Times have changed.

As players command bigger salaries and the fan can only afford so much to watch a game or buy a partial or full season ticket, there had to be some type of change to make this whole thing work.

If you were to travel back 25 years, it was very likely the only advertising you would see in a stadium was above the field, ice or floor. Boy has that changed. Now players wear ads, the playing areas have them fully integrated so everyone is receiving a message of some sort. Even football had its players decked out this year---although for a good cause, the wearing of pink gloves was a sign that marketing was omnipresent. I don’t think we would be making any comments to lineman about their choice of color however---just an observation!

I am not a purist by any means, and I do realize that players want what the market will pay them, but the first time I saw for example an advertisement on the ice at a hockey game, I thought, “where is this all heading?” Of what I recall, and it did make sense, it was for an “ice” beer. Even though it had more synergy than say an ad for a car, it was a change---as they see it, space anywhere means more money.

The photo above demonstrates some of the biggest changes I have seen in sports. Sure football and basketball have their cheerleaders, and baseball its mascots, but what about the women who shovel the ice in hot pants at NHL games? I am not sure if this is an “around the league phenomena” or just in Chicago, but if they are looking for fan involvement, they’ve got it. Chicago Black Hawk fans are completely different than Chicago Bulls fans and they can not get enough of these women. Although both teams play in the same stadium, the changing of the court to ice and vice versa brings out a completely different fan base.

To be honest, you can tell these women are actually into the game and they are very good skaters---certainly not a bad idea if you are going to be doing the clean up duty at an NHL game. I am not sure what’s next on the sports agenda, but I will be looking through my lens to capture the latest developments and report back to you through Snap. Shot.

Thanks for stopping by.