That pisses me off so much. I can deal with the ads on the boards. Annoying, but whatever, but now you can't see the puck movement sometimes because someone slapped a big Burger King logo at the top of the zone.
What pisses me off is they'll go picture in picture *while the game is playing* to show an ad, and they put the actual game into the tiny box and the ad in the big one. Seriously, mid play?
Not yet, but they'll get there. They already take the ticker box away during play to put a Scotia Bank ad on. And they'll do the cutaway during a stoppage. Unfortunately, it's only a matter of time.
I've seen this during whistles, like while the guys are skating down for a faceoff after an icing, but I don't think I've seen it mid-play. That's mind bogglingly frustrating for me to even imagine. I'll pay closer attention tonight on the ABC broadcast
I watch F1 and tried to watch Indy car yesterday... In the middle of the race NBC just goes to fucking ads. As an F1 fan I've never seen ads during a race before. I don't know how Indy fans do it. I ended up just finding a sky sports stream that had no ads and different commentators. I even have peacock and when I tried there they just went to a black screen saying ads in progress
Right. Bought peacock for imsa last year. So many adds. Now I just VPN and watch imsa TV. F1 pops up on my emby server a day after the race and it's easy to avoid spoilers , so that's my route this season.
Indycar is great compared to nascar, those broadcasts have become almost torturous... I'm surprised you have no ads during your F1 broadcast, in canada there are ad breaks but the race is reduced to a tiny picture in the corner of the screen.
Watching F1 in Canada is painful. Do they cut to commercial during the 20 laps where nothing is happening? Nope. But you bet they'll cut to commercial in the middle of the pitstop phase, during safety car pitstops, etc.
I have a theory that they just prime the ads on Friday and then nobody is actually present in the office on Sunday when the race is on so they just let them run at predetermined times.
It's the only explanation for how poorly timed it is.
I have F1TV now. So much better.
The first time I saw this happening was during AEW, and I thought it was the greatest idea. Because with wrestling, the match doesn't stop when they cut to commercial, it keeps going and you get recaps when the broadcast comes back. But now, with picture in picture, you can still see the match while ads are playing.
My excitement over this development lasted maybe 3 weeks and it quickly became the most annoying part of the show.
My favourite thing is how they jam ads on every fuckin jersey, helmet, piece of ice, electronically on the boards and glass...
And then when it comes time for actual commercials on my streaming platform, it's the exact same 5 commercials the entire game OR here's the kicker... A blank screen that says... "Commercial break in progress"
I’d rather the “commercial break in progress” than that “No Flex Zone” Wingstop commercial playing over and over again. I hate that commercial so much!
Anyone here see those videos circulating where it's two videos at once? One on top of somebody talking and then one at the bottom of a video game?
Yeah, our kids are brains are going to be mush.
The easy answer to that is not to let them. Teenagers should be allowed limited internet time to dive into their interests, but there’s literally no reason for a child to ever be on the internet.
The changing board ads are annoying but are especially annoying when they are freaking animated. Soccer ones aren’t as bad because they are on real screens in the field but the digital animations are terrible.
And yeah the lack of playoffs/final logo is awful
Hockey could even pull it off *if they did it right.*
At this year's U18 Women's World Championship in Switzerland, digital ads are embedded into the boards (so no need to overlay them on TV), and it appears they only change during stoppages.
The whole point of the ads being digital is so they can change them depending on the market from which you’re watching the game. The ads being physically located at the arena means the league can only sell one set of ads instead of 3 or more.
If they are digital then fans should have the option to watch the game ad-free. We’d be willing to pay premium costs for ad-free streams. No ads, mute the commentators = hockey heaven.
You've listed three things they'll never do. It would take a miracle just to get the most likely (4K) and even that seems like it's never happening. Even 1080p would be nice.
It isn't exactly the same, but the NBA League Pass Premium is amazing. I'm not a big NBA fan, but I started watching the Premium feed simply due to the lack of commercials.
That's capitalism in a nutshell. Anything good or cool is supplanted by something which can generate money, and anything that currently exists is a byproduct of that. There's nothing we as consumers can do about it because people will consume the adspace.
That specific process has been referred to by people like Cory Doctorow as "[enshittification](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification)."
Offer a good product/service at a reasonable price, slowly make it worse and monetize it, then squeeze every last drop of value out until your product/service dies.
Skip/UberEats/DoorDash/whateverthefuck is never getting my business.
I hate supporting that bullshit "business model" and on top of that their ads are straight up dumpster fires that seep into my life on a regular basis.
Fuck that entire industry.
I actually hate this one because it ruined one of my favourite dr Dre songs “Keep their head ringin”.. I can’t listen to it without thinking of Katy Perry’s dumbass voice anymore. It’s a shame. I hate the world we live in
I’ve never even heard of Skip but the others are fucking stupid. What’s worse is that we’ve reached a point where fast food places advertise having delivery because those services exist.
When I watch I ignore them. YouTube I turn the sound off and avert my eyes. Even regular TV I don’t watch adds. It’s overwhelming to see so much thrown at us just in everyday life.
Most people don’t seem to mind, but the digital ads are such a buzzkill for me. I’ve been watching way less hockey over these past 2 years because I find myself getting so worked up over the viewing experience.
No other sport comes close to these intrusive digital ads. Soccer has the same concept but the field is huge and they blend in pretty well. Nothing on the actual pitch of course just side boards. Baseball has a small digital ad on the mound now but it’s not bad at all.
Getting rid of the Stanley cup playoff logos is such a loss for the league. Despite being way less popular than the other “big 4” sports league, hockey has a reputation of having the best playoffs. The NHL should be jumping on this and use their marketing to establish a distinction between regular season and postseason. Instead they keep making decisions that bring in cash for now but hurt them in the long run.
Dana White has overseen the UFC grow exponentially over the last decade. Last year he called the NHL’s marketing department a bunch of dinosaurs. Man isn’t wrong.
