One thing you might have missed during the holiday hustle and bustle is that the Montreal Canadiens have taken the unfortunate step of sullying their road uniform — one of the nicest uniforms in all of sports — by plastering it with an advertisement for an airline.
The deal is described as “multi-year.” Financial terms were not disclosed. The advertisement made its on-ice debut on Wednesday.
I’ll say this much for the Habs: Their announcement includes the following sentence: “The addition of the Air Canada patch comes as part of the NHL’s Jersey Advertising Program, introduced last season, which allows NHL teams to advertise a partner’s logo on their game jerseys.” (Emphasis mine.)
The team’s home uniform carries an ad for a bank, which the team began wearing last season. The road uni had been ad-free until now.
In other Canadiens news, defenseman Jayden Struble made his NHL debut on Wednesday and wore a neck guard:
(Thanks to Mike Engle for the Jayden Struble item.)
At least Air Canada’s maple leaf is a good aesthetic and design match.
A maple leaf on a Canadiens jersey? Heresy!
A lot better than Starr Insurance.
At least not some bitcoin company or online pillow brand.