‘Keeping The Focus On The Game’: NHL Players No Longer Wearing Pride Jerseys During Warm-Ups

Just keep politics out of sports.

Each the NHL, multiple teams and several players received both praise and criticism when it came to not wearing LGBTQ jerseys during Pride Night warm-ups.

Now planning to get rid of any “distraction,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that players will no longer wear LGBTQ-themed jerseys on the ice.

“I suggested that it would be appropriate for clubs not to change their jerseys in warm-ups because it’s become a distraction and taking away from the fact that all of our clubs in some form or another host nights in honor of various groups or causes, and we’d rather them continue to get the appropriate attention that they deserve and not be a distraction,” said Bettman to SportsNet at Thursday’s NHL Board of Governors meeting.

Coming in the middle of Pride Month, the announcement follows a wave of criticism that has slammed the league for allegedly not making the LGBTQ community feel welcome at games, with Bettman labeling those “concerns” as “legitimate.”

“But in the final analysis, all of the efforts and emphasis on the importance of these various courses have been undermined by the distraction in terms of which teams, which players, this way we’re

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