Bettman cognizant of tradition in NHL

‘EXPERIMENT’: Ads on World Cup hockey jerseys not a sign of things to come, commissioner says

You couldn’t help but look at the logos.

With the World Cup of Hockey a month away, the jerseys of all eight teams were on full display during a Wednesday news conference in Toronto’s downtown distillery district. But it wasn’t the team logos that received the most attention.

Rather, it was the SAP shoulder patches that had everyone buzzing. The NHL does not allow ads on its jerseys. But with the NBA having recently announced that it will allow advertising on jerseys beginning in the 2017-18 season, could this be a sign of things to come?

“Nobody should see that and say the next step is to put them on NHL jerseys,” said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. “I am a believer in the history and tradition and exactly how special NHL sweaters are. And while these World Cup jerseys have been designed from scratch and are spectacular, it’s not necessarily the same as the NHL sweaters. I don’t think anybody should make that leap right now.”

SAP, a German-based software company that is responsible for revamping the statistics used on NHL. com and will help gather puck and player tracking information for the World Cup of Hockey, reportedly paid $25 million to sponsor the jerseys for the two-week event.

“This tournament gives us an opportunity to experiment with things, to see if it works,” said NHLPA executive director Don Fehr. “To see if it can be done in a fashion that’s tasteful and doesn’t interfere with the game and doesn’t make it any lesser.”