CFL 2024

[Kyle McMahon]

Possibly.
Just changing their name wouldn’t really fixing things though. It would have to come with a crap ton of changes to address the real issues.
Its why this name change failed so hard too

It's certainly not a cure all, but a re-rebrand and a new owner with (hopefully) some money and fresh ideas could at least generate some optimism looking forward. The product on the field has to improve to keep any returning fans around for any length of time, for sure. But the core fanbase will at least begrudgingly support a team through bad seasons if they feel a sense of connection to them. That's one advantage the established Eskimos will always have over the Elks. Attendance would be terrible regardless with recent results, but probably not quite this bad.

 

[Heavy Dee]

An Esk is a short form version of Eskimos to me. And its a really good start to reversing loads of mistakes made.

It might make you and I feel better, but we aren't the future of the league or the team for that matter. Esks is just plain dumb.

 

[brentashton]

We had about a dozen one and done posts here gloating about the name change. Diehard football fans.

I haven’t stumbled on too many of those. Thank heaven for the ignore feature. It seems to be working.

 

[MoontoScott]

I haven’t stumbled on too many of those. Thank heaven for the ignore feature. It seems to be working.

Don't make fun of these people. They are really, really nice and have bought many thousands of dollars worth of Elks merchandise.

 

[bellagiobob]

It might make you and I feel better, but we aren't the future of the league or the team for that matter. Esks is just plain dumb.

If us old farts aren’t happy, the team in its current state won’t last two more years. They need to attempt to just survive the current before worrying about the future. Give us old buggers what we want and we’ll take our grandkids to the games and save the league.

 

[rboomercat90]

Can’t see who you guys are responding to, but guessing it’s someone was has made zero football related posts on our board and is now here to educate us.

Interesting that so many have this guy blocked. I can’t see him either.

 

[joestevens29]

It's certainly not a cure all, but a re-rebrand and a new owner with (hopefully) some money and fresh ideas could at least generate some optimism looking forward. The product on the field has to improve to keep any returning fans around for any length of time, for sure. But the core fanbase will at least begrudgingly support a team through bad seasons if they feel a sense of connection to them. That's one advantage the established Eskimos will always have over the Elks. Attendance would be terrible regardless with recent results, but probably not quite this bad.

They literally have to get this done like yesterday. They are at the point where every week they are losing more and more fans, and a rebranding won't be able to makeup for these losses.

They were able to overcome an 0-9 start last season and bring some optimize, but I just don't know that you can do that again this year.

The whole demographic has changed a lot too. It's fine if you get all those diehards back, but let's not kid ourselves a lot of diehards are passing away. The need to get new blood in the stands is just as key as getting these diehards back. The sooner you can get an owner that can appease to both groups the better. You almost need both groups in the stands so they can play off each other's strengths.

Nothing better when you don't fully understand a sport to be sitting with someone that does and can help explain the game better to you. On the flip side nothing better when you are a diehard watching someone get into something you are into.

 

[TB12]

Interesting that so many have this guy blocked. I can’t see him either.

Add me to that list of people who can't see them either.

 

[rboomercat90]

Add me to that list of people who can't see them either.

I saw 1 comment about spending $1000 on Elks merchandise so I’m sure I know who it is even though I can’t specifically recall the username. I do remember him telling me though that the marketing possibilities were going to be endless for the club when I questioned why they would insist on a nickname that started with the letter e only to drop the ee logo anyway. I’m guessing his projections were off a little.

 

[MoontoScott]

Add me to that list of people who can't see them either.

The invisible man.

I saw 1 comment about spending $1000 on Elks merchandise so I’m sure I know who it is even though I can’t specifically recall the username. I do remember him telling me though that the marketing possibilities were going to be endless for the club when I questioned why they would insist on a nickname that started with the letter e only to drop the ee logo anyway. I’m guessing his projections were off a little.

The Messiah (yes, literally).

 

[TB12]

I saw 1 comment about spending $1000 on Elks merchandise so I’m sure I know who it is even though I can’t specifically recall the username. I do remember him telling me though that the marketing possibilities were going to be endless for the club when I questioned why they would insist on a nickname that started with the letter e only to drop the ee logo anyway. I’m guessing his projections were off a little.

I remember that as well. Promises of spending a ton of money for him and the family and all the branding opportunities for the team.

 

[rboomercat90]

The invisible man.


The Messiah (yes, literally).

lol, how could I forget that name?

 

[timekeep]

CFL is the only sports product in Edmonton left that gets the "dog ate my homework" excuses for why nobody buys tickets.

It's a week day, its a weekend, but people are away, game is too late, game is too early, temperature was too hot, temperature was too cold, people have no money for tickets, people have too much money and are doing other things, etc, etc, etc.

Basically whichever side of the coin any of the above land on is the excuse that gets trotted out for why nobody is buying tickets, no matter how contradictory it is. Not applicable to the other local sports entities.

You forgot that the parking sucks, the LRT sucks, the stadium sucks. And most importantly the entertainment sucks.

