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Hockey Canada Logo To Be
Taken Off Olympic Hockey Jerseys |
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) "will not seek an exemption to allow Canada's hockey teams to compete in the Vancouver 2010 Games with the same Maple Leaf logo they have worn for the past three Winter Olympics," according to Christie & Maki of the GLOBE & MAIL. COC CEO Chris Rudge yesterday said that the IOC warned countries it "would enforce a rule that makes national sport federation logos, used as marketing tools, not acceptable as team crests." Rudge noted that the IOC "warned of the logo clampdown for both Summer and Winter Games after the 2006 Turin Olympics." Hockey Canada President Bob Nicholson "was hoping the COC would ask for an exemption from the IOC, which had granted permission to Hockey Canada to wear its Maple Leaf logo jersey dating back to 1998." Nicholson added that the COC's decision "not to fight for the well-known symbol owned by the national federation -- a black-and-red Maple Leaf bisected by the silhouette of a hockey player in white -- will reduce the flow of money for Canadian hockey development." Nicholson said selling jerseys is a "major revenue generator for us. It's how we fund our women's program, our grassroots hockey programs, our skills camps. The money goes back into the system" (
GLOBE & MAIL, 11/4). The GLOBE & MAIL's Allen Maki reported Hockey Canada, as a result of the change, must "help pay for designing and producing a new jersey while losing out on whatever revenue it would have generated from selling its former jersey" (
GLOBE & MAIL, 11/3). COC Athletes' Council member Adam van Koeverden said that Hockey Canada's complaints "seemed to rankle smaller federations which scratch for funds" (
Hamilton SPECTATOR, 11/4). REUTERS' Scott Anderson noted the IOC "stepped up enforcement during the Summer Games in Beijing, when it restricted what the Brazilian and Argentine soccer teams could wear on their uniforms." The rules "do not apply to competitions outside the Olympic Games, such as the World Cup of Hockey" (
REUTERS, 11/3).
