Los Angeles NFL Brands Discussion

[BadSeed84]

4 hours ago, rams80 said:

Honestly the stupid stadium timeline needed to be tossed out the window the moment it became clear the stadium wasn't going to open for another year and at the same time that Los Angelinos weren't going to sit back and wait for the team to develop into a Super Bowl contender at the moment the stadium opened.

 

Instead, we've got mismatched uniforms and they're trying to win a Super Bowl now in the LA Coliseum (not that I'm complaining about the latter, just that it illustrates how utterly silly that original plan was.)

 

In the interim, as long as it's just a fine, wear the throwbacks every week.

 

It's their fault. They didn't have to introduce navy and white helmets and pants 

[rams80]

15 minutes ago, EddieJ1984 said:

 

It's their fault. They didn't have to introduce navy and white helmets and pants 

 

At what point did I exculpate the Rams from blame?

[Tracy MidGrady]

The logo color change was so dumb

[Cujo]

So it's the NFL's fault the Rams thought this was a good idea... Right.

 

[colortv]

7 hours ago, rams80 said:

Honestly the stupid stadium timeline needed to be tossed out the window the moment it became clear the stadium wasn't going to open for another year and at the same time that Los Angelinos weren't going to sit back and wait for the team to develop into a Super Bowl contender at the moment the stadium opened.

 

Instead, we've got mismatched uniforms and they're trying to win a Super Bowl now in the LA Coliseum (not that I'm complaining about the latter, just that it illustrates how utterly silly that original plan was.)

 

In the interim, as long as it's just a fine, wear the throwbacks every week.

 

That's exactly what its come down to.

 

The Rams have an unbelievably loaded roster after this offseason and should be one of the best teams in the NFL for the next couple of years. There's no reason to hold back on the uniform change with the team they are now putting on the field.

[MilSox]

The fact that the Rams knowingly screwed themselves regarding their uniforms doesn't make the NFL's policy any less cumbersome and unnecessary.

 

I can respect that they don't want to be like the NBA or college football where you barely even know who's playing. But there's a lot of room between that and what the NFL has done. There's absolutely no benefit to the league or the teams to stick them with a redesign that went over like a fart in church for 5 years.

[Cosmic]

4 hours ago, NicDB said:

The fact that the Rams knowingly screwed themselves regarding their uniforms doesn't make the NFL's policy any less cumbersome and unnecessary.

 

I can respect that they don't want to be like the NBA or college football where you barely even know who's playing. But there's a lot of room between that and what the NFL has done. There's absolutely no benefit to the league or the teams to stick them with a redesign that went over like a fart in church for 5 years.

If you don’t want to look bad for five years, don’t make bad uniforms.

[MilSox]

Fans shouldn't have to suffer through terrible design by committee uniforms either.

[dont care]

I feel no pity for the rams. They could have changed the second they moved to LA but chose not to, to match the opening of their stadium. Now it’s delayed so their half ass solution is stripping everything from their uniform to create a disjointed mess.

[Beer Barrel Man]

As has been said in this thread, it's the Rams fault for not rebranding or going full retro right away. However, the NFL's policy is ridiculously stringent. 

 

On 5/11/2018 at 9:30 AM, BringBackTheVet said:

 

I'd love for this to happen.  What's the league going to do - cancel the game if the team changes into the throwbacks in between warmups and the coin toss?

 

I'm sure the by-laws have limits on the amount they can fine them, so it's probably not like the league can say "if you do that again, it's a $5 billion fine".  While the team created this mess for themselves, I'd still love to see them just bully their way out of it.  Power to the people!

I too would love to see the Rams do this. 

[oldschoolvikings]

8 hours ago, NicDB said:

The fact that the Rams knowingly screwed themselves regarding their uniforms doesn't make the NFL's policy any less cumbersome and unnecessary.

 

I can respect that they don't want to be like the NBA or college football where you barely even know who's playing. But there's a lot of room between that and what the NFL has done. There's absolutely no benefit to the league or the teams to stick them with a redesign that went over like a fart in church for 5 years.

 

This is exactly why the 5 year rule works so well.  Without it, teams would be able to run something out as a test, see how it goes over, then say the fans "unexpectedly" hated it, so they need a waiver on the 5 years.

 

Tough.  Next time, don't do something stupid.  If it were me, I'd actually add a few more rules to the NFL's uniform policies, not less.

[OnWis97]

31 minutes ago, oldschoolvikings said:

 

This is exactly why the 5 year rule works so well.  Without it, teams would be able to run something out as a test, see how it goes over, then say the fans "unexpectedly" hated it, so they need a waiver on the 5 years.