An issue for the CFL is that it is hard to identify with the players, who are the stars? Its not promoted well at all, TSN keeps the league alive but they don't promote the league very well. Locally media rarely reports on the league here.

 

[joestevens29]

I saw 1 comment about spending $1000 on Elks merchandise so I’m sure I know who it is even though I can’t specifically recall the username. I do remember him telling me though that the marketing possibilities were going to be endless for the club when I questioned why they would insist on a nickname that started with the letter e only to drop the ee logo anyway. I’m guessing his projections were off a little.

I haven't looked lately, but merchandise doesn't actually do anything for the Elks.

I remember looking at their statements and between costs of merchandise and sales of merchandise it was like a break even situation lol

You forgot that the parking sucks, the LRT sucks, the stadium sucks. And most importantly the entertainment sucks.

An issue for the CFL is that it is hard to identify with the players, who are the stars? Its not promoted well at all, TSN keeps the league alive but they don't promote the league very well. Locally media rarely reports on the league here.

Elks are damn lucky 1440 came around. They spend a decent amount of time talking about them. Before they came back you didn't even hear about the team until closer to kickoff.

 

[timekeep]

I'd like to bring up one more potential factor in the malaise and lack of interest in the league and football in general in this country.
And please don't take this as an anti-immigration or racist rant, because it isn't.

When you have mass loads of new people coming in to the country, who have absolutely no connection or interest in anything to do with the sport, it can be a tough sell. This isn't fathers taking their kids to games. This is a whole lot of newbies that really could care less, and are more interested in just getting established in their new world. Football is a complicated game, and an extremely slow paced one at that. I can see someone spending 5 minutes looking at it on TV, watching 3 actual plays, 2 of which are penalized, and 4 minutes of commercials, and going, "f*** this, there has to be something better on."

And before you bring up the popularity of the NFL, keep in mind, that league is an entity unto itself, and has become much larger than the actual game. A ton of excitement is generated just by the production values and high end product.

Nailed it, I bet you could give 100 new people to Canada free tickets to the next game and be lucky to have more than a handful pay for a ticket in the future. As you say they will be more concerned about making it work in the new found land and loads will find it boring and not as interesting as rugby, cricket or futbol.

 

[rboomercat90]

I haven't looked lately, but merchandise doesn't actually do anything for the Elks.

I remember looking at their statements and between costs of merchandise and sales of merchandise it was like a break even situation lol

I doubt they’re even breaking even. Somebody made the comment earlier in the thread about never having seen anybody around town wearing Elks gear and after giving it some thought, I don’t think I have either. I still see people wearing well worn Eskimos gear but that’s it. Maybe the fans going to the game are wearing it but it doesn’t seem like there’s much more than 5000 of them anyway.

 

[timekeep]

I agree. It's why I said change it back or don't.

I think they would get a significant bump in sales - probably enough to offset some losses etc but I don't think long term it's going to be the real driver for change with the next generation of fans. I think there might be even an argument to be made that Elks is more marketable than Esks.

I don't know if there is much to lose in the present state? Most people don't like the Elks antlers logo, it is not selling that good. Most people are still wearing the EE logo'd product. Thats what I know the old team as not the polar bear or the EskiMoose...

 

[timekeep]

It might make you and I feel better, but we aren't the future of the league or the team for that matter. Esks is just plain dumb.

The future of the league doesn't look too bright right now. With Edmonton and Regina losing millions every year doesn't matter what you think is dumb. But I do have a choice where I spend my entertainment dollars, the younger generation is not interested in the league. The vocal minority that is easy to be offended don't spend money or even have money to make the choice where they spend it.

 

[joestevens29]

I doubt they’re even breaking even. Somebody made the comment earlier in the thread about never having seen anybody around town wearing Elks gear and after giving it some thought, I don’t think I have either. I still see people wearing well worn Eskimos gear but that’s it. Maybe the fans going to the game are wearing it but it doesn’t seem like there’s much more than 5000 of them anyway.

I problem see more of other CFL teams than I do Eskimos/Elks.

Granted part of it for two weeks was apparently everyone all of a sudden was from England or Germany in this City with the World Cup. Now I am seeing a lot of Canada shirts and hats for olympics.

But just in general Elks/Esks gear is quite rare to see. People won't even pay for seats to a game so who wants to pay for merchandise?

The future of the league doesn't look too bright right now. With Edmonton and Regina losing millions every year doesn't matter what you think is dumb. But I do have a choice where I spend my entertainment dollars, the younger generation is not interested in the league. The vocal minority that is easy to be offended don't spend money or even have money to make the choice where they spend it.

Vocal minority is already onto their next cause. I believe gun control is their new target as I've seen a couple articles past week.

I don't even know if they should be called vocal minority anymore. They are professional Karens.

 

[timekeep]

I problem see more of other CFL teams than I do Eskimos/Elks.

Granted part of it for two weeks was apparently everyone all of a sudden was from England or Germany in this City with the World Cup. Now I am seeing a lot of Canada shirts and hats for olympics.

But just in general Elks/Esks gear is quite rare to see. People won't even pay for seats to a game so who wants to pay for merchandise?


