I 'get' that the CFL is a small, gate-driven league and requires as many revenue streams as possible. That aside, what bugs you the most when watching a CFL game (either live or on TV) and looks the most Mickey Mouse to you?
The patches on the jerseys. I don't think it's a big deal, although if they get any bigger they very much could be. But if you told me that I had to nix one thing on that list I would definitely start with the patches.
I will say one thing. Soccer jerseys with huge corporate logos on them are horrible. The ONLY reason that I don't have a Whitecaps jersey is because I bloody hell aint walking around town with a f**king 'Bell' logo on my chest. I never will, even if the sponsor changes to Chevrolet or Nike or Petro-Canada or anything else. NEVER!
:lol:
I agree.
I became a TFC fan this year (despite the anti-Argos sentiment of a group of their fans) and have attended a few games.
In addition to the reasons you mention above, I also chose to not buy a jersey because the stupid things change every year!
More importantly, I prefer not to wear a jersey where the biggest thing on the front is some corporate logo, while the team’s logo is much smaller.
I bought a polo shirt instead. Just the team logo on that. :thup:
I forgot to answer the thread question directly.
I don't like the sandwich boards surrounding the field. They look very high school to me.
Unfortunately, they serve their purpose for advertisers as they really get noticed - usually from some player having to jump over or crash through them when he gets hit along the sidelines. :roll:
The advertising I can deal with. Cleaning up the presentation of the advertising makes it more palatable. If we go full video ribbon and do away with the cheap cardboard I think that'd be good. The on field advertising should be used sparingly. It should always be in the same place allowing for league and team marks to feature more prominently in the centre of the field and endzones.
On field advertising should also blend smoothly with the field. That is to say, don't put a red budweizer logo on a big white block on the field. Use a neatly trimmed white border that follows the contour of the logo to be neat. TD Place used a big quite block for TD's logo last year and it was ugly.
Lastly, the permanent soccer lines have to go. Even if it means clubs offer to install and manage blank turf surfaces at universities. Paint CFL only markings for game days and offer to paint multi-sport community use markings for other times. It's 2015. Even the CFL should have this level of presentation.
I voted soccer lines because they can make the field look busy and confusing a bit. But I really don’t like the sandwich board ads because they pose an injury threat to players having to jump over or crash into them. I understand that these represent important revenues for teams and with TV numbers up over the past 10 years or so, they probably have gotten more and more valuable, but I wish there were a better way to get those ads out there.
Likewise. Without a doubt.
Not currently applicable, and I hope it never becomes applicable, but I detest naming rights being sold. The Lays’ Potato Chips Grey Cup would irritate the hell out of me.
I went with the soccer lines. That said, watching a soccer/lacrosse game with Football lines is much more annoying.
Crazier sponsors than that possibly. How about the “Trojan Condoms Grey Cup” 
8) :lol: :rockin: 
I voted for the soccer lines, because it ruins the look of our "pitch". 
Without a doubt it's the jersey patches. Not because I have a problem with them now, they are pretty much at maximum size and usage in my view, but because of what they could herald. The last thing I want the CFL to do is start looking to european hockey jersey's or Nascar suits for how to corporate brand a team. Seriously, that kind of logo vomiting isn't even effective as I can't see or care about the sponsors with how much noise is going on there.
Second place though for me is on the on field advertising, just because while the lines are easy to scrub off, the giant corporate logos are much harder, and I want to see more football/soccer shared space facilities.
Third place is the Soccer lines. Yeah, they are a bit of a distraction, but this is Football. I'm not about to whine about the lines or the pristine nature of the field. My argument is, more so if you are going to have it be a multi-use facility for football and soccer, do it right. Scrub the field and use easy to scrub paint from the turf, don't try to permanently have both. As much as it ticks off Football fans, having the yard lines infuriates soccer fans and it doesn't look good for either sport. Basically, as a Football fan I'm on the slightly annoying tail of indifferent, and a soccer fan, just do it the right way.
Last is the sideline advertising, of which I have zero problems with, other then sometimes they are too close to the field and players run into them and could potentially be hurt.
