Over 80,000 fans design new Islanders jersey in historic NHL contest
The Islanders gave their fans a chance to be a part of NHL history, and they certainly didn't disappoint.
The deadline for the Islanders’ fan contest to design their third jersey for the 2027-28 season — the first time in NHL history that a franchise has allowed its fans to create an official team sweater — was at 11:59 p.m. Friday, 16 days after the contest was launched on July 8 at noon. And the number of designs submitted was staggering.
A total of 80,490 jersey designs were submitted by fans during the contest, according to the Islanders.
Five finalists will be selected by a committee and put to an online fan vote within the next few weeks. The creator of the winning design will receive a team-signed third jersey and tickets to the 2027-28 game in which it makes its on-ice debut.
Islanders president of business operations Kelly Cheeseman said upon the contest’s launch that he expected “a lot of submissions,” and now the committee will have its hands full trying to pick the five best jersey designs.
Fans were able to design jerseys on islesjerseybuilder.com, where they could choose from 15 striping options, 53 color options, nine Islanders logos and eight different fonts for the nameplate and numbering.
The Islanders received nearly 37,000 submissions in the first 30 hours of the contest and over 66,000 in the first week.
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
