Islanders launch a fan contest to design the team's third jersey
The Islanders are providing an NHL-first opportunity for fans to design their third jersey for the 2027-28 season. Credit: New York Islanders
The Islanders are making NHL history. But really, Islanders fans will be making it.
The team announced the start of a fan contest on Wednesday — the aim? To design the team’s third jersey for the 2027-28 season. It is the first time in NHL history a franchise has allowed its fans to create an official team sweater, according to the Islanders.
Fans will be able to bring their jersey idea to life on the Islanders’ design tool website, islesjerseybuilder.com, which allows them to choose from logos, patches, fonts and colors used throughout Islanders history. They have until July 24 to submit their designs, and the creator of the winning design will receive a team-signed third jersey and tickets to the game in which the jersey will make its on-ice debut during the 2027-28 season.
“Every jersey that you unveil, the fans have strong conversations, whether they like them, love them or hate them,” Islanders president of business operations Kelly Cheeseman told Newsday in a phone interview. “So to allow them to design and vote for their jersey, I think just makes it the people’s and the fans’ jersey.”
The reason the jersey will debut during the 2027-28 season and not this upcoming one? It always takes two years to make an NHL jersey.
“You have to submit two years out for every jersey that you’re going to make,” Cheeseman said. “This year we obviously have the Hometown Remix jerseys that are going to come out with NHL, so we’ll have that new jersey coming this fall. And then the following year, a new third.
“It’s something the fans should know. It’s not something you can change overnight. It takes two years to create, get approved, then actually produce a jersey that can go to market, not only for the players on the ice, but actually be put into the total portal to be created — carried in your store or across the world, really, at that point.”
Once fans get to the website, the first step is to pick the jersey striping, which includes 15 options. The next step is choosing the jersey colors — the primary color, two accent colors and a color for the Fanatics logo — from 53 different options.
The third step presents the choices for the main front chest logo and the optional shoulder patch logo. Fans can choose from nine historic Islanders logos, including the classic logo, the infamous Fisherman logo and designs used when the team played in Brooklyn. The fourth step presents options for the nameplate and numbering on the back of the sweater and the shoulder. Fans can choose the primary and outline color for both.
Fans then have to fill out their contact information and choose a name for their jersey, with an optional description for their vision.
A committee, whose members are not yet confirmed, will review all submissions and select five finalists. The finalists will be put online for a public fan vote in early August. Cheeseman said the players, training staff and the leadership team will be involved in the decision.
Fans noted that throughout last season — which was the first for Cheeseman, general manager Mathieu Darche and star defenseman Matthew Schaefer — the franchise had a more fan-friendly approach. Cheeseman “absolutely” views the contest as another avenue to continue to build upon the organization’s relationship with fans, and fans agree.
“I think it’s a great approach for fan engagement,” said James Griffo of Albertson. “Considering that they’re the first franchise to do it, I think other teams will definitely follow suit. I’m surprised nobody else has done it before.”
Cheeseman said the idea is something he has “always wanted to do in the NHL” but has been tricky to actually pull off with intellectual property and trademark rights. He successfully executed the idea while working with Major League Soccer’s LA Galaxy, whose fans picked a third jersey in 2013.
It was an in-depth process working with the NHL IP and legal departments and Fanatics, but it came to fruition with something Cheeseman thinks the fans will love.
“I expect that there’s going to be a lot of submissions,” he said. “And I think there’s going to be a lot of conversation and engagement amongst the fans about what their favorite jerseys are and whether they would like to change some things that we don’t even have in the portal at this point, or may not be able to even provide in the portal, and we’ll listen to that.
“We tried to provide as much flexibility that we could, so the fans could really design and create the concepts that they like most.”
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.
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