The week before the 2023–24 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season was set to begin, commissioner Gary Bettman banned specialty warm-up jerseys, explaining how pride jerseys had become a “distraction” last season. Hours before the first puck was even dropped, the NHL doubled down in corrections, updating restrictions to include any alterations to players’ gear or uniforms on the ice.
This ban included the use of pride tape, a specialty rainbow sports tape used to represent 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion in sports. The tape had previously been used by teams across the NHL for the different organizations’ Pride Nights, which will most likely disappear from team calendars going forward.
I, along with many other 2SLGBTQIA+ hockey fans, am disappointed but not surprised.
When multiple players refused to wear team pride jerseys during the 2022–23 season, many people defended it, justifying the decision to not wear a piece of clothing with a rainbow for 20 minutes during the warmup as a showing of “personal beliefs.”
As a result, the league decided to protect the bigoted actions of their players, rather than protect the queer fans who help pay their bills. Specialty jerseys were cut, but not only for team Pride Nights. This ban includes other themed nights such as Hockey Fights Cancer and Lunar New Year.
This ban obviously exists largely because of Pride Nights. Without the controversy stemming from grown men not willing to wear a rainbow jersey, this ban on literal tape would not be happening.
The NHL will hide behind their shameful actions, bowing to kiss the boots of bigotry rather than fight for the basic human rights to exist. Instead of growing the game, the NHL has once again turned its back on a massive group of prospective fans searching for acceptance in an already not-so-friendly sporting environment.
I grew up a hockey fan, and I will someday die a hockey fan, but it’s so hard to love a sport that very obviously does not love me back. The NHL can say they are just prematurely avoiding the bad press, yet this is causing much more of an uproar. They still stay silent while the bigotry they enabled takes aim at the 2SLGBTQIA+ fans speaking out.
Hockey is not for everyone, and the league has made that abundantly clear. Teams bowing to these new rules are not free from criticism either, with newly-appointed Canucks captain, Quinn Hughes, saying the team will support “off the ice,” while the team’s general manager, Patrik Allvin, deflected any responsibility, hiding under the outdated guise of following league rules.
Until there is actual pushback and use of the forbidden pride tape from players within the league, these words of support “off the ice” are meaningless. You can say you support the 2SLGBTQIA+ community all you want, yet by following the archaic “rules” of this outdated league, you’re still pushing aside the concerns of the community, which is especially worrying considering the current attack on 2SLGBTQIA+ rights in Canada and the United States.
For a league that pales in comparison to other professional sports and is desperate for growth, the NHL sure is keen to keep the same viewer base year after year until rendered obsolete. We can only hope they realize the error of their ways, but the league doesn’t seem interested in supporting marginalized communities — only suppressing them.
