NHL Fans Are Furious Because Fanatics Is Going To Make NHL Jerseys Now Instead Of Adidas

I learned something new today...people really fucking HATE Fanatics. Like, a lot. 

Fanatics is trending right now and trailing closely behind is the poop emoji. 

I haven't seen outrage like this since the NHL switched to Adidas which people also hated. 

Now people are clamoring for Adidas to stay, but Adidas wanted out because there's NO MONEY IN IT. Probably for a few reasons

1) I know people are going to hate this, but wearing hockey jerseys as an adult is lame. It just is. They don't fit anyone. They don't look good. They're essentially a moomoo. You look like fat Homer Simpson walking around the concourse at your local stadium. 

If Adidas was making money hand over fist selling NHL jerseys you can bet your bottom dollar that they would've been trying to re-new their deal instead of planning their exit

Fans say that fanatics makes low quality merch. That is probably true in many cases. It won't be true in this case as the actual manufacturing site will be the same

2) Why would Adidas or really anyone pay a premium to have their logo on an NHL jersey when it is going to sit no more than 10 inches from another, likely bigger, ad for fucking safelite windshield repairs? Perhaps an unintended consequence. I could be wrong there. I personally don't care about the jersey patches at this point from an aesthetics stand point, but I certainly wouldn't shell out millions to manufacture a jersey to have a patch on the back when I know the company on the front is paying a fraction of that. 

3) The third reason why is because Gary Bettman fucking sucks. I used to make excuses for Bettman, but nobody has failed upwards more than him. He's the only commissioner the NHL has ever had. He has presided over multiple work stoppages and has made several errors with expansion, franchise relocation, TV deals, and rules changes. In some ways the game has never been stronger, but that to me is about the players pushing the boundaries set by previous generations. The game has better and faster players than ever before and the league has utterly failed to market them. They've taken exciting elements out of the game. They've made changes no fan would ever ask for. They've watered down the league. They've neutered the league. 

Make the on-ice product better, more exciting, tell better stories, and attract more eyeballs and you won't have to be scraping the bottom of the barrel for league wide partners.