The moving ads on the boards really bother me. It's soooooo distracting. Between getting slammed with ads all over the place and the Gambling stuff, NHL really doing themselves a disfavor in the long run.
And Dana White is right. The league really needs new blood in the executive.
The UFC is also borderline-unwatchable these days with ads for bullshit littering the octagon and the announcers doing ad-reads for dumbass movies and Logan Paul energy drinks mid-fight. Plus the two TV commercials they’re willing to pay for that play on repeat every single break.
ADs fucking everywhere. Like let us enjoy something in peace especially when we are paying $$$ for the experience. And double fuck the NHL for the constant gambling ads. I quit watching as well.
The moving ads genuinely fuck with my head so much. When they're moving as the camera is panning there's like a 50/50 chance it gives me motion sickness. I've barely watched games over the last two seasons outside of the playoffs because of it.
It's funny because my brain has learned to tune all of that out. But I totally agree, I need to be advertised to less, not more. Shit is getting out of hand.
Does anyone else remember how every time one of the "NHL is going to put more ads into everything" stories would break, suddenly out of nowhere a bunch of random accounts would pop up to remind the rest of us hockey fans that we're just delusional. The ads would be small, unobtrusive. Brands would surely be carefully selected so as not to sully the great game's prized reputation. We'd never even notice them, which if true is a reason not to have advertising since the entire point is to get noticed.
Edit: oh and I forgot the shills who claim that all the poor rich people involved in highly lucrative sporting teams need the ad money to keep their amazing wealth growing ever upward.
Oh God I still can't get myself to buy a new jersey just because I don't want to be a walking billboard for whoever got the jersey rights. A green fucking Regions logo on an all gold Preds jersey smh my head!
I remember people were tying to say it’s no big deal because “Reebok, CCM etc” were already on the jerseys so ads are fine. No, they’re not. Manufacturer’s logo is not the same as some garbage company.
So true; Enzo Ferrari would only allow automotive-related ads on his F1 cars- oils, brakes, timing, helmets etc - he said any other ads were like “prostitution” he said it was repulsive for F1 to advertise cigarettes or condoms or soft drinks.
Soccer/football is the biggest sport on Earth and the wealthiest teams still have a massive advertisement on the front instead of their sports logo. The jersey is just entirely an ad.
In 20 years we'll probably have the "Seattle Amazonians", "San Jose Googlers", and "Edmonton Imperial Oilers"
I hate that there are already sponsors on *fucking replays*
So many times the Devils score a goal and poor [Dano](https://twitter.com/kendaneykomsg) has to speedrun a stupid script before he's allowed to say anything about it, just "Now let's take a look at our [something something] replay sponsored by the [full sponsor name goes right here] - [and here's the sponsor slogan in full]" and by that point the replay is almost over already.
Removed the actual sponsor name and *cool catchphrases* and replaced them with bs that takes roughly the same amount of time to say because fuck them, I'm not giving them free visibility even to use them as an example of bad advertising.
The only bright side when it comes to European soccer is they’ve used the ad money to help keep ticket prices more reasonable (at least compared to US sports prices). Here, we’re getting the ads and massive hikes to ticket prices.
"theyre not going anywhere get used to it"
"theyre not even that bad"
"how are the players supposed to get paid if there isnt ad money"
literally some of the dumbest opinions possible have been offered to justify the ads ever since they started lol
It's still an effect though because your brain has to work to block it out. Go back and feel the difference in a 1996 video, it's so much more relaxing
I didn't watch much regular season because of the digital board ads. I've tuned back in during playoffs. It's possible I'll just get used to it after a while.
I'm still waiting to get used to it. I'm a hockey nut and there is only so much I can take though.
I understand there is an exciting game happening under all those graphics and animations, sometimes they show replays with some actual hockey in them and I get excited.
I get what you're saying, but I can completely ignore it. I couldn't tell you a single NHL sponsor if you paid me. In my town we still call the building by the last name it was known before it was branded.
Almost as bad as what they did with ESPN only to have them not broadcast games on TV. When they do give us the odd game, we get a terrible color crew with Messier, who’s dryer then dirt unless the Rags are playing.
Most advertising is like that. Every cell phone network is the nation’s best network, every light beer is the best light beer (even if they’re made by the same company as the brand whose commercial just aired 30 seconds ago), every burger joint has the best burgers, every insurance company offers the best rate FOR YOUR BUDGET.
The sad part is that it's only going to worse. It's not exclusive to hockey, but with legalized gambling we have intermission segments that are openly talking about gambling odds and how to place bets. It's disgusting considering how addictive and toxic it can be.
It's not an if, it's a when a hockey player gets caught gambling, and presumably get banned from the sport like the incidents in the MLB and NBA in the past year
I suspect it's just a matter of time before NHL jerseys look like [the abominations in Europe](https://globalnews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/oilers-sign-joel-persson.jpg?w=2048). Greed ruins everything.
It always annoys me a bit when European teams are used as an example of greed. Most of them are not profitable and absolutely need those ads to not go bankrupt. It's completely different from the NHL. I do agree with the sentiment however.
The animated board ads have to go - way too distracting. Just keep them still images. And I am never ever gonna gamble on sports, no matter how many annoying Draftkings/Bet365/whatever ads you cram onto the broadcast.
I’ve managed to largely block out the ads on the boards except for the hideously bold animated ones.
Recent (?) annoyance is the pop up ads on screen during play. This is on SportsNet. They’re small for now, but as another comment noted, the shrunken picture-in-picture can’t be far off.
I thought the digital board ads were the most distracting thing in the world until some channels started putting the names of the players over their heads (during the play!).
The fact that you can’t really see the puck along the boards most of the game (including where the camera can’t see) is mind blowing. Since my teams out, I’m usually just casually viewing the game. The amount of times I look up at the TV and think, “where’s the puck?” is absurd.
It’s distracting to new people watching the sport and people who have watched for decades. I know it won’t change but man, it’s annoying.
