EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Football Team put out a call to fans to submit suggestions on a new name for the storied franchise. Over five days, the team’s website received close to 10,000 submissions.
“There’s a lot of interest and we’re very appreciative but we’re not surprised,” said CEO and team president Chris Presson.
The EE could stand for extra effort. The club needs a new name before rebranding.
In July, the franchise dropped the name that had existed for nearly a century following a new round of public outcry and pressure from sponsors. However, the logo and green and gold colours will remain.
“How do you build on what you have? How do you recognize the past while looking forward to the future?...That’s one of the bigger challenges,” Presson told CTV news.
The club hopes to decide on a new moniker in early April and is anxious to sell off old merchandise by Dec. 31.
“Frankly, we have a million dollars of merchandise that has the former name on it...and how much do you have to write off? That’s a pretty big number.”
The team’s president says rebranding during the pandemic with no revenue coming in puts the franchise in a precarious financial situation. New uniforms and merchandise must be ordered while everything with the old name on it, inside and outside the stadium, needs to be scrubbed.
“That’s going to take us probably three years to do. It’ll be a stair-step approach because it will cost at least two million dollars...we have no revenue coming in and had a lost season,” said Presson.
The top priority at this point is settling on a new name so the rebranding can begin. Presson says he’s hearing suggestions from fans and employees at all hours of the day.
“It was very early in the morning...and I heard this knock-knock on my door and he said, ‘Hey I have a name for you.’ And his name was Edmonton Edge, and he very eloquently explained it. How he would tie it into other things. He did a great job. So it’s constant.”
