Nooooooooo!!!!!

[sj-roc]

From a marketing point of view, the fact that the CCS patch clashes with the orange jersey is actually a good thing. The patch stands out and we've just spent 5 pages talking about it. CCS is already getting value out of it and the lions haven't even worn the jersey yet.

Wonder if it'll stand out as well on the road whites, which is mostly how it'll be seen on TV in this market — at least by people who are blacked out by standard def.

[ziggy]

From a marketing point of view, the fact that the CCS patch clashes with the orange jersey is actually a good thing. The patch stands out and we've just spent 5 pages talking about it. CCS is already getting value out of it and the lions haven't even worn the jersey yet.

Wonder if it'll stand out as well on the road whites, which is mostly how it'll be seen on TV in this market — at least by people who are blacked out by standard def.

Hard to say how much anything will stand out on HD TV given the logos, advertising and clips of upcoming shows projected on the screen. My pet peeve!

[South Pender]

Fans should be supportive of anything that doesn't mean higher ticket prices for them that can add revenues to teams and the CFL so the SMS can rise and more teams can be added.

That`s hard to agree with. It seems to me that there`s been enough displeasure expressed on this forum over the encroachment of advertising into the game to suggest that the public at large--who are or might become CFL fans--likely feels the same way. If more and more advertising gimmicks clutter up the game, I can see fans tuning the CFL out. For whatever reason (likely hockey, which is the only sport faithfully followed in Canada, making it like soccer in the rest of the world), the CFL does not mean as much to Canadians as soccer does to European (and other) fans. I think a sport has to be more solidly-established within the culture in which it is played before fans will ignore the filthy lucre side of the game. Given its low profile on the sports scene in Canada, too much advertising will, I believe, make people see the CFL as just another business--perhaps as a second-rate NFL that has to sell out to keep going. I don`t think you`ll see many fans ragging on the sponsors, but you might--if this phenomenon continues to expand--see fans leave.

[DanoT]

Purism in sport (non commercial) is for amateurs. When I think of amateur adult sport, I think under financed and under appreciated.

A lack of advertising means no one is interested and no one sees value in that sports product.
In a league where there is no huge TV contract and fan attendance is the biggest revenue generator, fans realize that other sources of revenue are necessary and as such will be accepted.

Increased advertising and increased non traditional revenue (logo wear sales, charity funds raisers where the team doesn't get $ but the fans still pay) will not drive fans away.

[sj-roc]

From a marketing point of view, the fact that the CCS patch clashes with the orange jersey is actually a good thing. The patch stands out and we've just spent 5 pages talking about it. CCS is already getting value out of it and the lions haven't even worn the jersey yet.

Wonder if it'll stand out as well on the road whites, which is mostly how it'll be seen on TV in this market — at least by people who are blacked out by standard def.

Hard to say how much anything will stand out on HD TV given the logos, advertising and clips of upcoming shows projected on the screen. My pet peeve!

But surely CCS has done their homework here. I can't see them throwing out so much coin on something like this if they weren't sure that it wouldn't get lost in the clutter.

[South Pender]

A lack of advertising means no one is interested and no one sees value in that sports product.
In a league where there is no huge TV contract and fan attendance is the biggest revenue generator, fans realize that other sources of revenue are necessary and as such will be accepted.

Well, even with a lot of advertising (including the tacky sideline ads on wooden frames and logos on uniforms), general support (as revealed by stadium attendance figures) is low for the CFL. BC Place may get 55% bums in seats, and Toronto does much worse. I don't think more advertising via unsightly logos will help with that. Perhaps the thinking of others on this forum is that with the additional dollars provided by sponsors, the teams will be able to spend more on players, and the game will consequently improve, with the end result, more bums in seats. I'd be surprised, though, if this desirable outcome were the end result. Perhaps instead of trying to build the CFL into a wealthier entity, we'd just be better off appreciating the game as it inevitably is at its present size and status and not worry about building it into something it will never be.