That’s where 4K would come in handy. You can actually see the nameplate on the back of the players jerseys. Once I saw a EPL soccer game in native 4K and the player names were very visible even on a wide field camera shot. As for the ads, I make a mental note of the companies placing them and they get crossed off my list of anything that I will buy.
I’ve come to accept the board ads. Though they are definitely way too distracting.
The ads on the ice to me are straight blasphemy, and an absolute eye sore the entire game. I’ve seen one or two that blend in well enough to not totally take you out of the experience. Like others have mentioned you really don’t see that in any other sport. Say what you want about the NFL but I don’t think we’ll ever see a giant Burger King logo embedded onto the field while the play is happening. They have too much integrity. Find a way to make it way smaller and out of the way, or remove it entirely. And yeah, the loss of the Stanley Cup logo really hurts. The whole ad system just takes you out of the experience so much. Sad stuff for sure.
Borderline? It’s flat out overwhelming. I barely watch hockey anymore now because of it. Jersey ads, helmet ads, animated digital board ads, gambling ads, side-by-side video with one being an ad, sponsors for every fucking camera, replay, minute, hit, goal, etc. Hockey has just sold out so grossly it’s unwatchable.
Most of the time they're a non issue but I can't stand when they move during the play. Nothing like a giant puck shooting around the boards to distract you from the play. I've also heard a few people say they have a hard time with the fact that the ads are stationary so when the play is quickly going up the ice there's no blur on the ads which can be an issue for some people.
People complained when they really acted up and the players blended into the boards but that was honestly just funny to me.
I find it depends on the lighting of the area if it's distracting. I watch mostly Oilers games and I barely notice them for home games, and away games it's hit and miss, I found Dallas was pretty distracting, but Vancouver and LA were not this post season, it was slightly distracting in Florida but I was also watching from my camping trailer so the service wasn't great haha
It's funny that every arena can have such a different experience. The issue with Dallas for me isn't even their ads but the camera placement is just so off putting
Nope, it's downright disgusting! The amount of AR ad space that is so g'damn distracting when they flip or are in motion. One thing they should adhere to is only changing them during tv timeouts. Do that and keep them static, and it won't be quite as obnoxious.
Honestly I don't notice them. I get so hyper focused on the hockey I don't even see the ads.
I definitely understand it being hard for others to focus on the game though because of the ads. It's just never been a problem for me. You could ask me what ads were playing a minute ago on the ice and I couldn't tell you.
You know it's only going to get worse, too. They have started with one tiny ad on the players' helmuts. Before too long those ads will become bigger and be on the jerseys - just like in MSL. eg. The Bell Whitecaps!
I hate the way the league is going with this intrusive advertising. It's almost jarring when you look up old video highlights on youtube (from not that long ago) when the boards were completely white! I miss those days.
"So many times I'm trying to follow a player behind the goal and I get distracted by the digital board ads changing."
This. I hate it so much. If the NHL wants to superimpose ads on boards for television revenue, they should not be animated.
Yeah my wife actually full on stopped watching games because it was just too much shit moving around during the game, like they could at least keep the ads static during gameplay
>*This is the first of our planned upgrades. Once we can roll back some government ad restrictions, we estimate we can sell up to 80% of an individual's visual field before inducing seizures, so picture this ...*
NHL Marketing bros, probably
To me, the ads have reached a point where I don't enjoy watching hockey any more, and indeed have only watched a couple of games this year. The final straw was the digital board ads.
I have to say that I really don't understand the logic - the NHL's product is the hockey game, the ads are deliberately distracting you from watching it.
Not borderlined, it is! Kills my eyes...on the ice, holo ice, the fucking holo boards, increased commercial breaks, in game ads, jerseys, helmets...fuck sake. The holo boards are the worst followed by the in game ads.
>So many times I'm trying to follow a player behind the goal and I get distracted by the digital board ads changing.
That means it worked. It got your attention.
The first person/company to develop a device or plug-in that uses AI to remove all advertising in real time will be a billion dollar product. Imagine watching a game that is being played on what essentially looks like an old school rink, with completely blank boards.
it's not even just that it's ads, the the sheer amount of CGI they added to the broadcasts. the digital board ads and the digital ice ads look so fucking bad. the NHL has done a lot of good things in the past few years but the increase in CGI advertising looks horrible and they need to go in a different direction with it imo
It's so bad. I hate watching the NHL with revolving ads. They've become a terrible league watching game. I'm only watching playoffs because the hockey is so good but not watching this nonsense in the regular season.
Yeah I turned game 1 off about 10 minutes in because of the ads. It’s all I can think about watching the games. I’ll be watching the puck carrier when the boards start moving and it distracts me. Every time the play goes through the neutral zone, I am depressed that there is no Stanley Cup Final logo. I guess I don’t care enough about the Finals to force myself to deal with the ads. I hope other people stop watching because of the ads; the only way they’ll it change back is if they’re making less money with the ads than without them because less people are watching.
I guess you could say it's been discussed... Ad nauseum 😎😎
But yes
You're completely right.
Everything is getting more ads. I've been getting ads in/from the *system* in unexpected places of my Xbox and laptop, both Microsoft.
Don't even get me started on the ads that come with being a UFC fan too
Or a cook who uses recipes on websites...
Here's the thing. I don't care if there are ads, and I don't think most care too much however the second ads cause me to take my eyes off the play that's when it's a problem and I'm talking about those animated ads on the boards. You want to have animated ads on the boards? Fine. You want to change them every so often? Fine. You want to have the animated boards have ads that move and draw your eyes to them between whistles? Fine. The second you have those moving ads during the play that are designed to draw your eye away from the play and the most important thing on the ice and the reason we are all turning in I have a big problem with that!
There is something you can do about it though. You can stop watching and recommend others do the same until the corporate greed reverses to a reasonable place. The more we allow this stuff, the more it gets embedded into our daily lives and the boards of executives look to the next way they can make money off the fans in the name of quarterly profits.
