gosioux76

A couple things to unpack here. 1. Ads on soccer jerseys, a phenomenon that dates to late '70s England, came about as a function of the sport's lack of TV ad breaks. The game is played over 90 minutes, with no commercial breaks other than at half time. This was a way for teams to generate advertising revenue they otherwise were missing out on. 2. This has nothing to do with jersey sales. Apparel sales may be a sizable revenue stream for professional sports teams, but they're minor when compared to what teams rake in from corporate sponsorships. The Habs are projected to reap between $5 million and $10 million in revenue per year by selling one square of fabric on the shoulder of their jerseys to a bank. Again, this isn't a defense of ads on jerseys. I hate them as much as the next guy, but don't mistake this for being an issue that's only about jerseys and apparel. The only reason more teams aren't doing this is because they haven't found companies willing to pony up the cash. Sullying the jerseys is the least of their concerns.

Perception wise, I can see how you'd come to that conclusion. But the Galaxy still seem to draw a good crowd, and this year, and in most prior years, have pulled in more people per game than LAFC, though that's likely due to capacity restraints. Through September 11, the Galaxy rank No. 7 in MLS attendance this year by drawing an average of 22,752 per game to a stadium with a capacity of around 25,000. LAFC come in at No. 9, have mostly filled its 22,000-capacity stadium, averaging 21,980 per game. SOURCE: https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2022-mls-attendance/ It's worth noting that the Galaxy's 2022 figures represent a nearly 70% jump from 2021, when it ranked 15th in the league by averaging only 13,400 fans. (LAFC was No. 6 last year.) Last year appears to have been an anomaly, though. In 2019, it was No. 6 in the league with 23,200 per game. (SOURCE: https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2021-mls-attendance/) So while LAFC might have stolen some of the Galaxy's thunder, so to speak, the Galaxy seem to have little trouble getting butts in seats.

That's a fair point. I'm certainly under-selling the public reaction to the jersey ads, which I'll admit.

I'm thrown more by the fact that the "b" in the logo is lower-case while the rest of the wordmark is all-caps. One idea — take it or leave it. — is to maybe make a BLITZ wordmark in which the Z can. be made into a lightning bolt. Than just use the bolt on the helmet instead of trying to force a B into it.

That's sort of a ridiculous thing to say. I don't see anybody on here suggesting they're happy about the evolution of advertising on uniforms. There's no open endorsement of the idea. There are, however, degrees of scale, and perpetually treating every incursion of an ad onto a uniform as some sign of the apocalypse seems a bit over the top. Do I like that the Nike logo appears on jerseys now? No, of course not, but I also don't really think it's that big of a deal. Having a bank's logo on the Canadiens' jersey is several steps worse, of course. But I also feel as if most people — i.e., not people on this message board — don't really give a damn about it. We can sit here and proselytize for aesthetic purity all we want, but it'll never be an argument that's convincing enough for millionaire and billionaire team owners to turn down another revenue opportunity. Most of them got to that position by being good at making money. And for them, there's no such thing as having enough.

Manufacturer brands don't put their logos on jerseys to sell merchandise. They would generate revenue from jerseys and team merchandise regardless of whether their own brand appeared on them. It's not about selling clothes; it's about brand exposure and brand association. A Nike logo on the front of NFL, NBA and MLB jerseys is about associating itself with those leagues because the company believes, by doing so, it elevates the stature of its brand. So in that sense, they are indeed turning athletes into walking billboards. The only thing separating the so-called "manufacturer" brand from another paid sponsor is its direct association to the production of the jersey itself. It paid to supply the jersey AND paid to advertise itself on them.

I don't recall that ever being in the plans. If it was, it was never something formalized, by either the XFL or the owners of the MLS club. I could see why, even speculatively, the XFL in 2020 would favor a smaller, more intimate setting. For one, it lessened the prospects of playing in front of a sea of empty seats. But they eventually had no trouble filling the Dome, which, to be fair, is probably going to be a much cheaper alternative than what I'd expect they'd end up paying to play in the new stadium, were that even an option.

The XFL team, presumably to be called BattleHawks, will be playing in the Dome. I can’t imagine they’ll be doing anything in Centene Stadium other than soccer.

It opens this week. Team store opens tomorrow and the first game in the stadium is Sunday featuring their MLS Next side.

