The Browns used to wear all white uniforms 90% of the time. Teams had home and away unis and the road team gets to pick. The Browns always chose white on the road and then normally at home the visitors would elect to.wear.their primary so the Browns wore white then too. And on the odd occasion when the visitors wanted to wear white - I think Dallas used to do the same thing- the Browns would wear brown but it always looked odd. And orange - never It was just their thing. When the team came back in 99 they started wearing brown shirts but it's not traditional
So, more good news on the #Crew96 front:I talked with someone today with direct knowledge of the color/name change situation. Was told in no uncertain terms that any talk of rebranding centers around tweaking the logo, if that. No color change, no name change. Period.— Jonathan Smith (@DegenerateTBone) January 30, 2020
My recollection is of the late 70’s/early 80’s, when they almost always wore the white jerseys and orange pants—home and away, as you said. I think it was the mid-80’s that they went to brown jerseys at home and changed to white pants. Brown pants only made a recent appearance. S#!tting their pants jokes aside, I don’t mind the brown pants with white jerseys (or the all-brown color rush). The orange pants are ok I guess—but they do seem a little cloying. I do think they should wear brown, not white, jerseys at home since they, well, you know, are the Browns.
I guess this is as good a place as any to post this (which is subscription only): Why Columbus Crew SC wants to build a national brand before its new stadium opens Nothing particularly shocking in the article. The good news is that the club sounds as though it has "ambition" when it comes to wanting to create broader, national recognition for the team, and they see Croci as someone with the national marketing experience to accomplish that (Lyons is quoted as saying she understands "how to build brands on a global scale.": Second, while national recognition is a goal, local ticket sales were the primary metric referenced, as well as "fan-generated sales including concessions and merchandise." So, reading between the lines, I assume they want the Crew to become a club that starts selling a lot of merchandise nationally? Sounds good to me. Making it more available in Central Ohio would be a god idea, too. Third, it's about linking the club's effort to Columbus: Finally, Lyons links this effort most directly to the product on the field. The Crew needs to acquire, retain and "build up" stars "such as forward Gyasi Zardes to the stature of a Lebron James or a Tom Brady." Good luck with that, but might as well aim high, I suppose. I can't imagine having much of a national brand presence when we almost never appear on national TV. The club must believe that the new stadium will translate into at least a temporary increase in the club's appearances on national networks. Maybe they believe a perpetually winning side will naturally get on TV more. In any event, it sounds as though they don't plan on accepting a role as a perpetual member of the invisible supporting cast in MLS. It's funny how Lyons mentions Atlanta, LAFC and KC, but not Portland, which to me is a similarly sized market that clearly is closely linked to the city and gets more press than its market size would imply.
This promises to be ... interesting... Wonder how well they'll be able to work with the Bayern Munich Equipment Co. (aka adidas).
Marcus Dilley used to work at Adidas so I hope he knows the limitations and how to work within them. Per his twitter profile: Founder of @DilleyStudio and Freelance Apparel/ Graphic Designer @Wimbledon . Former Apparel/Graphic Designer @adidasfootball Edit: Also the agreement starts with the 2022 kit.
Really love this. The Crew has severely lacked quality apparel for years now. Every once in awhile you can snag a good on field product but they are few and far between.
Remember when they had that "Season Ticket Member Advisory Board" or whatever it was called? I'd be utterly surprised if it's still around, but why not get them involved too? It's the fans who are at every game, actually buying the gear. This is definitely a good partnership though. Good things are in our future.
My first thought was, of course, Dilly Duka related. Fortunately, it was short-lived. Second, I thought of those comments that I read, I don't know, within the last year, about how adidas didn't want to be hearing from every team in MLS about their kit designs. Wondered how this fit into that arrangement. And I still don't know. This seems like a pretty serious and aggressive move toward building that "national brand" the club has started talking about, but I'm not completely sure how. Most of the company's football achievements (founded in 2018) were done "whilst" the its founder was with adidas. That includes Bayern Munich's 2018-19 home and away kits; the inaugural LAFC kit, and the LA Galaxy and MLS all star game kits from that year. Though their website does say they're a consultant to MLS. The Crew appear to be the only team in MLS with a one-on-one relationship with them. I have no idea if other MLS clubs contract with kit designers who somehow integrate their designs into the league-wide agreement MLS has with adidas. I'd be surprised if it was common practice, though. Hopefully, Columbus Business First will pick this up and post an in-depth article on it soon. I assume, too, at some point the Crew will announce something. I have to think that the founder's previous relationship with adidas can't hurt the Crew when it comes to future kit designs. FYI, the league's contract with adidas runs through 2024.