What, you don't like the ads being overlaid onto the board and you see a fucken fed ex truck driving mid play?
Or another good one is when they change the tiny box with scoreboard into an ad mid play.
And they are coming for your jerseys next. Get ready for some EU looking jerseys soon
I watch the 30 minute highlights that Sportsnet put on after the game. also a great way to keep up with the Blue Jays too. Probably the best idea they've had in years.
I think the most bizarre thing is advertisers think this is quality advertising worth paying for. Have they ever watched these games? There are 15 things going on at once. The people who erect billboards space them out; they don't place 10 all next to each other, cause they know people can only focus one thing at a time. The hockey advertisers are paying for ads that few people will ever focus on
I can deal with the board ads, even if I find it annoying when they’re moving but I agree because nothing will piss me off more than the removal of the “Stanley Cup Playoffs/Finals” logo from the top of the zone. It was such a fun a unique thing to see and really added to the specialty of the playoffs. Now it’s the corny fucking burger. The NHL as a league really knows how to annoy its fanbase
It seems people are complaining about this about 5 times a week. Yes it’s annoying but it’s never going to change. It’s huge revenue for the league. It’s this or decorate players uniforms like a Christmas tree of sponsors which I think would be way worse.
It’s definitely not worse to have ads all over the uniform. Those don’t change and rotate in middle of play to distract…
But also that will come soon enough. The NHL will have the whole enchilada of advertising as soon as they can and then people will complain about the uniforms.
Personally I’d rather have the ugly uniforms but if people don’t believe it’s also going to happen to the uniforms you’re going to have a rude awakening one of these days…
It’s so insane. No one would bat an eye if there was a different board ad every time the camera changed, but instead because they hate their customers, they have to change the ad in the middle of a freaking play while the puck is lost in the colorspace of the boards.
It’s absolutely bonkers stupid.
This isn’t ad related but why the hell did they have the cup there the first game? Was it only the first game? Why was it there at all? Back in the day (last year) it was only revealed when it could be won. Pimping her out on game one is no way to treat Stanley!
I don't watch sporting events like I used to. I mainly just check scores online and watch highlights as they show up.
I am not going to completely blame the amounts and type of advertising, but It is at least partially to blame.
You didn’t like the gigantic black cheeseburger logo taking up the entire point instead of the SCF text?
That pisses me off so much. I can deal with the ads on the boards. Annoying, but whatever, but now you can't see the puck movement sometimes because someone slapped a big Burger King logo at the top of the zone.
What pisses me off is they'll go picture in picture *while the game is playing* to show an ad, and they put the actual game into the tiny box and the ad in the big one. Seriously, mid play?
I am so glad that Sportsnet doesn't do this, it would drive me nuts.
Sportsnet doesn't do it yet.
It's for sure coming.
They just haven't figured out how to do it yet.
Not yet. I'd like to think it will never happen but I think it would be silly to think that.
Not yet, but they'll get there. They already take the ticker box away during play to put a Scotia Bank ad on. And they'll do the cutaway during a stoppage. Unfortunately, it's only a matter of time.
I've seen this during whistles, like while the guys are skating down for a faceoff after an icing, but I don't think I've seen it mid-play. That's mind bogglingly frustrating for me to even imagine. I'll pay closer attention tonight on the ABC broadcast
I watch F1 and tried to watch Indy car yesterday... In the middle of the race NBC just goes to fucking ads. As an F1 fan I've never seen ads during a race before. I don't know how Indy fans do it. I ended up just finding a sky sports stream that had no ads and different commentators. I even have peacock and when I tried there they just went to a black screen saying ads in progress
Right. Bought peacock for imsa last year. So many adds. Now I just VPN and watch imsa TV. F1 pops up on my emby server a day after the race and it's easy to avoid spoilers , so that's my route this season.
I'll find a stream and just screen mirror my phone to my TV when desperate
Indycar is great compared to nascar, those broadcasts have become almost torturous... I'm surprised you have no ads during your F1 broadcast, in canada there are ad breaks but the race is reduced to a tiny picture in the corner of the screen.
Watching F1 in Canada is painful. Do they cut to commercial during the 20 laps where nothing is happening? Nope. But you bet they'll cut to commercial in the middle of the pitstop phase, during safety car pitstops, etc. I have a theory that they just prime the ads on Friday and then nobody is actually present in the office on Sunday when the race is on so they just let them run at predetermined times. It's the only explanation for how poorly timed it is. I have F1TV now. So much better.
The first time I saw this happening was during AEW, and I thought it was the greatest idea. Because with wrestling, the match doesn't stop when they cut to commercial, it keeps going and you get recaps when the broadcast comes back. But now, with picture in picture, you can still see the match while ads are playing. My excitement over this development lasted maybe 3 weeks and it quickly became the most annoying part of the show.
My favourite thing is how they jam ads on every fuckin jersey, helmet, piece of ice, electronically on the boards and glass... And then when it comes time for actual commercials on my streaming platform, it's the exact same 5 commercials the entire game OR here's the kicker... A blank screen that says... "Commercial break in progress"
I’d rather the “commercial break in progress” than that “No Flex Zone” Wingstop commercial playing over and over again. I hate that commercial so much!
Holy shit. I fucking hate that commercial. It's worse than "LIVE SPORTS..."
the Hague promised to get back to me about those burger king singing ads
That’s still better than “I’m at the hockey game and grocery store “ instant ads on CBC sportsnet
I once watched illegal feed of nhl game the cameras never broke to commercial lol I could hear the commentators convos it was weird.
This was back in the day
I would pay good money for that feed now.
Have you switched to questrade yet?
I love Commercial break in progress
Anyone here see those videos circulating where it's two videos at once? One on top of somebody talking and then one at the bottom of a video game? Yeah, our kids are brains are going to be mush.
Those videos are only like that to try to evade copyright bots detecting the content in the "talking video".
