By now you have heard the news, and you’ve seen the complaints. The NHL has officially partnered with Fanatics to be the official on-ice jersey maker starting with the 2024-2025 season.
Unless you live under a rock, you already know about Fanatics. They run millions of commercials per sporting event and produce apparel for pretty much every sport under the sun, from the NHL to the NBA to MLB to college and everything in between.
If professional dodgeball actually existed, like it did in the Vince Vaughn classic “Dodgeball: a True Underdog Story”, it would most likely be Fanatics making those Average Joe’s jerseys.
If Chuck Norris in that movie was anything like us hockey fans, he’d give those jerseys a thumbs down (that’s another “Dodgeball” movie reference, if that went over anyone’s head).
Fanatics has already been making NHL fan replica jerseys and developed an unsatisfactory reputation for quality issues, spelling and number problems, among other things. If Fanatics headquarters just downloaded spellcheck, maybe half of these problems would be avoided.
But why would the NHL choose Fanatics? The more I think about it, the more likely it seems that Fanatics was the only option. The last two NHL jersey manufacturers in Reebok and Adidas both voluntarily let their contracts expire.
Adidas said back last summer they weren’t renewing their NHL deal, so this isn’t exactly news to the league. They had plenty of time to vet other potential partners.
Immediately, I thought back to the hockey jerseys of my childhood and CCM. The NHL standardized jersey manufacturers starting with the 1989-1990 season. Prior to that, teams chose their own jersey manufacturers.
For example, the Edmonton Oilers had used companies called Sandow SK and Maska before the NHL’s league-wide changeover.
A Sporting News article from last summer after the Adidas news broke listed CCM as a potential replacement, adding they currently manufacture AHL and Canadian Major Junior hockey jerseys.
Another main player in the sports apparel world is Under Armour. They lack any hockey products whatsoever, so that would have been a near-impossible choice. Another company that came to mind was Roustan Hockey.
Roustan Media is the parent company of The Hockey News. Their owner, W. Graeme Roustan, frequently writes about the hockey equipment business in The Hockey News magazine and how he focuses on keeping it affordable and made in Canada.
Both of those sound like music to hockey fans’ ears and an opportunity for synergy between the league’s apparel supplier and the sport’s top publication (after Puck Prose, of course!).
W. Graeme Roustan also learned from his experience overseeing Bauer Sports and the mismanagement that almost lead that company to bankruptcy.
After taking over The Hockey News, he undertook measures such as finding a new printer to improve the magazine’s physical quality as well as launching online endeavors. The Hockey News has also been close to bankruptcy in the recent past.
The NHL’s partnership with Adidas wasn’t exactly perfect either. Fans on multiple occasions have sued the manufacturer over Fanatics “authentic” claims of their products.
The latest lawsuit quoted Dicks Sports Goods in explaining that “authentic” and “official” and/or “replica” are two separate kinds of jerseys. Players wear “authentic” jerseys, fight strap, and all. “Official” or “replica” jerseys are mass-produced for fan purposes only.
In a way, that makes a bit of sense. Hockey jerseys are expensive, in many cases costing more than game tickets themselves. If a fan wants to get a jersey just for the purpose of wearing it as apparel, then it doesn’t need to be to the same quality standards as what players are wearing on the ice.
That results in a cheaper product passing the savings onto the fan. The bigger issue is the quality of the jerseys the players themselves wear in this situation, provided the fans feel the price they are paying for their jerseys is worth the sticker price.
Here’s what doomed all those other companies hockey fans would have likely preferred: they’re not Fanatics.
As Richard Morin’s USA Today article explained, (he also explained my previously mentioned note that Under Armour was never really an option) Fanatics has unfortunately developed into a sports apparel monopoly.
CCM, Roustan, and any other potential bidders for the NHL jersey contract couldn’t compete with the enormous scale of Fanatics, which has already cornered the entire market seemingly.
