NHL teams OK'd to add sponsor patches on jerseys

Give them an inch and they'll take a mile!

It won't be long before NHL jerseys end up looking like the skating billboards that you see in European Hockey....

Last year it was blatant ads and association with betting. This year it is advertising on jersey's. Bettman's priority has always been money, but instead of improving the product of the game, he looks for nothing that will help the popularity of the game itself, only to increase interest by commercial money makers. It's logical that a more popular game will increase revenue and his bettors, but Bettman's too obtuse to see it, so he never tries to cure anything, he just puts a band aid on.

He has allowed a watering down of talent by expansion, which he believes is his legacy. For local markets, his idea isn't bad, but for the casual fan nationally and internationally, it creates less recognizable players and especially in the playoffs, creates a game less about the top skilled and marquee players and more about catering to mediocrity by allowing referees to call a different game than the regular season. It stifles the best players by allowing penalties not to be called, which Bettman looks as making it a more competitive league where any team can compete.

It's a crazy thing not to do the opposite, which is to create a game casual fans want to watch the sublime talents of the McDavid's, MacKinnon's and Matthew's, instead of leveling and leaning the field toward lesser and expansion type teams no one except the local market cares about.

If I was a dentist who repaired missing teeth, I would jump on this ad opportunity with both feet! The chance to have my practice prominently displayed right below their mugs would be priceless...

Just awful. American pro sports have mostly been good about avoiding this until recently, and keeping a very clean look to their uniforms. European ice hockey and soccer teams look so ugly with all the sponsors and advertising covering the players' uniforms.