Vocal minority is already onto their next cause. I believe gun control is their new target as I've seen a couple articles past week.

I don't even know if they should be called vocal minority anymore. They are professional Karens.

Easily fooled fools???

 

[Stoneman89]

Possibly.
Just changing their name wouldn’t really fixing things though. It would have to come with a crap ton of changes to address the real issues.
Its why this name change failed so hard too

I think private ownership (cleaning out the entire BOD of course), an entire housecleaning of the entire organization, including scouts, management, coaching, etc, etc would fulfill a list of crap ton of changes, so renaming the team wouldn't seem so radical. It would be like the Elks and their pathetic incompetent legacy never existed. Which would be fine by me.

Nkiedemnche out Christmas in

Hopefully he's able to pile up some sacks.

 

[CycloneSweep]

I think private ownership (cleaning out the entire BOD of course), an entire housecleaning of the entire organization, including scouts, management, coaching, etc, etc would fulfill a list of crap ton of changes, so renaming the team wouldn't seem so radical. It would be like the Elks and their pathetic incompetent legacy never existed. Which would be fine by me.

For the casual and mid level fan, I don’t think that changes anything.
At the end of the day you need 2 of the following to bring people in.
Affordability, quality food/venue/fun atmosphere, good team.
Right now for the most part the team has none of the 3. New people in charge are pointless unless they improve 3 of the things. Especially for a low tier league.

What we have is a bad team, that decent seats cost far to much for the quality of game the CFL current is with too expensive concessions, good and access to venue and the in game entertainment, atmosphere and food suck.

Cleaning house matters to almost no one in the grand scheme of things unless those things change.

There is so many things to do in the summer and fall in Edmonton, so many reasons to not go to a football game..and the team keeps giving us more.

The die hards that have left cause of the name change might come back for that, but for the league to survive they need to bring in the people who currently don’t care about the league or team. And I have seen nothing from the org that would do that.

 

[Stoneman89]

Can’t even get excited when they have the lead because it’s inevitable that they screw it up. It’s tough to commit 3 hours of your time to watch that. It’s like reading a book knowing the ending is terrible. Why do it?

Mind you I watched the Oilers embarrass themselves for decade.

The big difference for me between the Oilers and the football team, is that in the NHL, there was always the hope of that first overall pick or some other high picks would eventually save us. And that finally happened in 2016 with McJeesus. It did take some more time than we'd all like due to some shitty management, but we always had him as entertainment. Even the Flames and Canuck fans said they knew (last year getting to the finals) was always eventually going to happen with a supreme talent like McDavid.
In CFL football, first overall picks may not even play for you, let alone turn out. Just not nearly the impact as in hockey.

For the casual and mid level fan, I don’t think that changes anything.
At the end of the day you need 2 of the following to bring people in.
Affordability, quality food/venue/fun atmosphere, good team.
Right now for the most part the team has none of the 3. New people in charge are pointless unless they improve 3 of the things. Especially for a low tier league.

What we have is a bad team, that decent seats cost far to much for the quality of game the CFL current is with too expensive concessions, good and access to venue and the in game entertainment, atmosphere and food suck.

Cleaning house matters to almost no one in the grand scheme of things unless those things change.

There is so many things to do in the summer and fall in Edmonton, so many reasons to not go to a football game..and the team keeps giving us more.

The die hards that have left cause of the name change might come back for that, but for the league to survive they need to bring in the people who currently don’t care about the league or team. And I have seen nothing from the org that would do that.

Not disagreeing with your points, but again, the current system and organization is simply not working. A complete refresh at least give you a CHANCE. It may or may not work, but what we have now is the very definition of insanity.

 

[CycloneSweep]

The big difference for me between the Oilers and the football team, is that in the NHL, there was always the hope of that first overall pick or some other high picks would eventually save us. And that finally happened in 2016 with McJeesus. It did take some more time than we'd all like due to some shitty management, but we always had him as entertainment. Even the Flames and Canuck fans said they knew (last year getting to the finals) was always eventually going to happen with a supreme talent like McDavid.
In CFL football, first overall picks may not even play for you, let alone turn out. Just not nearly the impact as in hockey.


Not disagreeing wit your points, but again, the current system and organization is simply not working. A complete refresh at least give you a CHANCE. It may or may not work, but what we have now is the very definition of insanity.

Absolutely. Really my point is, new faces are only new faces if they don't have new ideas.

 

[joestevens29]

The big difference for me between the Oilers and the football team, is that in the NHL, there was always the hope of that first overall pick or some other high picks would eventually save us. And that finally happened in 2016 with McJeesus. It did take some more time than we'd all like due to some shitty management, but we always had him as entertainment. Even the Flames and Canuck fans said they knew (last year getting to the finals) was always eventually going to happen with a supreme talent like McDavid.
In CFL football, first overall picks may not even play for you, let alone turn out. Just not nearly the impact as in hockey.

Big difference for me is teams can turn things around far quicker in the CFL even without a #1 pick that has impact.

Like how often do teams miss the playoffs 4 years in a row?

It's really unacceptable to be this bad with not even a glimmer of hope that the team will turn it around soon.