[ziggy]

Remember when the boards in NHL rinks were plain white, no advertising? Does anybody under forty? After the initial rant ( I was guilty) except for the odd purist does anyone even notice or care? A whole generation of hockey fans my kids included have never known anything different. Frankly when I'm watching the game I don't notice either.

[Toppy Vann]

[/quote]
But surely CCS has done their homework here. I can't see them throwing out so much coin on something like this if they weren't sure that it wouldn't get lost in the clutter.[/quote]

I give South Pender credit for arguing the status quo however that just seems to be a denial and forgetting the dark days of the CFL where even the LIons could have folded. If not for a few like David Braley the CFL would not be as it is now. He has bought two teams and financed others! The like of this man just aren't out there. There are not enough deep pockets in Canada for the CFL and gems like Braley are not getting any younger. Today the younger ones are NHL fans - go with the money.

Two things for football sponsors of the CFL:

1. there has to be someone in that firm who doesn't see the CFL as a second rate league and can envision benefits versus disbenefits like fans on forums trashing the sponsor for the logos on a jersey or at a field.

2. they have to believe that it will pay off as football like other sports are mostly watched live versus on a PVR where you blow by the commercials.

As noted even on HD it will not be a huge patch but they have to hope that customers in their catchment area (I guess just lower mainland of BC?) will think good of their brand. Unlike Rona and Scotiabank, this firm is not across Canada so the Lions should be thankful.

But I certainly think it could backfire on them if fans and their customers (in significant numbers) show the attitude that some here have shown towards the sponsorship.

Wouldn't it be ironic if hard core CFL fans on boards like this started the drive to end someone's sponsorship where their potential lukewarm CEO just says enough. End it now and take the loss and demand their patch be removed immediately and of course the team keeps the money as it is a contract. That'd be wonderful for future sales to sponsors.

None of the anti-ad folks seem to acknowledged what's going on in pro sports in the rest of world in sports where they pay millions and millions to just ONE player. Next thing we'll see is fans complaining if the entire stadium were open up as it somehow ruins the atmosphere to have to see people in the upper deck.

We should stick to complaining about Rod Black or Bob Cole or the stadium announcer and let the Lions and other teams sell sponsors that we fans recognize and use for services.

Ziggy and Dano T are right. No one worries about the ads on fields in a game along the hockey boards. I don't turn off European and Eng. Prem soccer when I see ads on the boards that are moving. It is not important to the game.

[B.C.FAN]

Ziggy and Dano T are right. No one worries about the ads on fields in a game along the hockey boards. I don't turn off European and Eng. Prem soccer when I see ads on the boards that are moving. It is not important to the game.

Agreed. Sponsors may not like it, but people become so accustomed to advertising in stadiums and rinks and on uniforms that they barely notice it. For years, all CFL jerseys have featured two sponsors' patches. I never paid attention to them. This year, apparently, Lions' jerseys will have just one patch, yet some people seem to think that one patch will ruin the game and the CFL brand. I just don't buy that argument.

[South Pender]

Ziggy and Dano T are right. No one worries about the ads on fields in a game along the hockey boards. I don't turn off European and Eng. Prem soccer when I see ads on the boards that are moving. It is not important to the game.

Agreed. Sponsors may not like it, but people become so accustomed to advertising in stadiums and rinks and on uniforms that they barely notice it. For years, all CFL jerseys have featured two sponsors' patches. I never paid attention to them. This year, apparently, Lions' jerseys will have just one patch, yet some people seem to think that one patch will ruin the game and the CFL brand. I just don't buy that argument.

