In today’s Ticker: The Yankees will have an ad patch, NJ cops and firefighters have some great hockey uniforms, a new NFL stadium is one step closer to happening, and more.
Uni Watch News Ticker for March 9, 2023
Posted in:
Baseball
MLB
- The Yankees plan to whore out their uniform to an advertiser, but not until at least the second half of this season.
- In related whoring news, the Orioles are trying to sell the naming rights to their field, but not to the stadium itself. So the name would be “Douchebag Field at Camden Yards,” or something along those lines. (From Andrew Cosentino)
- For last year’s Jackie Robinson Day, all teams wore No. 42 in the Brooklyn Dodgers’ number font and rendered in Dodger blue. This year they’re apparently keeping the Dodgers’ font but in regular team colors. (From @Redsunhero)
- Two days ago we mentioned that ESPN might want to rethink the Rockies colors for their online scorebug. Someone at ESPN was apparently listening, because they’ve changed the colors. (From Ron Ruelle)
- During yesterday’s A’s/Colombia exhibition game, MLB.com’s Gamecast mistakenly showed a Rockies player. They probably mistook “Colombia” for “Colorado,” or something like that. (From Terry Mark)
Minors
- Former big leaguer Erik Kratz is posting pics on Twitter of some of the minor league caps he wore. (From @shwrth)
- The Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds have a pretty garish new alternate cap. (From Andrew Cosentino)
- Here’s an article on the Reading Fightin Phils’ seamstress. (From Chris Hickey)
More
- Great Britain’s WBC uniforms are incredibly plain. (From Germán Cabrejo)
- In a related item, here’s a ranking of WBC uniforms.
- Yesterday’s Ticker noted that Panama P Randall Delgado left the New Era sticker on the brim of his cap during a game. That’s apparently becoming a bit of a thing for the Panama squad.
- Italy wore their BFBS alternate jerseys for today’s WBC game against Cuba, reportedly because Matt “The Dark Knight” Harvey was their starting pitcher. (From Tyler Maun)
- Here’s the latest on USF’s new stadium. (From Kary Klismet)
Football
NFL
- Not sure I’ve seen this before: The Saints used to have uni-numbered rain jackets.
- Here’s some old broadcast footage of John Madden talking about a kicker’s mismatched shoes.
- The Titans’ proposed new domed stadium took another step toward to becoming a reality.
College
- New uni number assignments for Miami.
Hockey
Minors/Juniors
- The WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors will wear fan-appreciation uniforms this Saturday. (From Wade Heidt)
- The ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers and Toledo Walleye went color vs. color yesterday. (Thanks, Jerry)
- Whoa, check out these uniforms for the New Jersey Firefighters and New Jersey State Police Benevolent Association hockey teams. The two squads played a charity game last night. (From Kevin Clark)
Basketball
NBA
- The Lakers retired Pau Gasol’s No. 16 on Tuesday night, but they gave him a framed jersey in the current Nike template, which he never actually wore. (Thanks to all who shared)
College
- Charlotte and Florida International went color vs. color to start the Conference USA women’s tourney. (From Chris Mycoskie)
- Meanwhile, over in the ACC, tournament refs are using pink whistles in support of veteran official Roger Ayers’s daughter, who is battling thyroid cancer. (From James Gilbert)
Soccer
USA
- New shirts for Rio Grande Valley FC of the USL Championship.
International
- Malaysia: New kits for Sabah FC. (From Kary Klismet)
- Spain: Barcelona will wear kits featuring the logo of singer Rosalía in this month’s El Clásico. (Thanks, Anthony)
Auto Racing
- NASCAR has revealed the logos for two new street races in Chicago.
Tennis
- Victoria Azarenka wore a Paris St. Germain soccer jersey during a recent practice session.
- The University of North Dakota is looking into reports that a local tennis club is using the school’s now-retired “Fighting Sioux” logo.
Grab Bag
- Baltimore salt box artist Juliet Ames, who I’ve written about before, has upped the artistic ante by adding a “dog stick library” to the back of a local salt box. (From Marcus Hall)
- New logo for the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
- The Spirit Lake Tribe of North Dakota has asked Spirit Lake High School of Iowa to retire its “Indians” team name and associated Native-themed imagery. (From Kary Klismet)
- The Washington Post has a story about various ways that military uniforms can be repurposed. (Also from Kary)
- New uniforms for the Protective Services Group, a division of Queensland, Australia’s, Police Services. (Kary again)
- Here are this season’s primary kits for all of the Australian Football League teams.
- In one writer’s opinion, Air New Zealand needs to update its uniforms.