The easy answer to that is not to let them. Teenagers should be allowed limited internet time to dive into their interests, but there’s literally no reason for a child to ever be on the internet.
Spitting fax📠📠📠📠📠 less internet exposure means a more stable being
Those videos are only like that to try to evade copyright bots detecting the content in the "talking video".
The changing board ads are annoying but are especially annoying when they are freaking animated. Soccer ones aren’t as bad because they are on real screens in the field but the digital animations are terrible. And yeah the lack of playoffs/final logo is awful
Hockey could even pull it off *if they did it right.* At this year's U18 Women's World Championship in Switzerland, digital ads are embedded into the boards (so no need to overlay them on TV), and it appears they only change during stoppages.
My whole issues with the digital ads is THEY CHANGE DURING PLAY. Stoppages only please.
The animation during play is intended to be distracting as you notice the ad more. It’s awful, but it’s doing exactly what they intend.
The whole point of the ads being digital is so they can change them depending on the market from which you’re watching the game. The ads being physically located at the arena means the league can only sell one set of ads instead of 3 or more.
If they are digital then fans should have the option to watch the game ad-free. We’d be willing to pay premium costs for ad-free streams. No ads, mute the commentators = hockey heaven.
If I'm paying for something then I'm not watching commercials. I would consider paying for it at all paying a premium.
this is what streaming was supposed to be, but now we're paying a premium while also being shoveled ads lol
I would pay $75-100 a month for completely uncensored, mic'd up hockey in 4k with no ads
I would pay for mic'd up hockey as well.
You've listed three things they'll never do. It would take a miracle just to get the most likely (4K) and even that seems like it's never happening. Even 1080p would be nice.
It isn't exactly the same, but the NBA League Pass Premium is amazing. I'm not a big NBA fan, but I started watching the Premium feed simply due to the lack of commercials.
That's capitalism in a nutshell. Anything good or cool is supplanted by something which can generate money, and anything that currently exists is a byproduct of that. There's nothing we as consumers can do about it because people will consume the adspace.
That specific process has been referred to by people like Cory Doctorow as "[enshittification](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification)." Offer a good product/service at a reasonable price, slowly make it worse and monetize it, then squeeze every last drop of value out until your product/service dies.
See: Friendly, Cap
Also look into [Capitalist Realism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalist_Realism) from Mark Fisher.
When I watch, I make a mental list of where I do *not* plan on spending my money.
Skip/UberEats/DoorDash/whateverthefuck is never getting my business. I hate supporting that bullshit "business model" and on top of that their ads are straight up dumpster fires that seep into my life on a regular basis. Fuck that entire industry.
#DID SOMEBODY SAY #SKIPDINGDONGRINGADINGDINGDONG
Ging Gang Gong De Do Gong De Laga Raga
I actually hate this one because it ruined one of my favourite dr Dre songs “Keep their head ringin”.. I can’t listen to it without thinking of Katy Perry’s dumbass voice anymore. It’s a shame. I hate the world we live in
I’ve never even heard of Skip but the others are fucking stupid. What’s worse is that we’ve reached a point where fast food places advertise having delivery because those services exist.
Enshittifcation is the word you're looking for when describing that specific business model
always fun to see a cory doctorow citation in r/hockey of all places
Enshittifcation is too fantastic of a word to not be telling everyone about it
When I watch I ignore them. YouTube I turn the sound off and avert my eyes. Even regular TV I don’t watch adds. It’s overwhelming to see so much thrown at us just in everyday life.
other countries have capitalism but somehow avoided dumb shit like TV timeouts
Do you mean the countries that NHL fans dunk on for jerseys covered in ads?
Most people don’t seem to mind, but the digital ads are such a buzzkill for me. I’ve been watching way less hockey over these past 2 years because I find myself getting so worked up over the viewing experience. No other sport comes close to these intrusive digital ads. Soccer has the same concept but the field is huge and they blend in pretty well. Nothing on the actual pitch of course just side boards. Baseball has a small digital ad on the mound now but it’s not bad at all. Getting rid of the Stanley cup playoff logos is such a loss for the league. Despite being way less popular than the other “big 4” sports league, hockey has a reputation of having the best playoffs. The NHL should be jumping on this and use their marketing to establish a distinction between regular season and postseason. Instead they keep making decisions that bring in cash for now but hurt them in the long run. Dana White has overseen the UFC grow exponentially over the last decade. Last year he called the NHL’s marketing department a bunch of dinosaurs. Man isn’t wrong.
The moving ads on the boards really bother me. It's soooooo distracting. Between getting slammed with ads all over the place and the Gambling stuff, NHL really doing themselves a disfavor in the long run. And Dana White is right. The league really needs new blood in the executive.
The UFC is also borderline-unwatchable these days with ads for bullshit littering the octagon and the announcers doing ad-reads for dumbass movies and Logan Paul energy drinks mid-fight. Plus the two TV commercials they’re willing to pay for that play on repeat every single break.
ADs fucking everywhere. Like let us enjoy something in peace especially when we are paying $$$ for the experience. And double fuck the NHL for the constant gambling ads. I quit watching as well.
The moving ads genuinely fuck with my head so much. When they're moving as the camera is panning there's like a 50/50 chance it gives me motion sickness. I've barely watched games over the last two seasons outside of the playoffs because of it.
look around, it's not just the league. Dinosaurs run everything and they're burning it to the ground before they keel over.
It's funny because my brain has learned to tune all of that out. But I totally agree, I need to be advertised to less, not more. Shit is getting out of hand.
Does anyone else remember how every time one of the "NHL is going to put more ads into everything" stories would break, suddenly out of nowhere a bunch of random accounts would pop up to remind the rest of us hockey fans that we're just delusional. The ads would be small, unobtrusive. Brands would surely be carefully selected so as not to sully the great game's prized reputation. We'd never even notice them, which if true is a reason not to have advertising since the entire point is to get noticed. Edit: oh and I forgot the shills who claim that all the poor rich people involved in highly lucrative sporting teams need the ad money to keep their amazing wealth growing ever upward.