What? Have we somehow turned into the red patch boys now?
When I was a kid watching soccer from England, I always use to cheer for Candy to beat Vodaphone.
:lol:
Too funny!
But that is what it can become right?
A good match between Chevrolet and Etihad Airlines perhaps? :lol:
I know that the teams and league make money off of them but the only thing that has ever actually distracted me when watching a game are the electronic ribbon boards along the sidelines. Sometimes when watching on TV their brightness or colours and movement of certain ads from certain camera angles can really be distracting and sometimes make it even difficult to follow the ball in the air. All the other stuff is very minor compared to that IMO.
I don't think the jersey patches are going anywhere either and at their current size they don't really bother me. I don't want them to get bigger but would not be shocked if at some point those do get bigger as there is potentially a lot of money to be made off of soccer-like sponsorship on the uniforms.
Obviously the CFL is small potatoes compared to something like a Premier League soccer team where Manchester United got over $100 million last season from Chevrolet and Nike combined for their sponsorship on their uniforms this season. But even MLS teams (which i think are a fair comparison for the CFL) can pull in over $3 million a year from their shirt sponsorships. That's like about two games worth of gate revenues for a CFL team. How much longer will the league be willing to leave that potential revenue source untapped?
I don’t have a problem with one or two small logos on the shirt but definately don’t want to see it get to the levels described above.
For me the on field advertising is the worst especially when there is no need of it. I understand there are local and national sponsors which could make things more difficult but it shouldn’t really matter if there are no logos on the field proper. They can be keyed in electronically on TV, maybe even get more revenue by rotating many sponsor logos instead of a few painted on the field. I do get that sponsors would want their logo to be there (on the field) even if stadium events are not televised. Also the sideline LED advertising is very visible, quite effective and much less offensive than the painted on field logos.
Doesn’t this look nicer and notice the integrated Ti-Cat sponsor ads on the walls, looks really clean and professional and still gets the message across.
http://i58.tinypic.com/20tks2q.jpg
The look of a nice, clean, ad free field
http://i59.tinypic.com/2uzqww0.jpg
http://i58.tinypic.com/v41ffd.jpg
http://i60.tinypic.com/jj0neu.jpg
Somewhat related, I always wondered why BlackBerry doesn't sponsor the league. It seems like a natural fit. Maybe it's because they already sponsor the Blue Jays?
Soccer lines. Sorry but nothing screams "amateur facility" more than the intrusive yellow lines (McGill, you know I'm talking to you!). The optics are just terrible, especially with the league's increased efforts for TV exposure in USA.
It's 2015 - there just has to be an easy way to scrub them off and re-apply. They seem to be able to do it at Century Link and Gillette Stadium. Or are we just being cheap?
Not thrilled at the jersey patches. I can live with one I suppose, but most clubs have two. That's a bit much. And what is "CP?" Is it Canadian Pacific? It would certainly help if I instantly knew who the sponsor was. I keep thinking, "Gee, Casey Printers really left an indelible mark on this league!" :lol:
Can't vote because there isn't an option for.
None of that bothers me at all.
Soccer lines mean nothing to me. They don’t bother me at all.
Ads on the field, wish they weren’t there but not too big of a deal, especially when they are tastefully done and like someone mentioned not painted as a big tacky white block. Back in the 90s there were 12 or 14 ads on the field. That bothered me, it looked pretty sloppy, but now there are only 8 or 6. The fact that I’m not sure of the exact number means that they aren’t that bothersome. The league realized in the late 90s that if they reduced the number of ads, the better sponsors were willing to pay a lot more money for the exclusivity and to NOT share the field with ‘Honest Joe’s Quality Stolen Cars’, ‘Can Openers R Us’ and ‘Luigi’s Pizza Repair’.
I highly prefer the sandwich boards to the digital LED boards. The animations at times can be highly distracting to the eye. You’re watching football, you’re eyes are trained to react to any sudden movements on the screen, the Scotiabank is whooshed into Subway and you can’t stop your eyes from darting. That I can do without even before the snap as the offense is in motion and the defense is reacting to pick up the coverage.