 

Tough.  Next time, don't do something stupid.  If it were me, I'd actually add a few more rules to the NFL's uniform policies, not less.

I agree.  Without the five-year rule, NFL teams would look more like college teams in terms of changing all the time, etc.  Consistency is important in the NFL (probably more so than college, where teams are not just "football teams" but part of something bigger).  Also, fans drop a lot of money on the jerseys.  It's bad PR to have jerseys become outdated every year.

 

If I'm not mistaken (but maybe I am) the Rams had the opportunity to change uniforms for the move.  Instead, they decided that it wasn't "we're back in LA!" that should ring in new uniforms.  They decided that "we have a new stadium!" should be the key.  I guess that says something about pro sports ownership culture in North America.  If I were an LA fan excited for the return of the Rams, the biggest milestone would be the return to LA...not the new stadium.

 

They made a terrible choice.  And they compounded it by trying to partially "de-Saintlouisize" their look by coming up with a mismatched helmet.  Once they realized how awful that was (which should have been before they hit the field) they should have just put in for their uniform change.  But if they insist on the official change coming with the stadium, then this is what they are stuck with.

 

I tend to agree that the NFL should be stricter...they should still be wearing the gold-horned helmet.  Either way, this is entirely on the Rams.

[MilSox]

"Don't make bad uniforms" sounds nice and all, but that's clearly not how this policy is working.  I'd tweak the rule that you get one chance at a re-do within the 5 year window, but if you take it, you're stuck with THAT uniform.

Or take the 5 year policy down to 3 years.  I get what the rule is trying to accomplish in theory, but all its doing is stifling jersey/merch sales until teams are allowed another redesign.

[kimball]

23 minutes ago, NicDB said:

"Don't make bad uniforms" sounds nice and all, but that's clearly not how this policy is working.  I'd tweak the rule that you get one chance at a re-do within the 5 year window, but if you take it, you're stuck with THAT uniform.

Or take the 5 year policy down to 3 years.  I get what the rule is trying to accomplish in theory, but all its doing is stifling jersey/merch sales until teams are allowed another redesign.

 

If you change it say after 2 years in the 5 year window, you should get stuck with that uniform for 8 years. So the rest of that 5 year cycle and another 5 year cycle. 

[jgiff17]

I blame Jeff Fisher 

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

2 minutes ago, jgiff17 said:

I blame Jeff Fisher 

 

[MilSox]

7 minutes ago, kimball said:

 

If you change it say after 2 years in the 5 year window, you should get stuck with that uniform for 8 years. So the rest of that 5 year cycle and another 5 year cycle. 

I'd be okay with that.  In this scenario, the Browns get rid of those stupid contrast stitched jerseys and go back to the classic Browns for two cycles.

[Bathysphere]

11 hours ago, NicDB said:

Fans shouldn't have to suffer through terrible design by committee uniforms either.

The fans were part of that committee.* Half the reason the uniform looks so bad is that the fans, for some reason, chose to go with a gaudy, non-historically-based white facemask when given the choice between that and a more subdued blue. White should have never been an option. It basically eats away all of the attention from the horns. Blue would’ve at least made more sense.

 

20 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

Heck, they could’ve been running around with a pointless double pants stripe too if the fans were any less scrupulous.

 

(*Assuming, of course, that the fan vote was anything more than a marketing facade in the first place.)

[KGeeX5]

20 hours ago, Cujo said:

So it's the NFL's fault the Rams thought this was a good idea... Right.

 

 

Well technically they had a fan vote online. Poor rams never stood a chance because all the options on that poll was a lose lose.

[Mac the Knife]

See rather than a "five year rule," I'd go a different route; one that would keep the people at NFL Business Ventures (nee NFL Properties) in work and actually goose merchandise sales:  a two-year cycle.

 

Each team would be permitted three jersey/pant combinations (one home, one away, one alternate) and two helmet shell design options (because the single helmet rule is ridiculous unless you have empirical data saying its safer - and the NFL doesn't).

 

As the product cycle for NFL merchandise pipeline allegedly runs around two years, you alternate by conference, with AFC teams having a 60-day window every two years to trigger a change to one or more of their design combinations, and NFC teams having a similar window the opposite year.  This would allow teams that made catastrophic design errors (:cough: Browns :cough:) to assuage fans by either going back to the old design or coming up with something more pleasing just two years down the road.  It would also avoid other awkward situations (:cough: Rams :cough:) because the two-year cycle would allow them to make a "stop gap" design change prior to a "permanent" one in conjunction with occupying their new stadium.

 

One more benefit would be that teams that traditionally don't make changes for sake of change (e.g., Steelers, Giants, Broncos) would be more apt to make changes, particularly with respect to alternates.