The NHL may have lost a lot of revenue when they were forced to hold the playoffs in empty buildings, but they’re about to make a heck of a lot in merchandise sales. The league and Adidas revealed their designs for the Reverse Retro jerseys today to plenty of excitement (and disgust) from fans all over the world. Early favorites online seem to be the Colorado Avalanche’s Nordiques-based throwback, a return to green for the New Jersey Devils, and an homage to the North Stars by the Minnesota Wild.
Feelings seem a bit more mixed on the return of Wildwing for the Anaheim Ducks and for many of the other throwback uniforms. A healthy debate is surely what the league was hoping for with the new threads as they try to recoup some financial losses.
- Who will be in net for the Vancouver Canucks when they first slip on their new alternate jersey? Speculation on who will be Vancouver’s starter this season continues after the team signed Braden Holtby in the offseason. Satiar Shah of Sportsnet believes that it will be Holtby over Thatcher Demko to start the year at least, given the team invested $8.6MM over two seasons in the veteran netminder. It is important to remember though that the Canucks back-loaded Holtby’s contract heavily, meaning he’ll make only $2.9MM in 2020-21. With the Seattle Kraken looming and their expansion draft scheduled for next summer, Holtby could end up only playing a single year in Vancouver. Whether he’s the starter on opening day remains to be seen, but Demko will certainly be battling for the spot after posting an .985 save percentage in four playoff appearances.
- Philip Tomasino doesn’t want to just play for Team Canada at the upcoming World Juniors and then return to junior, he wants to play for the Nashville Predators this season. The 19-year-old forward spoke with Adam Vingan of The Athletic recently and stated quite clearly that he feels he is ready to take that next step to play professionally at the highest level. Tomasino, the 24th-overall pick in 2019, scored 100 points in just 62 games this season in the OHL and is off to the WJC selection camp for the next month where he’ll battle a loaded forward group for a final roster spot.
“The league and Adidas revealed their designs for the Reverse Retro jerseys today to plenty of excitement (and disgust) from fans all over the world.” Just the other day, Bourney “predicted” the expected entry from the Leafs – basically their same jersey. He may have been only slightly sarcastic, but he was right. Too many “so-what” efforts, with only a few nice ones. The only way the league’s revenue on this goes up here is if they adhere to the golden rule: “Tax cuts always work, tax jack-ups never work.” That means, cut the per-piece greed and sell the crap out of your products to get a hefty pile of dough in the end. Or, at least, a COVID-tempered pile of dough.
Tax cuts always work as a metaphor for lowering pricing on retro jerseys is a stretch.
If you sell them too low, you devalue the brand entirely.
I’m also not sure hockey jersey sales are a major source of revenue for owners (maybe a little for Adidas)
@pawtucket – Nobody said anything about selling too low. “Cut the per-piece greed” equals increased revenue. For jersey/hat/etc. sales it wouldn’t keep the league afloat, but some $ are better than nothing. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I actually don’t understand what you are trying to say here. “Cut the price per greed” – doesn’t mean increased revenue. Do you have a degree in macro and micro economics?
I think you are saying “lower the price to sell a few thousand more retro jerseys!”?
It’s very narrow minded. They can’t sell a jersey for $25 in hopes they sell more to become profitable. It creates a market where noody will pay $50+for a jersey for the next half-dozen years. And really it doesn’t matter as jersey and hat sales don’t make a difference for a multi-millionaire. The brand itself (which includes season ticket sales and local sponsorships) are far more lucrative than retro jersey sales. If you drop the price to Walmart sale levels then you’ve already conceded you lost.
@pawtucket – The market doesn’t bear $50-150 now, let alone in a depressed economic situation forecast for years to come. Again, I state that this isn’t about being the Pot-O-Gold for the NHL/NHLPA coffers. More gear in the hands of the people also equals free advertising. It helps the brand, and if $ are spent on NHL gear, they won’t be spent on the other sports, especially the dope NFL. Hats and shirts aren’t meant for purchase by royalty, they should be priced so Joe/Jane Average Fan can acquire several items, instead of only one or two a year. Their cost to create these isn’t on the order of $18 for a $20 item. They can sell the snot out of these “trinkets” and get more bang for the buck than poorly-placed advertising. This can also lead to more job creation, even though it would be mostly at lower levels, initially. More jobs is never a bad thing, and it is you is narrow-minded thinking that only a few thousand of these would sell at the much lower price. Don’t forget the NHL is supposed to be a global brand, not just North America. They can create places all over the planet selling stuff for proper prices and people will buy more just because they can.
Sounds like you should be on the board of directors for every sporting franchise out there! You could be their revenue and marketing director. Blanket statements like “cheaper trinkets create jobs” is exactly what these billion dollar companies are missing out on
That’s why Subway went out of business, they sold all subs for $5 and then they upped their prices with some going almost $10 and since they created that market for the $5 subs, nobody paid more. Throw in the fact that there’s sub places that sell for $5 and have more meat, that completely killed Subway. Firehouse subs never stood a chance with smaller subs at higher that $5, they went out of business so quick… *Eyes roll so hard they never stop*
@VonDooche – Subway must be out of business where you are at. They’re doing all right where I live. And, by “all right” I mean that their lights are on and customers are showing up to eat. My point, as witnessed by the staggering number of dead horses beaten on this topic, is NOT to sell $20 items for $1. That’s called a “loss-leader” (a big one), and isn’t sustainable unless you are shifting that “loss” to someplace else in the form of a price jack-up. It is pointing out that trying to demand $150 for an item that shouldn’t be more than $50, say, it not sound business. I am NOT referring to “collectible” items, such as autographed stuff or things that require authentication to protect the integrity of the shield (and purchaser), but rather the garden-variety mass merchandise, like hats/shirts/posters, etc. With the rapidly diminishing amount of disposable income that John and Jane Fan have to spend, the NHL should try to beat other sports to what little there is. If the global economy can recover, the idea of actually trying to sell the snot out your merchandise should be aggressive, not just hoping for a casual fan to show up and have accidental interest in the league. I repeat, this isn’t about giving stuff away, like samples at your local grocery store, it’s about changing a business model that won’t work as well in a stifled economy.
I was replying to Pawtucket claiming that nobody would buy a jersey at a higher price if they sold it for way lower this year.
He must make money off jerseay sales since they probably get a 500% profit off them cuz there’s no way they cost anywhere near what they sell them at. And why would you argue for their outlandish prices unless you make money off them or their marketing since you’re basically spending money to advertise for them which is backwords
$5.00 for 90% bread isn’t worth it , at subway can make a double decker with spam and the works for same price . It cost me $50 for a replica jersey’s kinda ridiculous on prices , and I am one of those Joe Schmo fans. I will skip the horse meat doesn’t sound appetizing , hope no one is serving it, but have heard of those things.