Canada's Hockey Jersey For '10 Games Closing In On Record Sales

Controversy Over Logo May Have Helped Canada's Jersey Sales

Canada's '10 Olympic hockey jersey is "closing in on record sales with over three months to go" until the '10 Vancouver Games, according to Donna Spencer of the CP. The jersey was "controversial because Hockey Canada spent weeks coming up with a new design" after the organization was told by the IOC that national logos "aren't allowed on uniforms at the Games." That "controversy may have helped sell the commercial version to the public as between" 115,000-120,000 jerseys have "moved off store racks since it was unveiled in Vancouver on Aug. 17." The '02 Olympic hockey jersey is the current best-seller, and Hockey Canada COO Scott Smith said, "We're very close to what was sold in its entirety around the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. We're close to the $20[M] mark." Smith said that Hockey Canada receives a 10% royalty from the sales. VANOC takes 5% with the "rest going to the retailers, Nike and to the artists who helped create the distinctive Maple Leaf logo on the jersey's front." The red and white jerseys are "retailing for about $135 each across" Canada, and Smith said that there will be a "line of apparel designed to complement the jersey reaching stores Nov. 9." He added that the "suspense over the look of the jersey before it was released, plus the fact it will be worn only for these Games helped sell it" (CP, 10/22).