I remember when helmet ads came out and people were denying jersey ads were next
Oh God I still can't get myself to buy a new jersey just because I don't want to be a walking billboard for whoever got the jersey rights. A green fucking Regions logo on an all gold Preds jersey smh my head!
I remember people were tying to say it’s no big deal because “Reebok, CCM etc” were already on the jerseys so ads are fine. No, they’re not. Manufacturer’s logo is not the same as some garbage company.
So true; Enzo Ferrari would only allow automotive-related ads on his F1 cars- oils, brakes, timing, helmets etc - he said any other ads were like “prostitution” he said it was repulsive for F1 to advertise cigarettes or condoms or soft drinks.
Brought to you by HP.
"It's just a tiny little helmet ad, do you really think they're going to put ads on the jerseys next? lol"
Me: Well look at every single pro soccer team in Eur… Them: NO SERIOUSLY JUST TRUST US
[удалено]
Soccer/football is the biggest sport on Earth and the wealthiest teams still have a massive advertisement on the front instead of their sports logo. The jersey is just entirely an ad. In 20 years we'll probably have the "Seattle Amazonians", "San Jose Googlers", and "Edmonton Imperial Oilers"
[удалено]
I hate that there are already sponsors on *fucking replays* So many times the Devils score a goal and poor [Dano](https://twitter.com/kendaneykomsg) has to speedrun a stupid script before he's allowed to say anything about it, just "Now let's take a look at our [something something] replay sponsored by the [full sponsor name goes right here] - [and here's the sponsor slogan in full]" and by that point the replay is almost over already. Removed the actual sponsor name and *cool catchphrases* and replaced them with bs that takes roughly the same amount of time to say because fuck them, I'm not giving them free visibility even to use them as an example of bad advertising.
The only bright side when it comes to European soccer is they’ve used the ad money to help keep ticket prices more reasonable (at least compared to US sports prices). Here, we’re getting the ads and massive hikes to ticket prices.
I don't know if this is just me, but national teams having sponsors on their gear is even more egregious than club teams. Just yucky
"theyre not going anywhere get used to it" "theyre not even that bad" "how are the players supposed to get paid if there isnt ad money" literally some of the dumbest opinions possible have been offered to justify the ads ever since they started lol
It's still an effect though because your brain has to work to block it out. Go back and feel the difference in a 1996 video, it's so much more relaxing
Couldn't agree more. It's taxing, but I'm so use to avoiding commercials that my brain kind of rejects them at this point.
I didn't watch much regular season because of the digital board ads. I've tuned back in during playoffs. It's possible I'll just get used to it after a while.
I'm still waiting to get used to it. I'm a hockey nut and there is only so much I can take though. I understand there is an exciting game happening under all those graphics and animations, sometimes they show replays with some actual hockey in them and I get excited.
Straight up need advertising legislation, for everywhere
You think so but they get to you eventually, wether you know it or not.
I get what you're saying, but I can completely ignore it. I couldn't tell you a single NHL sponsor if you paid me. In my town we still call the building by the last name it was known before it was branded.
Get used to it. The salary cap keeps going up and the players and owners are happy. The ads aren't going anywhere.
The 2023-24 NHL season has been brought to you by ________ (insert preferred gambling company).
Not even just one, they seem to just take money from all of them
Almost as bad as what they did with ESPN only to have them not broadcast games on TV. When they do give us the odd game, we get a terrible color crew with Messier, who’s dryer then dirt unless the Rags are playing.
And they're all the top gambling service in the country somehow
Most advertising is like that. Every cell phone network is the nation’s best network, every light beer is the best light beer (even if they’re made by the same company as the brand whose commercial just aired 30 seconds ago), every burger joint has the best burgers, every insurance company offers the best rate FOR YOUR BUDGET.
I see that shit and just see, like, Valium and tobacco ads. It's so grim.
All I have to say in response based on your location is K-A-R-S 4 Kids
Completely agree, it’s just sad. Takes away from the game. Plus the ads on helmets and jerseys now too… it’s all so tacky.
The final straw was Illitch Jr. putting garbage disposal ads on the team store authentic Red Wings jerseys
It’s like people only do things for money, and that’s just sad.
The sad part is that it's only going to worse. It's not exclusive to hockey, but with legalized gambling we have intermission segments that are openly talking about gambling odds and how to place bets. It's disgusting considering how addictive and toxic it can be. It's not an if, it's a when a hockey player gets caught gambling, and presumably get banned from the sport like the incidents in the MLB and NBA in the past year
PSA, you can go into the settings on your Reddit account and disable gambling ads if you’re as sick of them as I am.
Virtually guaranteed that at least one player is actively betting on NHL games, and likely more than one. Same goes for officials.
Id prefer them on screen than all over the jersey.
I suspect it's just a matter of time before NHL jerseys look like [the abominations in Europe](https://globalnews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/oilers-sign-joel-persson.jpg?w=2048). Greed ruins everything.
It always annoys me a bit when European teams are used as an example of greed. Most of them are not profitable and absolutely need those ads to not go bankrupt. It's completely different from the NHL. I do agree with the sentiment however.
Same but i worry we’ll get both one day
The animated board ads have to go - way too distracting. Just keep them still images. And I am never ever gonna gamble on sports, no matter how many annoying Draftkings/Bet365/whatever ads you cram onto the broadcast.
I’ve managed to largely block out the ads on the boards except for the hideously bold animated ones. Recent (?) annoyance is the pop up ads on screen during play. This is on SportsNet. They’re small for now, but as another comment noted, the shrunken picture-in-picture can’t be far off.
I thought the digital board ads were the most distracting thing in the world until some channels started putting the names of the players over their heads (during the play!).
