The decision to display the Royal Bank logo on the Montreal Canadiens jersey is generating a lot of reactions this week and the president of the entertainment sector at Groupe CH hinted on Wednesday that the impact of the pandemic may have influenced the thinking.
Posted at 3:47 p.m.
Updated at 8:50 p.m.
“We can assume that the significant financial consequences of COVID-19 have probably accelerated these new sales,” said France Margaret Bélanger during a speech organized by the Canadian Club of Montreal in front of a few hundred business people downtown.
She also spoke of a “heavy” trend among professional teams. “The NBA has had jersey displays since 2016 and Major League Baseball announced this summer that starting next season there will be a jersey display,” she said.
” Other times, other manners. The leagues are evolving and modernizing,” she added, recalling that corporate logos on the rink and on helmets have appeared over the years.
“There was a time when there were no announcers on the tapes in arenas. »
France Margaret Bélanger was not available to answer questions after her speech. It was therefore not possible to obtain details on the impact of the pandemic on the finances of the organization.
The two sports clubs managed by Groupe CH — the Montreal Canadiens and the Laval Rocket — played games behind closed doors and at reduced capacity during the pandemic, which affected its income. In addition to sports team management, Groupe CH has developed expertise in event promotion and festival production. These operations were also affected by health measures during the pandemic.
Together, the evenko and Spectra subsidiaries present more than 1,800 events in a “normal” year.
The annual revenue per team from the sale of badges on jerseys is estimated between 5 and 10 million while according to Forbes, the Montreal Canadiens generate more than 100 million Canadian dollars per season in box office revenue during a “normal” season. .
The partnership with Royal Bank to feature the RBC logo on Canadiens player jerseys was announced Monday at the team’s annual golf tournament.
France Margaret Bélanger had then indicated in a press release that the organization would have great difficulty in finding a more appropriate association than that with RBC.
Last year, CIBC signed an agreement to put its logo on the helmets of Canadian players.
It is possible to believe that other financial institutions have had discussions with the CH Group. Some might have preferred to leave room for others for this very first initiative on the CH jersey.
Minority shareholder of Groupe CH, sponsor, and tenant of a box at the Bell Center, the National Bank did not wish to comment on Wednesday on the issue of the crest on the jersey.
National Bank became a shareholder of Groupe CH during the financial crisis by taking a stake of about 5%, the equivalent of about thirty million dollars a dozen years ago. In addition to this equity investment, National Bank had granted financing in support of the transaction allowing the takeover of CH by the group led by Geoff Molson in 2009.
National Bank still has a seat on the CH Group’s board of directors, as does Bank of Montreal.