Adidas might have been the only company that could come close, but they have the contracts for the other three major professional sports (MLB, NBA, and NFL), so the NHL business might not have been worth keeping from their perspective.
Here’s another interesting fact about Fanatics. Their owner, Michael Rubin, used to own a minority stake in the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA and the New Jersey Devils.
There was previous controversy with his personal relationship with now 76ers player James Harden and how Rubin could leverage personal financial relationships with players. He sold his minority stake in June 2022 because of rules regarding team ownership and wanting to expand the Fanatics business.
Very convenient timing as the NHL announced the expiration of the Adidas deal just a month later.
Rubin already had a somewhat working relationship with the NHL owner and higher-ups and divested himself of all NHL team-owning interests at just the perfect time. Not saying there was collusion, but it’s perfectly likely that Rubin heard the NHL jersey rights would be up for sale.
If he had wanted to sell his minority stake already, (doing so would be a long and drawn-out process not made overnight) he could have done so in a timeframe that made both his business interests and potential Fanatics expansions line up perfectly.
Plus, the James Harden controversy makes it unlikely the NHL jersey deal was the only reason for Rubin selling off his ownership stakes.
The NHL’s announcement doesn’t address any of the fans’ concerns. It did say that Fanatics will, at least at first, be using the same Canadian production facility Adidas was using.
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The Fanatics website lists their United States-based manufacturing locations as Tampa and Jacksonville in Florida, plus Fairdale, Kentucky, and a dedicated facility in Easton, Pennsylvania. Perhaps the factory change will alleviate some of those quality concerns among fans.
As a seasoned enthusiast deeply entrenched in the world of sports apparel and the NHL, I can offer an in-depth analysis of the recent partnership between the NHL and Fanatics, bringing to light various aspects that might not be immediately evident to casual observers.
Firstly, the crux of the matter lies in the transition from Adidas to Fanatics as the official on-ice jersey maker for the NHL starting from the 2024-2025 season. This shift has been met with criticism, and concerns have been raised regarding Fanatics' track record, particularly in the realm of quality control. Fanatics, a ubiquitous name in sports apparel, has been a major player across various sports leagues, producing merchandise for the NHL, NBA, MLB, and college sports.
It's essential to understand the context of why Fanatics was chosen over potential alternatives. Notably, both Reebok and Adidas, the previous NHL jersey manufacturers, allowed their contracts to expire voluntarily. Despite potential candidates like CCM, Under Armour, and Roustan Hockey, the overwhelming scale of Fanatics, essentially a sports apparel monopoly, made it a seemingly inevitable choice. The sheer market dominance of Fanatics, as discussed in Richard Morin's USA Today article, made it challenging for competitors to match its scale.
While alternatives like CCM and Roustan Hockey might have resonated with hockey fans due to their focus on affordability and Canadian manufacturing, the sheer scale and market control of Fanatics, coupled with its existing monopoly, left little room for other contenders.
An intriguing element to consider is the background of Fanatics' owner, Michael Rubin. Rubin's prior ownership stakes in NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and NHL's New Jersey Devils, and his strategic divestment just as the NHL jersey rights became available, raise questions about the timing and potential insider knowledge. While not explicitly suggesting collusion, the sequence of events points towards a well-timed alignment of business interests and expansions for Fanatics.
Addressing quality concerns voiced by fans, the announcement assures that Fanatics will initially utilize the same Canadian production facility that Adidas was using. However, the Fanatics website lists additional manufacturing locations in the United States, including Tampa, Jacksonville, Fairdale (Kentucky), and Easton (Pennsylvania). The change in production facilities may offer a potential solution to quality issues, with hopes that this move will assuage fans' concerns about the overall craftsmanship of the jerseys.
In essence, the NHL's decision to partner with Fanatics is a complex interplay of market dominance, strategic business maneuvers, and the challenges faced by other contenders in a landscape dominated by a sports apparel giant. The upcoming seasons will reveal the tangible impacts of this partnership on the quality and reception of NHL jerseys among fans.
