all 15 comments

[–]Alienhunter糞大名 12 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 0 fun13 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

I suspect it hurts their bottom line.

If anything it's clear that there's a certain bunch of people who will consider anything other than enthusiastic support as "hate" and they feel justified doing basically anything towards those people they see as hateful. Also like it or not the "pride flag" has essentially become a political statement in support of the Democratic party. Now they'll claim it's not and that it's a human rights issue, but then ask them which party is supporting "human rights" and the partisan nature of the issue quickly will become apparent.

Opinions on the politics of it aside, it seems foolishly shortsighted for any business interested in maintaining an appeal to the mass market to participate in this culture war type stuff. They're going to invite drama and essentially alienate about half of their potential customer base over time as it invariably will progress towards the extremes. You may be having a very vocal minority throwing their absolute praise and support towards these pride nights but they are by and large political zealots who care more about the message than the sport. They're not going to stick around, hell they're likely to turn on you when you misstep somewhere and fail to meet their expectations. All the while you're essentially going to be alienating anyone who is opposite of that political persuasion who will organize boycotts. Well that leaves the normal sports fans, probably your most profitable customers stuck in the middle. Who will if they are annoyed with the focus away from the sport itself, may simple seek out alternative entertainment options. Or who may find themselves in a social group where it's no longer possible to show public interest in the sport without opening themselves up to alienation or personal attacks by the zealots which will almost certainly have a negative effect on merchandising sales long term after the initial boost given by the zealots dies down.

[–]xoenix[S] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

There must be money attached to every LGBTQ+ partnership. Arcus Foundation etc. (see Jennifer Bilek's money trail articles.)

I just don't know how captured each institution (eg. NHL) is. Maybe it's not worth it to them anymore, and maybe there's not much other blowback to face.

[–]Wanderingthehalls 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Well it looks like ESG money is starting to dry up, so could that be part of it?

[–]noshore4me 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Not only does it impact the bottom line, create unnecessary points of division, but when a player opts out and his jersey sells out immediately because of supporters of people who don't want to be subjected to the zealotry it goes against the selling of pride merch. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/ivan-provorov-jerseys-sell-out-nhl-player-refuses-to-wear-pride-jersey

[–]Femaleisnthateful 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

"Of course, Ivan Provorov is more than happy to play pregame dress-up when it does align with his belief system," he tweeted along with a picture of a military appreciation jersey Provorov wore in 2021.

Yeah, duh, so is everyone.

[–]Alienhunter糞大名 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I'll be fair, the last time I saw a hockey game in the US the military propoganda was pretty jarring. I get that it's the states and that it's how things go there. But having everyone stand up in the middle of the game to give awknoledgement to the soldiers fighting some war somewhere with the patriotic propoganda playing on the jumbotron and every screen felt very much like something out of 1984. Or dare I say it North Korea.

I'm not particularly anti-nationalist but I think Americans are just very much used to it to the point where they don't question it. It's an insidious form of propoganda that they worm into the kids from a young age when they open up every school day with prayer.

Now I know there is someone just waiting in the wings with "they banned prayer in schools dumbass that's the problem"

Hmm well yes, see I think the pledge of allegiance in the US is essentially a prayer to the flag. I think it's kind of a form of idolatry even. It's just bizzare that American christians don't seem to connect their worship of government with idolatry to me.

[–]OuroborosTheory 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

it meshes well with our usual habit of suddenly having strong opinions about countries we literally didn't know about yesterday: fighting words and flags in the bio and all that

[–]The_Best_Yak_Ever 12 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 0 fun13 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

As a former hockey player (no… I wasn’t in the nhl… I was what the guy would call “not very good at hockey,” but I still loved it), I am seriously proud of the league starting to stand up to this. This doesn’t belong in the game. Sexuality has no place centered in a professional sports league. It simply has zero relevance. There are legal protections for the community. And frankly, I’m down with gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. I’m down with trans men and women with gender dysphoria who just want to get on with their lives. All fine by me! But I wholeheartedly fucking REJECT “queer” and trans trenders. I detest TRAs. I’m sick of it being jammed into everything. It makes me not want to have anything to do with anyone flying that new monstrosity of the pride flag. The arrow bulldozing the actual rainbow flag is indicative of what I despise.

Good on ya, NHL. Cancel that shit.

[–]Haylstorm 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Genuinely have not got the fuss about it. Someone doesn't want to wear the jersey? Fine. They don't wear it. Acting like they need to support 'the cause' and like they're genociding the LGBT by not wearing it is the most absurd take I've seen on it so far. It just feels like it's making a mountain out of a nothing story.

[–]Alienhunter糞大名 5 insightful - 5 fun5 insightful - 4 fun6 insightful - 5 fun -  (0 children)

If they don't force everyone to go along with it most people won't give a fuck and that means no attention. Literally genocide. The fact you don't understand that means you are worse than Hitler.

[–]Alienhunter糞大名 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'll gladly play sports with gay people like who cares at that point? If I'm being clues into your sex life in any way beyond simple "this person is my partner" were getting into TMI territory.

Like imagine if the league made everyone where the Christian flag on their jerseys in solidarity with the shooting victims. That's going to be a problem for a bunch of people. And no not choosing to wear it doesn't mean you approve of the murder of 9 year olds. It is just insane.

[–]Musky༼⁠ ⁠つ⁠ ⁠◕⁠‿⁠◕⁠ ⁠༽⁠つ 💛 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

When someone opts out the narrative shifts from inclusivity and supporting sexual orientation and gender identity to outright hate and bigotry

Not supporting your ideology is not the same as hate and bigotry. This is part of the radicalization of the far left, a with us or against us mentality.

I don't know why any of them think violence is going to increase trans acceptance, it just highlights the insanity of people who think you can change your gender.

[–]hfxB0oyADon't piss on my head & tell me it's raining. 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Good. A bit of sanity.

[–]alladd 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The NHL wanted to gain some free support with what they thought would be a cakewalk.

Now every hockey fan on earth is Googling "Reimer + LGBT".

Nice job!

[–]BISH 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

They should bring back Pride, except for the MMA version.

Pretty much the opposite of the modern nonsense. Everyone would watch it.