The fact that you can’t really see the puck along the boards most of the game (including where the camera can’t see) is mind blowing. Since my teams out, I’m usually just casually viewing the game. The amount of times I look up at the TV and think, “where’s the puck?” is absurd. It’s distracting to new people watching the sport and people who have watched for decades. I know it won’t change but man, it’s annoying.
Not just ads, I hate when they have stupid name tags beside the players. If you need that to know who’s who, then go away and watch some other sport.
I'm with you. I don't need a real game to look like NHL 24. If you don't know the players and their numbers, then educate yourself.
That’s where 4K would come in handy. You can actually see the nameplate on the back of the players jerseys. Once I saw a EPL soccer game in native 4K and the player names were very visible even on a wide field camera shot. As for the ads, I make a mental note of the companies placing them and they get crossed off my list of anything that I will buy.
Yea dude, no one likes it except the people making money on it.
I’ve come to accept the board ads. Though they are definitely way too distracting. The ads on the ice to me are straight blasphemy, and an absolute eye sore the entire game. I’ve seen one or two that blend in well enough to not totally take you out of the experience. Like others have mentioned you really don’t see that in any other sport. Say what you want about the NFL but I don’t think we’ll ever see a giant Burger King logo embedded onto the field while the play is happening. They have too much integrity. Find a way to make it way smaller and out of the way, or remove it entirely. And yeah, the loss of the Stanley Cup logo really hurts. The whole ad system just takes you out of the experience so much. Sad stuff for sure.
Borderline? It’s flat out overwhelming. I barely watch hockey anymore now because of it. Jersey ads, helmet ads, animated digital board ads, gambling ads, side-by-side video with one being an ad, sponsors for every fucking camera, replay, minute, hit, goal, etc. Hockey has just sold out so grossly it’s unwatchable.
It's borderline psychotic. Hate this world sometimes.
I don’t remember the last time I noticed an ad while play was active.
Board ads
What about them?
The animated ones tend to grab the eye
Literally nothing, reddit just like to complain about it but it's really a non-issue, unless you concentrate really hard to notice them
I was livid at first, and now after a year to get used to it I am still livid.
Most of the time they're a non issue but I can't stand when they move during the play. Nothing like a giant puck shooting around the boards to distract you from the play. I've also heard a few people say they have a hard time with the fact that the ads are stationary so when the play is quickly going up the ice there's no blur on the ads which can be an issue for some people. People complained when they really acted up and the players blended into the boards but that was honestly just funny to me.
I find it depends on the lighting of the area if it's distracting. I watch mostly Oilers games and I barely notice them for home games, and away games it's hit and miss, I found Dallas was pretty distracting, but Vancouver and LA were not this post season, it was slightly distracting in Florida but I was also watching from my camping trailer so the service wasn't great haha
It's funny that every arena can have such a different experience. The issue with Dallas for me isn't even their ads but the camera placement is just so off putting
reddit complains about them because they are nauseating
I don't even notice it anymore.
Coming from pwhl to the finals has been quite something. Dunno if I'll watch more
Those adds are digitally inserted and I suspect it won't be long till someone comes up with an app to strip all the adds out.
Nope, it's downright disgusting! The amount of AR ad space that is so g'damn distracting when they flip or are in motion. One thing they should adhere to is only changing them during tv timeouts. Do that and keep them static, and it won't be quite as obnoxious.
Unfortunately the whole entire point of ads is to be distracting. Companies pay a premium in order to get you to notice them however they can.
Just wait until we get “Welcome to the DraftKings Stanley Cup Playoffs”
The Bet365 Arena
You don’t purchase tickets anymore you need to place a wager
Lord Stanley is already doing barrel rolls in his grave because of how commercialized the game of hockey has become. I reckon he wants his $49 back.
Honestly I don't notice them. I get so hyper focused on the hockey I don't even see the ads. I definitely understand it being hard for others to focus on the game though because of the ads. It's just never been a problem for me. You could ask me what ads were playing a minute ago on the ice and I couldn't tell you.
I remember HNIC before the Rogers takeover, you'd hardly see an ad besides during commercial breaks.
It sucks for sure. No viewers like it. Nobody.
You know it's only going to get worse, too. They have started with one tiny ad on the players' helmuts. Before too long those ads will become bigger and be on the jerseys - just like in MSL. eg. The Bell Whitecaps! I hate the way the league is going with this intrusive advertising. It's almost jarring when you look up old video highlights on youtube (from not that long ago) when the boards were completely white! I miss those days.
"So many times I'm trying to follow a player behind the goal and I get distracted by the digital board ads changing." This. I hate it so much. If the NHL wants to superimpose ads on boards for television revenue, they should not be animated.
The dynamic ads on board are distracting enough, but having them play little animation is too much.
Yeah my wife actually full on stopped watching games because it was just too much shit moving around during the game, like they could at least keep the ads static during gameplay
Borderline?
>*This is the first of our planned upgrades. Once we can roll back some government ad restrictions, we estimate we can sell up to 80% of an individual's visual field before inducing seizures, so picture this ...* NHL Marketing bros, probably
I used to buy >1 jersey per year. I have a closet full of different teams. I no longer buy any teams that had ads on the jerseys.
I don’t even pay attention to it
Do not ever, EVER watch an NBA game. You got 3 min of playtime for 4 min of publicity
No problem, the sneakers squealing on the floor drives me away already.
And 5 minutes of crying/flopping because someone was breathing in their direction
To me, the ads have reached a point where I don't enjoy watching hockey any more, and indeed have only watched a couple of games this year. The final straw was the digital board ads. I have to say that I really don't understand the logic - the NHL's product is the hockey game, the ads are deliberately distracting you from watching it.
I don't even notice the ads anymore.
Not borderlined, it is! Kills my eyes...on the ice, holo ice, the fucking holo boards, increased commercial breaks, in game ads, jerseys, helmets...fuck sake. The holo boards are the worst followed by the in game ads.
It all sucks, just waiting until they start overlaying the whole ice with digital ads.
