Rave Green Ready for the Next Home Game?

I just cannot justify buying an Xbox tee. I don’t play Xbox, don’t really like it that much, and, heck, I’m just not that into branding. What? You say those aren’t Xbox tees? Huh? But it says Xbox right on the front. I don’t really see anything else on there…… oh wait, let me get my glasses. Hmmmm, uhhhhh, Oh! Yea! There it is. Sounders FC. Wow, what is that, about a 4 point font? Prominent!! 

Look, I get sponsorship as much as the next slave to our media dead-eyed look faint excuse for a thinking human being. But to wear a shirt that says Xbox on isn’t supporting the Sounders, it’s supporting Xbox. Those names should be switched and, until they are, you’ll never see me wear one. Anyone who does is a mindless moron. 

I’ll buy your shirts when you offer a rave green one with SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC on the front and maybe a little “Xbox” on the sleeve. Drones…… every single one of you. Wake the heck up!!!!

doug, you are wrong. it is supporting both. yes you are supporting xbox by wearing it, but in turn, you are supporting the sounders. it justifies the $5mm a year that xbox is paying the team. and given the number of jerseys sold, the high attendance rating, the high tv viewership (i.e. more people seeing that branding), the sounders will easily command more money per year when the contract is up for renewell… therefore, you are supporting the team.

OR, we could not have a sponsor, not get profitable, and maybe lose the team.

football needs this type of sponsorship b/c tv revenue is minimal due to the lack of available advertising.

you don’t have to love advertising, but it is the world we live in. calling people morons and drones for buying the jersey for the team they love is taking it to the extreme. i bet your closet is filled with branding.

Can’t and won’t argue the value of sponsorship with you, since I’m very much aware of its importance to our team and to nearly every team in every sport nationwide. I also support the team by buying season tix, buying other merchandise (I have one of the white tees with the Sounder name prominently displayed), and participating in its fundraisers. 

My problem is with the selling and buying of merchandise (that’s where moronic comes in because it tells sponsors that it’s okay to obfuscate the very reason most people want to own a jersey in the first place–because they want folks to know they support their team) that buries THE main point of this all, the team and their fans. I’m honestly not even saying that I think it’s wrong to sell those shirts… just that fans should have the option of those names being flip-flopped if that’s their preference. The way it stands now, that is not an option and, frankly, it makes me VERY unsympathetic to our sponsor, because it’s difficult to believe the Sounders insisted on their name being displayed on the front in a 64 pt. font and the sounders to be relegated to a corner of the jersey where only someone up close and personal (nothin’ wrong with that!) can see who you’re really supporting. 

Name another team in the country in any sport that has a shirt that has such a disproportionate emphasis on the sponsor rather than the team. An honest question and I’ll be honest in saying I don’t know the answer to that, but I suspect the answer is none. NASCAR and boat racing, excluded. 

Finally, you may be surprised to hear that, in fact, my closet is filled with tees that have absolutely no branding. I’ll admit, it takes a whole lot of extra effort to find them… but they wouldn’t if Americans would wise the heck up and realize that they’re paying out of their pockets to become walking billboards for whatever company they patronize. Yup, it sickens me and has for a long, long time.  

“Name another team in the country in any sport that has a shirt that has such a disproportionate emphasis on the sponsor rather than the team.”

Name me one team in europe or any soccer team outside of the united states that has a shirt that has such a disproportionate emphasis on the team rather than the sponsor.–Maybe the A-League Australian teams? but they are at about 50/50.

Nowhere are team uniforms so Garishly tacky with the broadcasting of their name than in the United States.  WTF is does a Hornet, Dolphin, Thunder, have to do with the team?  Most places, the nicknames are a recent invention, they hardly ever appear on anything official, the team’s colors are always true, so don’t need the names, logos, just a crest and color system and you are good to go.

Doug S. you don’t seem to understand the economics of football, maybe throwball, basketball, and baseball, but not football.  One commercial block after the start of the game cannot sustain the spots.  If you want Sounder’s gear without the XBOX logo, wait a while.  The Jersey will always be XBOX, (or at least the next 5 years) but some of the other stuff to come out in the next year or so should have less XBOX logos.

doug, i appreciate your hatred for large advertising accross the chest, and clearly you are doing what you think is your right on what you do/don’t purchse…

i will still disagree with you  on your moronic and drones comment though. if it doesn’t bother people, and it doesn’t bother a lot of people to be sure, that doesn’t make them a drone.

anywho. might i suggest to you white warm up jersey. still sounders branding, no xbox. just like you like.