I think you are exaggerating the feelings expressed by those on this forum who are less than enthusiastic about the patch. No one, if I'm recalling correctly, has come close to suggesting that the patch will "ruin the game and the CFL brand." What some of us are saying, instead, is that this kind of activity--and the associated need of the league and its teams to resort to what we see as tacky gimmicks for the money just to stay afloat--detracts from the enjoyment we experience from a CFL game. I for one am not saying that this practice should stop, but, for me anyway (and undoubtedly for others too), I get greater pleasure from watching an NFL game because I get the sense that this is a truly professional league that is not in danger of going belly-up from lack of interest and funds. This is not, however, to say that I don't enjoy CFL games; I do. It's just that I'd enjoy them more without the constant reminder that the league is financially weak and is forced to resort to these money-raising gimmicks. Those of us who feel this way are entitled to these feelings. We don't, however, expect that our perceptions of this phenomenon will have any serious effect on the game and the CFL brand, although there is some possibility that attendance may be affected by others with the same interpretation of it.

[sj-roc]

I noticed at the game last night that as part of CCS's partnership with the Lions, they are offering exclusively to their clientele discounted single game tickets (in selected pricing sections). I found more details on CCS's website at the following link:

https://www.coastcapitalsavings.com/Abo ... /BC_Lions/

I don't deal with CCS myself, but from the ticket buying instructions it sounds like anytime someone does any online banking with CCS through the duration of this partnership (or during this season at least), they will see the Lions logo on their banking interface. So this sort of exposure is part of what the Lions are getting in return with the cresting agreement and should be considered a positive.

[sj-roc]

Looks like Cgy also has their own cresting sponsor in Western Direct Insurance.

[sj-roc]

I was listening to Sekeres and Price a couple hours ago discussing the possibility of jersey cresting in the NHL and it brought to mind this thread from last year about the Lions' 3-year agreement with Coast Capital Savings. They mentioned the CFL was (for them) the preferred cresting model, where the patch is relatively modest and unobtrusive as opposed to many soccer leagues where the sponsor crest is often the most prominent feature of the jersey. Interestingly they didn't seem to be aware of CCS as the Lions' cresting sponsor and went on talking about previous league-wide sponsors Rona and Scotiabank as if they were still active. They probably just googled on their laptops for pics of Lions jerseys and went with whatever happened to come up.

If the guys in the sports media — from the Lions' own official radio broadcaster, no less — can't immediately recall who's on the crest then, much as I argued last year, the crest's presence probably isn't much of a big deal. If the NHL were to go the cresting route there'd probably be some hue and cry among their fanbase as there was in this thread but eventually it would all blow over once people get outraged over the next Don Cherry rant.

Edit: I see from the link below that the NBA is also now entertaining the idea of cresting, after former commissioner David Stern was dead set against it:

When asked if [cresting] would come within five years, [new NBA Commissioner Adam] Silver answered "definitely." After a moment's thought, he amended that to: "Most likely."

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball- ... 53393.html

If the NBA gets on board and shows that the money is there and that it can be done without a great deal of long-term fan backlash, I think it's inevitable that the rest of the North American pro sports landscape that has still held out will eventually follow suit. And the CFL can boast that they were ahead of the curve, in North America at least.

[TheLionKing]

Under no circumstances I will buy jersey with advertising on it. I refuse to be a walking billboard for the advertisers.

[sj-roc]

Under no circumstances I will buy jersey with advertising on it. I refuse to be a walking billboard for the advertisers.

Well, strictly speaking a pro sports jersey already is advertising — it represents a team, which is every bit as much a part of commercial enterprise as Microsoft, Ford, Proctor & Gamble or GE (community-owned teams like the Packers, Eskimos and Roughriders are an exception, but even then the league to which they belong always enters the picture). So technically with this stance, you'd have to eschew jerseys altogether.

Having said this, are CFL jerseys that are sold to the public actually crested (aside from the game-worns which naturally would be)? Are the current Lions jerseys sold with CCS crests? I honestly don't know, but even if this were the case, you could always remove them — AFAIK it's a sewn-on patch or similar as opposed to part of the jersey fabric itself, although it could end up going this route over time.