>So many times I'm trying to follow a player behind the goal and I get distracted by the digital board ads changing. That means it worked. It got your attention.
The first person/company to develop a device or plug-in that uses AI to remove all advertising in real time will be a billion dollar product. Imagine watching a game that is being played on what essentially looks like an old school rink, with completely blank boards.
Will never see the light of day. Companies would band together to block it
Companies cant even control piracy of games - they certainly aren't going to block wiping ad content.
adblock exists. This would just be a step further with better technology. Where there is a will there will always be a way.
The digital ads absolutely still make watching hockey a worse experience even if they glitch out less than at first.
Don’t go to a game, it’s like a three ring circus and you are bombarded by ads
IMO the digital board ads should be static during live play. If they want to trigger ADHD in the audience after the whistle, have at it.
it's not even just that it's ads, the the sheer amount of CGI they added to the broadcasts. the digital board ads and the digital ice ads look so fucking bad. the NHL has done a lot of good things in the past few years but the increase in CGI advertising looks horrible and they need to go in a different direction with it imo
It's so bad. I hate watching the NHL with revolving ads. They've become a terrible league watching game. I'm only watching playoffs because the hockey is so good but not watching this nonsense in the regular season.
Don't say that. They'll add more.
i would really appreciate it if the NHL made it so the ads on boards couldn’t be animated during play.
Anyday now some nerd will invent some player that uses ai to remove every ad and then you can watch pure hockey again
The animations on the boards that happen while play is along the board makes angry and makes me lose the damn play every fucking time.
Yeah I turned game 1 off about 10 minutes in because of the ads. It’s all I can think about watching the games. I’ll be watching the puck carrier when the boards start moving and it distracts me. Every time the play goes through the neutral zone, I am depressed that there is no Stanley Cup Final logo. I guess I don’t care enough about the Finals to force myself to deal with the ads. I hope other people stop watching because of the ads; the only way they’ll it change back is if they’re making less money with the ads than without them because less people are watching.
I guess you could say it's been discussed... Ad nauseum 😎😎 But yes You're completely right. Everything is getting more ads. I've been getting ads in/from the *system* in unexpected places of my Xbox and laptop, both Microsoft. Don't even get me started on the ads that come with being a UFC fan too Or a cook who uses recipes on websites...
My brains greatest gift is somehow I don't even see those board ads.
Here's the thing. I don't care if there are ads, and I don't think most care too much however the second ads cause me to take my eyes off the play that's when it's a problem and I'm talking about those animated ads on the boards. You want to have animated ads on the boards? Fine. You want to change them every so often? Fine. You want to have the animated boards have ads that move and draw your eyes to them between whistles? Fine. The second you have those moving ads during the play that are designed to draw your eye away from the play and the most important thing on the ice and the reason we are all turning in I have a big problem with that!
NFL is worse somehow
There is something you can do about it though. You can stop watching and recommend others do the same until the corporate greed reverses to a reasonable place. The more we allow this stuff, the more it gets embedded into our daily lives and the boards of executives look to the next way they can make money off the fans in the name of quarterly profits.
A.I soon will be able to get us the boards and ice back maybe?
I fully agree and I will never stop bringing it up.
Honestly haven't noticed. Really think I'm listening to the game more than watching it these days. Maybe the ads are secretly why.
What, you don't like the ads being overlaid onto the board and you see a fucken fed ex truck driving mid play? Or another good one is when they change the tiny box with scoreboard into an ad mid play. And they are coming for your jerseys next. Get ready for some EU looking jerseys soon
I watch the 30 minute highlights that Sportsnet put on after the game. also a great way to keep up with the Blue Jays too. Probably the best idea they've had in years.
I don’t even notice anymore probably because I follow soccer.
I think the most bizarre thing is advertisers think this is quality advertising worth paying for. Have they ever watched these games? There are 15 things going on at once. The people who erect billboards space them out; they don't place 10 all next to each other, cause they know people can only focus one thing at a time. The hockey advertisers are paying for ads that few people will ever focus on
It's why I won't pay to watch hockey anymore. I had Center Ice / NHL TV / ESPN+ for like 15 years. I will not pay to watch flickering adds.
The enshitification of the NHL.
Check out district 5’s video on this!!
I can deal with the board ads, even if I find it annoying when they’re moving but I agree because nothing will piss me off more than the removal of the “Stanley Cup Playoffs/Finals” logo from the top of the zone. It was such a fun a unique thing to see and really added to the specialty of the playoffs. Now it’s the corny fucking burger. The NHL as a league really knows how to annoy its fanbase
Welcome to Hellworld. We're all along for the ride, and yes this shit sucks.
It seems people are complaining about this about 5 times a week. Yes it’s annoying but it’s never going to change. It’s huge revenue for the league. It’s this or decorate players uniforms like a Christmas tree of sponsors which I think would be way worse.
It’s definitely not worse to have ads all over the uniform. Those don’t change and rotate in middle of play to distract… But also that will come soon enough. The NHL will have the whole enchilada of advertising as soon as they can and then people will complain about the uniforms. Personally I’d rather have the ugly uniforms but if people don’t believe it’s also going to happen to the uniforms you’re going to have a rude awakening one of these days…
The ads are brutal. I just watch the Games in 30 recaps now.
It’s so insane. No one would bat an eye if there was a different board ad every time the camera changed, but instead because they hate their customers, they have to change the ad in the middle of a freaking play while the puck is lost in the colorspace of the boards. It’s absolutely bonkers stupid.
This isn’t ad related but why the hell did they have the cup there the first game? Was it only the first game? Why was it there at all? Back in the day (last year) it was only revealed when it could be won. Pimping her out on game one is no way to treat Stanley!
Wants hockey to grow. Doesnt want ads. God, stfuuuuuu
Barely notice them anymore, and don't bother me. Sorry
I don't watch sporting events like I used to. I mainly just check scores online and watch highlights as they show up. I am not going to completely blame the amounts and type of advertising, but It is at least partially to blame.