Comments (37)
The link for the Aberdeen IronBirds cap is broken.
Fixed. Here’s the proper link: link
Damn! That IS garish!
“In related whoring news, the Orioles are trying to sell the naming rights to their field, but not to the stadium itself. So the name would be “Douchebag Field at Camden Yards,” or something along those lines. (From Andrew Cosentino)”
The people buying the space are not douchebags. If you want to be angry at the Orioles for selling the naming rights, I guess that is one thing.
I work in marketing. Each year I meet with the teams in my city to talk about sponsorship opportunities.
We do something with each of the teams because I want to support our community partners and because the teams provide opportunities for me to tell people about my employer — a college — and how what we do can do to help them.
I look at the variety of opportunities the teams offer to me. I look for things that might fit in my budget and would be effective for me to tell our story. I can’t afford naming rights or uniform patches, but I have a really cool ad on the outfield wall and we participate in some neat on-field promotions.
Does that make me a douchbag? I don’t understand the insults. It’s disappointing.
If you’re looking to turn a civic asset like a stadium name into an ad for your company, then yeah, I’d say that’s pretty much the definition of corporate douchebaggery (on the team’s part as well, of course).
As for things like ads on outfield walls and on-field promotions, I didn’t say anything about that, did I? No, I didn’t. Not sure why you’d even bring that up, but it’s a classic straw-man argument.
I disagree about the straw-man argument. Where is the line between what is a civic asset and what is fair game for me to advertise on? The point is that the team offers up the space, be it the name or the wall. And people like me decide whether it would be effective and a worthwhile investment. I don’t understand the insults.
We’ll have to agree to disagree about the role of advertising and marketing in contemporary society, Dave. Take care.
Clearly whatever is offered up for sale is something you can advertise on. That doesn’t mean that it should be offered up or that you should decide to advertise on it even if you deem it a good investment.
That’s a bit the point here, is that people will have different viewpoints on what is acceptable or not.
I can tell you that I find teams selling the name of a stadium, putting an ad on their uniform, ad on the playing surface and ads on basically every other surface surrounding the playing area all way too much to be acceptable.
You don’t have to agree with that and clearly through your business perspective you don’t have to agree.
I work in marketing as well and the company that I am with does by advertising and do community sponsorships. I would be against doing anything that is buying space that I think shouldn’t be bought even if the space is for sale. Case in point I send out press releases and get responses back that if I want higher visibility and guaranteed run or whatever that I can purchase that and I absolutely refuse to do anything of the sort (full disclosure I worked in the media industry before). If I’m buying an ad I want it to look and function like an ad and not be confused as if it’s content.
That’s where these lines are getting blurred. These sports leagues need to realize they’re the content and to stop cluttering the space and event with a constant barrage of ads. But they don’t and it makes the event worse for it.
So agree to disagree all you want with this but it’s an understanding of what the viewer is consuming and I want to watch the sport and not any of the other nonsense that goes along with it.
“Charlotte and Florida International went color vs. color to start the ACC women’s tourney. (From Chris Mycoskie)” … should be “Conference USA” or “C-USA” instead of “ACC.”
Fixed.
Wouldn’t it be “Douchebag Field at Oriole Park at Camden Yards”?
Yeah, I suppose.
I am amused by the possibility that [Your Corporate Name Here] at Camden Yards may become a thing. I am old enough to remember the kerfuffle between then-Maryland Governor William Donald Schaefer (who wanted the ballpark to be called Camden Yards) and then-Orioles ownership (who wanted Oriole Park) and they settled on the less than satisfying combination of the two. Thankfully, the Orioles are only trying to sell “their” part of the name rather than the part everybody uses (the Gov’s side having won that battle ages ago) and everyone will continue to refer to it as Camden Yards rather than by its new “official” (corporate) name.
I love it just because of the word “Yards”. Such a retro ballfield descriptor. Would love to see someone call their stadium “Grounds” someday. “Field” and “Park” are just about tapped out.
I don’t get the anger over it simply because no one is going to call it anything other than Camden Yards. The proper name now is Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Does anyone call it Oriole Park? No. Everyone just says Camden Yards. So let some company waste their money on some signs.
I´m fundamentally against these gimmick races NASCAR has come up with lately, but I do love the flag color basis and fonts NASCAR chose for those logos.
The one for the Lower-Tier event is a tad clunky… the absence of corporate advertisers are nice touches.
As an F1 fan, why is it gimmicky? Road races have been going on forever in F1.
Different sports culture. The stadium environment of NASCAR is pretty much all its fans know.
