The Minnesota Wild took advantage of a Monday morning where we might not be completely aware of our surroundings yet, to announce their sponsor for the little patch that will be featured on sweaters across the league.
For the Wild, it will be TRIA Orthopedics, of course.
It’s official! The threads are getting some extra
Starting this ’22-23 season, our first-ever jersey patch partners are @TRIAOrthopedics!
More details ⬇️
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) August 8, 2022
TRIA is, of course, already the sponsor for the Wild’s practice facility, so it was a natural fit. In the promotional video that we were all treated to with a stoic narration talking about Minnesota hockey and stuff like that, they gave a little first glimpse of what the jerseys will look like.
First impressions are — even as someone who doesn’t necessarily hate the idea of it, and is fairly agnostic about visual sponsors in general — that is a pretty big logo on a jersey and the blue makes it stick out.
Especially considering that some teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets just have a little stitched-in logo for their sponsorship and makes it seem like just a very tiny detail on the already-busy uniform. This sizeable patch might turn some people off the idea entirely. We were already used to helmet sponsors — and how they also always used the team colors anyway — and now we have to get more accustomed to an off-looking patch right on the front.
It is an evil that is becoming more common anyways, but this is just a little bit of a weird step. Whatever, it’s going to be there so we might as well normalize it.