Claim of canceled deal between NHL and Nike started on satire site | Fact check
The claim: The NHL canceled a $400 million deal with Nike
A Sept. 9 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims a deal between a hockey league and a major sports apparel brand fell through.
“NHL Cancels $400 Million Deal With Woke Nike,” reads the post.
It was shared more than 1,000 times in one week.
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Our rating: False
There is no evidence the NHL canceled a $400 million deal with Nike. The claim originated on a satirical website.
Claim stems from satire website, no evidence of canceled Nike-NHL deal
There are no credible reports of the NHL canceling any deal with Nike. There is no mention of such a move on the websites of either organization.
Adidas, another popular sports apparel brand, is the NHL's current official uniform partner but will be replaced by Fanatics beginning with the 2024-2025 season, according to ESPN.
The Facebook post includes a link to a story from "NewTopNews.com" that features a headline with the same claim about a canceled deal. But that story appears to have been copied from the Dunning-Kruger Times, a satirical website that says all of its content is fictional.
Elements of the article highlight its fictional origin.
It wrongly identifies the NHL commissioner as Joe Barron, a moniker regularly used by the Dunning-Kruger Times. The real commissioner is Gary Bettman, according to the NHL's website.
The article also claims the supposed cancellation came amid basketball superstar Michael Jordan’s departure from Nike – another false claim that has been debunked by the Associated Press.
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Nike did end its partnership with Hockey Canada, Canada's governing hockey body, in July, according to the Associated Press. The move came as Hockey Canada faced criticism for its handling of sexual assault allegations and settlement payouts.
Neither Nike nor the NHL returned Paste BN's requests for comment.
The Facebook post is an example of what could be called "stolen satire," where stories written as satire and presented that way originally are captured and reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.
Paste BN has previously debunked an array of stolen satire claims originating from the Dunning-Kruger Times, including that the NCAA took away transgender swimmer Lia Thomas’s championship title, that Miss USA is boycotting the Miss Universe pageant due to a transgender contestant and that Paramount was considering cutting CMT in the wake of controversy over Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” music video.
Paste BN reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
- Dunning-Kruger Times, accessed Aug. 29, About Us
- Associated Press, July 17, Nike permanently ends sponsor partnership with Hockey Canada
- Associated Press, April 21, Michael Jordan hasn’t ended his partnership with Nike
- NHL, Dec. 12, 2022, Bettman hiring as NHL Commissioner 30 years ago changed face of hockey
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