The New York Islanders asked their fans to design a third jersey. They got 30,000 submissions in under four days. That number, reported by ESPN NHL insider Greg Wyshynski on X, is more than double what the team saw in the first five hours of the contest — and it’s still climbing.
This is the first time in franchise history the Islanders have let fans vote on an actual uniform. The contest opened Wednesday, and within five hours nearly 12,000 people had submitted designs. The deadline is July 24. After that, a team panel will pick five finalists, and fans will vote in early August. The winner gets an autographed version of their jersey and tickets to the first game where the Islanders wear it.
Why This Works
Kelly Cheeseman, the team’s president of business operations, called the contest a boundary-breaker. “Islanders fans are among the most passionate in all of sports, and their emotional investment is the heartbeat of this franchise,” she told ESPN. “With this contest, we are breaking down traditional boundaries and inviting Isles Nation directly into the design room to do something that has never been done before in our league. Our third jersey will truly belong to the fans, born from their passion and chosen by their voice.”
The Islanders have cycled through several alternate looks over the years. Their most recent third jersey, worn from 2018 through 2024, featured the classic “NY” logo as the primary crest. Before that there was the fisherman jersey saga of the mid-1990s, which fans either love or hate. No in-between.
Thirty thousand entries is a lot for any contest, but especially one where the prize is basically bragging rights and a free shirt. It helps that social media makes sharing designs easy and free. Fans are posting their concepts on X, Reddit, and Instagram, some with elaborate sketches, others with simple paint program mockups. A few have gone viral already.
The winning jersey will debut sometime during the upcoming season. The Islanders haven’t said which game, but you can bet the tickets the winner gets will be for that night. And yeah, there’s a decent chance the arena store will sell replicas of whatever wins. That’s the whole point.
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