Though I’d love it if stock car racing meant real production cars racing on real streets. I’m nervous about putting these fake “stock” cars on a flat track with little sections of spectators here and there.
A NASCAR “Stadium Series” could be their next big thing (TFPIC)
They already have the Coliseum Clash (there’s rumblings of making that a points- earning event)…why not return racing to (soon to be vacant) Soldier Field if the Chicago street thing doesn’t pan out:
link
Heck, Montreal’s Olympic Stadiium is available too, right?
Gosh, I hope no one at Cup HQ reads this!
This event, along with the races in the LA Coliseum and the Bristol race in which they convert its´ great banked and paved surface into a lousy dirt bowl are not just silly to see, but they also reek of desperation to stay relevent and are even more dangerous for drivers and fans than ´traditional´ racing.
I like NASCAR established road courses …even went to The – – – at the Glen years ago…and there´s a decent tradition of stock cars on them (Riverside, Sonoma, etc…) that are well attended and fun to watch. The cars look and perform like they belong there.
But a race through the city streets of Chicago (BTW-NASCAR pulled the date from the oval track in Joliet due to poor attendance, though they may not admit it) seems to be just a ´Look At Me´ move to fill the void in the market and grab some much-needed publicity in the process.
I appreciate the lesson you two. My friends over the past decade have gotten me in to NASCAR while I’ve done the same to them with F1.
Im excited for NASCAR here in Austin at COTA and F1 in Vegas and Miami. Those should be some fun uni-watch notable helmets and liveries.
Charlotte and Florida International went color vs. color to start the C-USA tourney, not the ACC as listed.
Already fixed.
The Panama team leaving their New Era sticker on the brim of their caps is an example of the influence of urban fashion on the field. Folks in the urban community have been doing it for many years.
… yep, and I will forever ask the question, “why?”
-C.
Same reason people like stripes or stirrups or baggy pants or wearing their hat backwards or fishing vests or chinos and sweaters or Jordans or Chuck Taylors or Polo shirts or wingtips or creases in their pants or tie dye shirts.
I’m not as outraged by the appearance of ads on MLB uniforms, but I’m genuinely shocked by the news that the Yankees will have one.
Sad to hear Nashville maybe going the “dome” route, hopefully it won’t be another dimly lit stadium. (Detroit, Arizona, Indianapolis and the “grand daddy” of dimly lit stadiums New Orleans) The Vikings stadium is the one indoor stadium, that avoided this issue, although still preferred any game played outdoors. Domes, from a pure esthetics of watching a game, are a step in the wrong direction.
Second this. Domes are horrible. We have two to deal with in Arlington for the Rangers and Cowboys. The overrated Cowboys stadium where Jerry overpaid for a sunroof he never opens (maybe one time per year even on beautiful weather days from October thru December). And the Rangers play in a giant Costco with nothing interesting like the old Ballpark in Arlington, which featured odd angles, different heights of fences, Green’s Hill in CF, the office building, a home run porch, the wedgie on the RF line, a manual scoreboard in LF…We went backwards in DFW.
WBC uniform rankings….I actually really like the USA jerseys but their caps are atrocious. The person doing the ranking seems to really like gradients, which never look good on the field, IMO.
Want to note a quick correction: Team Italy’s jersey is not BFBS, it’s a dark navy blue (the photo makes it appear black). Look at the jersey for sale on MLB shop below:
link
Leaving the sticker on a ballcap like that seems to be a thing with the youth.
We have company branded caps at work that come with a pretty similar sticker. Per the boss, we have to take them off before we hand them out because the guys would leave them on.
I honestly never understood the point of that, leaving the sticker on, but never saw any harm in it, either; it’s yours, display it however you wish. But seeing stickers on hats on the field of play just seems silly to me.
The craven statement by the Yankees suggests the line that sets them apart from other teams was crossed when New York opted to participate breast cancer/prostate cancer/G.I.Joke promotions. What a crock. I’m embarrassed for my mother, who has rooted for her home team for eighty years. If I had anything to say about it, my edict would follow the logic of “no names on the back, so no ads on the sleeve.” Don’t act like you’re too regal for standard baseball poppycock, and in the next breath smear your jersey for the filthy lucre.
Re: Gasol’s Jersey – the actual hanging jersey image is with the correct font/colors (white numbering) next to Kobe’s – which was clearly changed since his were originally raised to the wall. They’ve updated jerseys so many times (Shaq, Kobe, Goodrich, etc). Finally they got one correct from the start in Gasol.
Summer’s Eve Field at Camden Yards. It has a certain ring to it.
Gosh, I miss Madden and Summerall so much.