out of the hat and bring out a green jersey. Besides last year's Lockout-Shortened season, the Devils have been wearing their red and green throwbacks every year for St. Patrick's Day since the 2009-10 season and I'm pretty sure that that will continue. When it comes to making money, it doesn't make sense just recycling the red and green throwback jersey. They could also bring out the white version of that since we still don't know what the Rangers are wearing for their games just yet but, the Devils are going to be the home team so, who knows. I am 99% sure my wild guess on a green jersey is completely wrong and they will just bring out the red/green throwback but after hearing that the Ducks are supposedly bringing out an orange jersey for their game, why wouldn't the Devils try something new as well. I guess time will tell.
I can't imagine Lou Lamoriello approving of a green jersey. He has always been no-frills when it comes to the NJD identity. He believes in one uniform set without any alternate looks. And what a tradition they have built and what success they have had since they started wearing the red & black in 1992.
Obviously the outdoor game is a special occasion so it would be appropriate to breakout the throwback red & green again (they've only done it on three other instances so it's far from routine), but that's about as far as I can see Lou taking it.
I for one appreciate the Devils desire to not follow all the trends and dabble with third uniforms for the sake of having third uniforms.
@Brian, I completely agree with you. Lou and the Devils deserve a ton of credit for just sticking with their home and road jerseys and leaving their identity alone. Don't get me wrong, it is nice to see teams try new looks once in a while but it is also nice to see at least a few teams find an identity and leave their overall look alone too. As for that red/green throwback, it has only been worn three times so if they use that for the Outdoor Game, with Lou in charge and as you said, they are far from routine for New Jersey, I'd be shocked if they didn't use it. The only shock I could see possible is the Rangers with a dark jersey and the Devils with the white throwback but since they will be the road team for both games, that's extremely unlikely. As I said, I'm 99% sure they will just wear the red/green throwback, which will look great on Outdoor ice.
Both the Islander logo and ranger logo for the Stadium Series were released on Twitter today. Neither jersey has been unveiled, however the Islanders have e-mailed all full season ticket holders a downloadable form to pre-order the jersey in time for the game. Only 2 options are available, child and adult and they can be blank or personalized. It is also stated that a limited quantity will be made available. This is still being handled terribly. It just proves that the leagues and the teams believe the fans will buy anything they tell us too. $150 or $240 for a jersey that we haven't even seen yet! The way they have handled this opportunity to celebrate the Islanders has been completely bungled and I blame the league!