Let the fans of the Montreal Canadiens make up their minds, the crest of the Royal Bank of Canada is there to stay on the Sainte-Flanelle, confirmed Wednesday the president France Margaret Bélanger in front of the Canadian Club of Montreal.
“Other times, other mores,” she launched in an attempt to close the debate that has inflamed many supporters since last Monday’s announcement.
During a conference delivered to an audience of business people, as well as her colleagues from the CH staff, Ms. Bélanger reiterated that the organization, more than a century old, was determined to integrate advertising on its mythical red uniform.
“We are, for some, too young to remember that, but apparently there was a time when there were not even announcers on the tapes in arenas, she recalled. The leagues evolve and modernize. »
The sports and entertainment president of the Club de hockey Canadien did not fail to point out that the National Basketball League had taken this path in 2016 and that the Major League Baseball would follow suit next season.
She called this practice a “big trend” in North American professional sports.
Regarding the criticism that rains down on the organization each time it has to make a controversial decision, she believes that this is completely normal because “the Canadiens are part of our Montreal fiber, it’s our identity. It’s part of our culture, our history in Quebec, in Canada.
Without knowing the financial details of the agreement with the RBC, it is however not for lack of economic dynamism that the Canadian made the decision to add advertising on his jersey. According to data from the shortened 2021 season, 1.1 million viewers watch CH matches on television. A number that had jumped to 4.4 million during the team’s long run in the playoffs, Ms. Bélanger revealed.
To this must be added 184 million views for the videos produced by the organization and broadcast on various online platforms. The Canadiens have 4.6 million subscribers to their online platforms and rank first in the NHL for the number of articles read.
In addition, the hockey club will be able to benefit from another new source of income this season by imposing its own advertisers on the tapes of opposing teams in Canada. That is to say, thanks to the technology of “digitally augmented tapes”, the team will be able to replace the local announcers of the other Canadian teams by its own partners in the diffusion of the matches.
“Our advertisers, not only will they be present at the Bell Centre, but when the Canadiens travel abroad in Canada, whether we’re in Vancouver or Calgary, we’ll still be able to see our advertisers by watching the game at TV,” she said.
This technology is already known to sports fans when we could see digital advertisements appearing in bay windows or on the ice while watching games broadcast on television or online.