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The National Hockey League has been actively involved in supporting many causes since the first NHL Pride Night in Florida in 2013, along with other nights which includes Hockey Fights Cancer, Military Appreciation, and more. From next season, the NHL has decided to stop allowing teams to wear special jerseys for pre-game warmups during themed nights after some players refused to wear rainbow-colored pride jerseys this past season.
The League’s Board of Governors agreed with Commissioner Gary Bettman’s suggestion that the refusals overshadowed the teams’ efforts to celebrate Pride and other causes, such as military appreciation and Hockey Fights Cancer.
Bettman said in an interview with Sportsnet that the themed nights were being undermined by chatter over certain players declining to participate and that he wanted to keep the focus on the game and the cause. “That’s just become more of a distraction from really the essence of what the purpose of these nights are. We’re keeping the focus on the game. And on these specialty nights, we’re going to be focused on the cause,” the Commissioner said.
The decision was met with disappointment and concern by You Can Play, an organization that works with sports and leagues to promote inclusion and diversity for LGBTQ+ people.
The organization said in a statement, “Today’s decision means that over 95% of players who chose to wear a Pride jersey to support the community will now not get an opportunity to do so. 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.”
The NHL faced controversy earlier this year when several players opted out of wearing Pride jerseys for warmups, citing personal or religious reasons. Among them were Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov, San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer, and brothers Eric and Marc Staal of the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens, respectively.
Bettman defended the league and teams’ handling of the situations at the time, saying that tolerance of varying viewpoints was part of being “open, welcoming, and inclusive.” Teams will still celebrate Pride and other theme nights next season, but they will not wear special warmup jerseys. They are expected to still design and produce jerseys to be autographed and sold to raise money for various causes.