Caving to bigots is always a cool move. Good work, NHL.
If they think they’re capitulating to ticket sales on this, maybe they need a reminder their paying customers aren’t as hillbilly as a few bigot players.
I guess you can’t play
Banning cause based jerseys… Except the military of course
Imagine being this triggered by a rainbow.
The NHL is such a joke.
Oh yes, a handful of players wouldn’t wear pride night jerseys, so our struggle for human rights and acceptance is “a distraction”. Surely this decision will also boost the visibility of other important causes, like reconciliation with First Nations. 🙄
Cowardly move.
Stop supporting human rights and start gambling! Great message for the next generation.
Fuck you Gary
I’m 100% boycotting that shit company until they clear out the bigots and pro-putler shills. #FuckTheNHL
Unfortunately, sports orgs tend to be full of bigots for some reason.
Indeed! With the NHL the problem is at the top. A minority of players are deranged fascist bigots. Oust Bettman and get someone in there strong enough to stand up to them. 🏳️🌈
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The league’s board of governors agreed with commissioner Gary Bettman’s view that the refusals overshadowed teams’ efforts in hosting Pride nights that in some cases included auctioning off the warmup jerseys. All 32 teams held Pride or Hockey is for Everyone night.
The NHL teams wanted to hold Pride nights, auctions for good causes, and sell merch. Their PA was overshadowed by individual players that wouldn’t wear pride-flavoured uniforms because of … let’s just call it “reasons.” It doesn’t matter why.
Now, I’m sure Pride isn’t to blame here. Their goal is inclusion, so I doubt they were drumming the beat about which players weren’t wearing the jersey. The NHL probably got some positive press, but the greater amount of negative press means that the effort is net negative, so it’s better if they just not do it.
Now the media can complain year after year about no rainbow jerseys. If history has proven anything is that they can weather it now because Bettman has too much money to care. So, would you still have Pride jerseys if the media didn’t lambaste the players who didn’t voluntarily deck themselves out in rainbows? Yeah.
I don’t think it’s a crazy move…
The NHL is about hockey, not about politics. It’s a distraction to the game and just a PR stunt. If NHL teams really care about LGBTQ+, maybe they should just donate a couple of millions to LGBTQ+ organisation.
It’s a smart move for the NHL. Less PR fires to worry about, the teams still do their special event nights. The outrage commenting in every thread about this announcement are a great example of why the NHL decided to do the ezpz PR move.
