Fanatics/NHL
Fanatics will replace Adidas as the NHL’s outfitter for on-ice uniforms and authentic jerseys at retail beginning with the 2024-25 season under a new 10-year agreement between the league and the sports e-commerce giant. While Fanatics has manufactured and supplied the Nike-branded uniforms worn by MLB players since 2017, the NHL will be the first major sports league to wear Fanatics branding on the playing surface. The announcement of a new uniform supplier had been expected since the league’s acknowledgment last summer that its deal with Adidas would not be renewed. Adidas has been the NHL’s uniform supplier since the 2017-18 season under a seven-year contract that expires after 2023-24. It was reported when the Adidas deal was announced in 2015 that the company agreed to pay around double the $35M per season that Reebok previously paid for the rights.
The league declined to discuss the financials of the Fanatics deal, but NHL EVP/Marketing Brian Jennings told SBJ that the league will receive an “increase from the standpoint of MRGs,” referring to minimum royalty guarantees. He cautioned, however, that it is an “apples and oranges comparison” given that things like “marketing support and what is expected for equipping teams” have changed since the Adidas deal was inked in 2015. The on-ice uniform agreement marks the latest step in a nearly two-decade relationship between the NHL and Fanatics, which most notably includes the company’s management of the league’s e-commerce and retail operations. Fanatics has produced the league’s replica jerseys sold at retail since the Adidas deal began in 2017, and NHL players and team personnel have been wearing Fanatics-branded apparel and headwear from the league’s Authentic Pro product line off the ice since 2018.
Jennings said the league is confident in Fanatics' ability to fulfill its needs from both a commercial and performance standpoint. He stressed the importance of maintaining the “world-class design” that has helped drive the popularity of its special-event uniforms and leaguewide collections like Reverse Retro, adding that the league is working with Fanatics on building up the company’s design capabilities through staffing and other institutional knowledge. Dominique Fillion, who has worked on NHL uniforms at both Reebok and Adidas, will serve as Fanatics’ lead designer and build out a team for that function.
As for the change in on-ice branding, Jennings downplayed its significance. "We've always from our perspective looked at the hierarchy of brands on our uniforms being the crest on the front, player name on the back and the NHL shield as the signifier of the best hockey league in the world," Jennings said. "Who manufactures it and stuff like that are really the secondary and tertiary marks." The transition from Adidas to Fanatics is expected to result in a temporary slowdown in new uniform releases for the 2024-25 season, similar to what occurred during the transition from Reebok to Adidas in 2017-18. "We haven't come up with a policy yet, but probably expect to see some type of moratorium,” Jennings said, noting that the league will allow for designs tied to team milestones or anniversaries.