Here in St. Louis, the new MLS club is getting ready to unveil Centene Stadium. But one thing I've noticed, and have been pleasantly surprised by, is how frequently they're using the club badge without the sideways CITY wordmark. Here's a look inside the team store and on the facade of the team headquarters. If you look closely in the team store image, the wordmark-less badge also appears on some scarves. I'm holding out hope that they use that mark as the jersey crest.

As much as I'd like to be wrong, I wouldn't get too excited about this news just yet. If I'm following along correctly, the source of this story was a tweet from the Associated Press sports writer who is based in Las Vegas. That tweet has since been deleted, though prior to that it was picked up and aggregated by other media outlets. Noticeably quiet, however, are the major daily newspapers in both Seattle and Las Vegas. That's almost certainly because the tweet -- citing only unnamed sources -- likely didn't pass the smell test for being legitimate, at least not enough to run with. Chances are their reporting teams saw that tweet, started calling their sources, and have yet to corroborate it. Another thing: Like with most other speculative discussions about expansion, the narrative thus far is limited to sports-related issues. A blog on Sports Illustrated's site, for example, used it as an opportunity to prematurely ponder conference realignment. That's because many sports reporters (not all, but many) tend to stay in the lanes they know rather than veering into things like investing and finance. Because you can't have expansion without asking about who will own the franchise and how it will be financed.

I'm getting an Australian-rules football guernsey vibe from these.

Is it just me, or does that shoulder patch seem HUGE. I like a good secondary logo, but I think these would be better served without it. Also, I think the wavy pattern in the fabric is an unnecessary distraction on what is an otherwise nice-looking jersey. The texture has an effect of altering the color, and making it seem inconsistent with the rest of the jersey. I'm with those of you who wish they'd have used gray/silver in that spot instead.

Yes, perfectly said. My first thought went to a 1940s-era brand of gum. One that probably tasted like licorice at first, before turning to regret.

I have nothing to say about tennis, but I do appreciate the succintness of this thread's title. Well done.

100%. It's not that the slate blue and gold is a terrible pairing in general. It looks great as evening wear, or on a nice pantsuit, maybe on a golf polo. I just find it to way too muted -- maybe "soft" is a better word -- for a sports brand.

It's hard to argue with these. I honestly had never given them much thought, mostly because I never cared for that color scheme, either for the Caps or the Wizards. It felt too muted for my tastes. But looking at them now, the design is impeccable.

Such an odd decision on the shorts.

I know there's a lot to criticize about the execution of this set, but this point is kind of silly. You can't complain about orange being a barely noticeable accent when it has more orange than the much beloved championship uniforms that came before and after them. If anything, one of the things Nike did right with the alarm-clock set is make the orange slightly more prominent. Forget about championships, the Bucs have never looked better than they did during the creamsicle era. It's a shame they moved on from it. (UNPOPULAR OPINION ALERT) And I'll say it again about the alarm-clock uniforms: they're nowhere near great, but they're also nowhere near as bad as the hyperbole. More traditional numbers, plus a rethinking of the helmet, and you've got the foundation of something that works.

This is the Commanders' best uniform.

I've always really liked this original Bengals uniform, too, but not because I think it's particularly good, and certainly not because I think it's better than the 1981 uniforms that came after them. I appreciate the simplicity of the set. It's as close to a Brand X NFL look as you'll ever get, short of the Browns, which clearly inspired this. I can't put words in Paul Brown's mouth, but I always liked how these sort of suggested "enough with the mascots already, this is about football." I bet that if just going by Cincinnati Football Team was an option back then, the Bengals would've gone that route and just left the helmets blank.

I mean, these warmups each had personalities of their own. Truly, the glory days of warmup uniforms, if there ever were such a thing.

It's certainly a matter of personal preference, but a single large wordmark across the front with a (comparably) minimized swoosh feels about as clean as you can get. In addition to that, it's very minimalist relative to the others -- no black along the zippers, the striping is limited to small ones on the cuffs and a single stripe (on some) on the sides. Of this one-design-fits all approach, these are the nicest yet.

Now seems about the right time to air my annual lament that the NBA was better when each team had its own unique warmup designs. I've mentioned this before, but my favorite part of the All-Star Game was seeing the players called out in their different warmups. It really showcased how colorful the league was at the time.

I think Belgium's kits are nice, but I don't care for the new crest. I had forgotten about the change in Mexico's crest. It looks fantastic. Strange that the Mexican FA's website is still using the old one.