NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman Puts A Ban On Specialty Warmup Sweaters

Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the National Hockey League, said on Thursday that none of the 32 teams would wear themed pregame warmup sweaters in 2019.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman Puts A Ban On Specialty Warmup Sweaters

At the annual Board of Governors meeting in New York, Bettman proposed the proposal, claiming it would eliminate any distractions around players’ refusal to take part in Pride Nights after seven skaters made that decision last season.

The choice to stop wearing specialized warmup sweaters for occasions like Pride Night is the most recent twist in a long-running tale after a few players declined to wear Pride shirts last season.

“I’ve suggested that it would be appropriate for clubs not to change their jerseys in warmups because it’s become a distraction and taking away from the fact that all of our clubs in some form or another host nights in honor of various groups or causes,” Bettman said in an interview with Sportsnet following an NHL board of governors meeting in New York. “And we rather them continue to get the appropriate attention that they deserve and not be a distraction.”

Other significant occasions like Military Appreciation, Hockey Fights Cancer, and St. Patrick’s Day will also be impacted by the choice. Those events, as well as Pride Night, will nevertheless go on as usual at each individual venue despite the elimination of the pregame sweaters.

The NHL Board of Governors’ decision will not restrict teams from holding themed evenings or designing and selling specialized jerseys to generate money for charitable causes. Players will be free to model the sweaters and wear them, according to Bettman, as long as it doesn’t happen during warmups.

“All the efforts and emphasis on the importance of these various causes have been undermined by the distraction in terms of which teams, which players,” Bettman said. “This way, we’re keeping the focus on the game. And on these specialty nights, we’re going to be focused on the cause.”

In a statement to ESPN, You Can Play, an activist group that encourages sports leagues to be more accepting of the LGBTQIA+ community, said that it was “concerned and disappointed” by the NHL’s decision to discontinue the warm-up sweaters.

“Today’s decision means that the over 95 percent of players who chose to wear a Pride jersey to support the community will now not get an opportunity to do so,” You Can Play told ESPN. “The work  to make locker rooms, board rooms and arenas safer, more diverse, and more inclusive needs to be ongoing and purposeful, and we will continue to work with our partners at the NHL, including individual teams, players, agents and the NHLPA to ensure this critical work continues.”

Ivan Provorov, a defenceman with the Philadelphia Flyers at the time, started it in January when he decided not to wear a warmup jersey with a Pride Night theme. Provorov, who was just moved to the Columbus Blue Jackets, mentioned his Russian Orthodox religious convictions and stated that he wants “to stay true to myself and my religion.” James Reimer, a goalie for the San Jose Sharks, and brothers Eric and Marc Staal, both Florida Panthers players, also skipped warmups when their clubs had separate Pride Nights, citing similar religious reasons.

In addition to the Staal brothers, Ilya Lyubushkin, Denis Gurianov, James Reimer, and Andrei Kuzmenko all opted out of warmups on Pride Nights. The anti-gay legislation in Russia were a factor in the decisions taken by Lyubushkin, Gurianov, and Kuzmenko, while the Staal brothers and Reimer cited their religious convictions.

The Blackhawks, Wild, and Rangers were three NHL clubs who ultimately decided against wearing Pride Night sweaters; they had all planned to do so during warmups.

 

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