V-e-r-y slow news day yesterday, so just a teeny-tiny Ticker today.
Uni Watch News Ticker for Dec. 2, 2022
Posted in:
Hockey
NHL
- The Canucks wore pregame jerseys last night honoring the three team alums who’ve just been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame (from Wade Heidt)
- The ATT Sportsnet scorebug had a retro Penguins logo last night to match the team’s RR uniforms. (From L.J. Sparvero)
Soccer
International
- Here’s an article about why, in one writer’s opinion, all World Cups now look the same, with a homogenized aesthetic. (From Perry Sailor)
Auto Racing
- Another new Formula E livery, this time for DS Penske. (Thanks, Jamie)
Comments (10)
After reading the article about the World Cup, this really isn’t a World Cup specific problem. This is an issue in the sports world, at least here in the States. The homogenization of the Super Bowl logo is a prime example. What was once a unique identifier of the game and the city it was being held in, is now nothing special. When you take the personality away from something, it loses some of it’s soul. I touched on this with a friend of mine this week. We were talking about uniforms in baseball (both our favorite sport) I mentioned how the Phillies and White Sox have had the same look for 30 years. Where if you look from 1930-1960 The Phillies had 9 different uniform changes. That same span it looks like the White Sox had 5. I know i’m picking and choosing and rambling a bit, but the sport world is suffering from self induced stagnation from tv presentation, to logos, or on field looks.
I know a lot of people on this site tend to clown the more modern looking uniforms and logos when teams switch to them (in some cases it’s justified @the browns) but, in a sense I think that’s partially a cause of this. Why bother taking a risk in design when people are going to accept the standard ucla stripe football jersey was better than the risk taking Seahawks jersey. Leagues have pretty much decided “let’s find a not too visually jarring look then stick with it” approach due to a fear of failure
I agree. Although most of the NFL teams that try new unique stuff didn’t do a very good job, imo. But I think it’s a matter of marketability. Something weird: 25% will love it 75% will hate it. Something “classic”: 50% love it 50% are fine with it.
Most nice looking uni design innovation is happening at the college level though. Some pros I like though: The falcons unis are fantastic and I actually dislike when they go to the generic looking throwbacks. The rams have a good set in their repertoire, but have to unify the shoulder/sleeve treatment across their tops. The saints (being the only team that tried something daring with the alternate helmet) knocked it out of the park (although I’d like to see them swap the fleur with a wordmark or even the retro cartoon logo to set it apart even more). I like the jets unis but wish they’d use the italic JETS wordmark with the jet silhouette flying over the ETS, simply because that logo actually matches their uni aesthetic.
I hear ya bro! It’s gotten to the point that when you flip the channel to a game (in any sport) you have to look at the score box to figure out what teams are playing.
Agree about the Super Bowl logo, Stanley Cup playoffs logo, etc. I think that uniforms are a different story however. The White Sox have a great uniform and shouldn’t change it. I like when teams land on a unique identifying look and stick with it.
The world cup item is paywalled…I dropped my subscription to The Athletic a while ago.
Another event affected by the homogenization of sports is the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. I used to enjoy the quirks of court designs at host sites that I usually didn’t see. Now the NCAA has imposed a template that is not only boring but also drains the tournament of interesting visuals. You still get to see various court designs (for now) with the women’s tournament, but I’m dreading the day that disappears.
I kinda like what soccer does, they change the uniforms up every year or two. The essence of the team is usually retained or there is a historic reference. Much of that is based on color and style. The great part is, if you don’t like the kit – no worries, it will change soon enough.
Jason makes a great point on the Phillies. Part of the fun with their history is to go back and look at the various uniform interpretations over the years – the evolution. Wearing essentially the same uniform for 31 years now sort of stilts that, it becomes rote. Yes there are teams like the Yankees where you expect rote, but too many are getting cozy in the same set.
The problem is that in futbol, they are changing the kit every year to try and get to spend new merch. There used to be rules about teams not being allowed to change so often, at least in England.
The Ravens will wear black-purple-black versus the Broncos.
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