Why the Capitals partnering with TikTok risks off-ice distraction

The 2024-2025 NHL season is 33 days away and teams are getting ready to hit the ice for training camps.

But an off-ice partnership is befuddling fans of the team located in the nation's capital.

On Monday, the Washington Capitals announced they had signed a three-year partnership with the popular and controversial social media app TikTok, making it the official sponsor of their away sweaters.

The app's logo will appear as a patch on the right shoulder of the team's white away jerseys. Washington partnered with popular sportsbook Caesars in 2021 to have it sponsor the red home sweaters with a patch.

Partnering with TikTok is a risky business

The three-year deal Washington signed with TikTok will either pay off as any other branding deal does or it could fall flat on its face, especially if the app is banned by the federal government.

TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, is based in China. In April, President Joe Biden signed a foreign aid package passed by Congress that included a provision forcing the company to sell the app to a U.S. buyer within nine months or face a nationwide ban.

Nearly five months later, ByteDance still has not sold TikTok with a ban on the table. Either Washington owner Ted Leonsis knows something we all don't or TikTok offered a number he simply couldn't refuse in the short term.

Is TikTok using hockey to lobby?

The ironic part of all this is that if a ban on TikTok does take effect, the app's logo would appear on the jersey of the team representing the nation's capital — its arena located blocks from Congress and the president that banned it.

Even further, the logo would appear on the road in cities and states where people voted for the representatives that passed said ban.

So, is the partnership just a 4D chess move to lobby the public to prevent the ban from taking place? ByteDance's deadline would take effect about halfway through the NHL season.

If you think about it, it's kind of a smart move. But now Washington risks public scrutiny falling on its business choices instead of focusing on the skills of its players, presenting a potential preseason distraction.