Best/worst CFL uniforms of 2019

CFL Talk
#1

BEST

#1 - Toronto Argos. Argos road uni in Ottawa last week with boat logo sure looked smooth. Overall, I have to say the Argos have the nicest home/road uniforms in the CFL (part of that is the sharp Oxford/Cambridge colour scheme). Would have been nice to see a darker stripe on the pant leg of the roads to offset all of the Cambridge (powder) blue, but still the best look.

#2 - B.C. Lions. Massive upgrades this year for the Leos on the road. Throwback uniforms pay homage to the 1964 Grey Cup champs, it features black helmets and pants with orange accents (striping), and orange on the shoulders. It’s a huge improvement from the creamsicle look of past years. 300 lb linemen should not be wearing orange pants (which is why I am not too fond of B.C.'s 2019 home uniforms).

#3 Montreal Alouettes. This look has grown on me. I had a chance to view them up close last week in Montreal (B.C. at Montreal) and the colours really pop. The logo on top of the helmet is quite innovative. I still prefer the 70’s red, white, and blue unis, but these do look sharp.

WORST

Edmonton Eskimos. What the heck was that last week? Ughh! Their yellow helmets with giant "EE"s on them, and giant “EEs” on the front of the jersey? Sorry Esks fans but ugly all around.

#2

Gotta say I think the Argos actually dropped down a bit when they got rid of their sleeve stripes. I’d rank the Ticat’s home jersey above the Argos. Not the biggest fan of the black sleeves on the away but don’t know what would be better.

Winnipeg is my favourite in the west. Clean, classic, bold colours. The switch back to royal blue was smart.

Montreal’s rebrand is sharp. It suits them.

#3

You are right. I did prefer the Argos’ striped sleeves at home (which is why I didn’t mention those home unis above).

I really like the Ti-Cats home uniforms with the tiger stripes (roads are rather plain with all black pants though). The Bombers home unis are among the best overall. Can’t believe they went away from the royal blues for all those years.

#4

My take: The Alouettes now have the best uniforms, no other competition comes close. Modern, eye-catching, great colours. I know the helmet design is controversial but damn if it doesn’t all look good together.

#5

I was just grumbling about the uniforms on another thread. Don’t understand why the Ottawa and Calgary home unis look so similar, and the Ti-Cat all blacks, making a trifecta. I mistakenly thought the Montreal home unis were also black, but was corrected that they are actually deep blue. Regardless, it seems halfthe teams look the same when in solid colours.

I still prefer the two-tones like the Bombers, Riders and the Tiger-Cats black and gold.

#6

Calgary homes could be among the nicest unis in the league. The galloping horse logo is so iconic. But black with the red and white just doesn’t quite work for me. I may be in the minority, but sometimes, less is more. Red and white are stand alone colours. No need for black.

Go back and look at the 1971 Grey Cup game. Two gorgeous uniforms!

#7

I wasn’t too sure at first if I liked the new Montreal unis; but the more I see it the more I like it. Where as other teams are going to a throw back era; Montreal was completely re-designed to be modern and has a feel of a team from a video game. This is how you attract younger fans.

Also the team seems to be the biggest surprise in performance in 2019; they look like they can, and have, beat anyone on any day. No fear in going out west and whopping those cocky and arrogant western teams.

#8

Best: B.C.
Worst: Montreal.

#9

The Concords.

#10

Still not a fan of the Als logo.

#11

It’s growing on me. I still dislike it, but I’m starting to get used to it.

#12

don’t care much for Leo’s away uniform and detest their home uniform

#13

Best… Hamilton. Especially the roads with the black sleeves.

Worst… BC. Last year’s black helmet with the orange fading logo was the only positive, and this year the Creamsicle Crew ditched it, leaving only the worst remaining.

I like montreal’s new logo. Spent some years doing graphic design and the lark is clean and cool. But I don’t like the execution on the helmet. That brings their look down for me.

#14

You’re the first person I’ve ever heard/read say that they like those odd “chess piece” helmets (see image below). This year’s lids a massive improvement in my mind. More traditional (with stripes down the middle and regular logo).

#15

Love the new Montreal uniforms ,

Toronto with the boat logo on the helmet is sharp ,

and BC away uniforms are a big improvement .

#16

What’s the criteria here? Are you talking about new, single-look uniforms introduced in 2019? Or whole New Ear sets? Or all teams?

I’m assuming you mean the former. I’ll say:

  1. Lions away uniform: It’s got a great colour balance and I love the “British Columbia” across the chest. It looks good with black and orange pants. I, too, was a fan of the helmets from 2016-2018, but these look good too. It’s just a shame that three out of nine teams now feature only black helmets. Orange would have been nice.

  2. Montreal home uniform: It’s taken time to get used to the big change from their set from 2000-2018, but these look great. Count me as a fan of the helmet; it’s so unique and I love the creativity. I would have liked to see these jerseys with the red numbers (as was originally planned) and I’d like to see them paired with white pants.

  3. BC home uniform: major upgrade from 2016-2018 home uniforms. It has a way better colour balance with some white accents. The all orange look seemed weird at first, but it’s grown on me. Black pants would look awesome here.

  4. Montreal away uniform: My one gripe with the Montreal uniforms is that the template wasn’t all that interesting. With the helmet and facemasks, I think piping would have actually worked well with this one. But it’s still fine.

  5. Argos away uniform: The most plain uniform in pro football. No stripes, no logos, just name and number. If you buy a plain jersey, you’ve got a $125 white t-shirt that says TORONTO on it. At least the helmet stripe makes more sense now since it matches the pants.

  6. Argos home uniform: I live in Toronto and have Toronto jerseys. They had the perfect looks with the 2012-2015 and 2016-2018 jerseys. And then they just kept changing. I get the double blue aspect, but it’s just so plain and blue on blue is a little hard to see. I look forward to when they move away from these and I can buy the next ones.

#17

Biggest improvements are BC and Montreal. Gone are woody woodpecker and whatever the hell that thing on the lions helmet was.
I also like the large EE.

#18

When I heard of new uniforms I expected more of a change. They are all basically the same as last year except Montreal. So I give props to Montreal for actually changing their uniform. Also the ticats uniforms are actually black and a very lame yellow nothing close to the actual color of gold. Bc lions I’ve never seen a white lion before. Bc, edmonton, Calgary, SAS, winter peg, the hammers all the the same uniforms aslast year. Only Toronto and Montreal made changes

#19

They announced when NE took over that there would be no changes. BC and MTL are the exceptions.

#20

Bring back Woody and lose the Crayola drawing!