Montreal Canadiens: Jersey ads are here to stay leaving fans furious

The Montreal Canadiens, like many other NHL organizations, are leaving the dark era with crisp and clean jerseys. They announced Monday that the team has partnered with Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in a multi-year deal as the sponsor for the team’s jersey ads.

As a part of this sponsorship, the Montreal Canadiens are implementing a patch onto the jerseys containing the small RBC logo. The patch will go on the upper right part of the chest. Similar to where the #10 patch is in the photo that is the featured image for this piece.

The Habs have officially entered the jersey ad era. It was something that folks knew was coming. It starts with helmet ads. After the COVID-19 pandemic caused a stoppage in 2020, the league added the ads for the 2020-21 season for teams who elected to pursue those opportunities.

In 2020-21 and last year, the Habs donned the Bell Media logo on their helmets. They also added the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce logo on their away helmets with the red CIBC logo on a white helmet during the 2021-22 season.

Helmets were just the beginning. We all knew the jersey ads were coming, but it’s still unfortunate.

The Montreal Canadiens have left fans fuming over their recent jersey ads update.

Perhaps the most traditional logo and jersey concept in all of hockey. The historic jersey is undergoing such a simple, yet major change. Fans around the Habs community have been sounding off about the recent news all over social media.

The announcement came on the Canadiens website on Monday, but the first shots of the updated jerseys came at the Canadiens golf outing where Nick Suzuki was named the team’s newest captain. This is what prompted fans to be quite outspoken about the new patch.

One way or another, the patch is here to stay and is going to be on jerseys for the foreseeable future. Some Habs faithful viewed the recent news as a criminal act against the Sainte Flanelle in all its glory.

The sad truth we all have to endure is that this is the direction the game is moving in. European Leagues have jerseys covered in ads. While the league made it clear they are not intending to end up with jerseys looking like that, give it a few years and things could change.

For the time being, Habs fans and NHL fans alike have to watch as their jerseys get tarnished with jersey ads and patches beginning the cluttering for ad space. While yes, there are advertisements everywhere else… on the ice, on the boards, on the broadcast via graphics, on the scoreboard, a part of the marketing, on the helmets, and now on the jerseys.

But, it felt like jerseys were untouchable. Maybe I am out on a limb by saying that. But it felt like those historic jerseys from some of those original six teams would be able to resist the change.

Either way, the Habs jerseys are going to look a little different. They are going to feature that RBC logo and move away from the pristine look that they once had. It’s a new era of the Habs jerseys, one that has left fans a bit enraged.