Today begins a New Era in the Canadian Football League, the league this morning officially unveiled the new 2019 team uniforms for each of their clubs provided by New Era who has taken over as the league’s official outfitter beginning this season.
There are varying levels of uniform changes accompanying this announcement, some clubs opted to stick with their previous look carrying on a classic design while others took advantage of this opportunity to go all out and try something new.
“We started working with the league in the fall of 2017 on the design for both the jerseys as well as the apparel and headwear for the teams and the league’s fans”, Rick Baetz, Managing Director of Canada at New Era Cap told SportsLogos.Net. “Our goal was to modernize the league’s uniforms and apparel to give them a lifestyle look that would appeal to fans”
Leading the pack in terms of biggest changes are the Montreal Alouettes and B.C. Lions. The Als we’d known about before but their changes are still changes for 2019 – the new logos, new helmets, new uniform, all that really remains in Montreal is the team’s name and the red-and-blue colour scheme
The Lions decided to take a step back from their aggressive makeover launched back in 2016, the helmet returns to a more traditional design — now orange the lion head with the BC below it, which had been used by the club for over 40 years, is back. The unconventional logo placement on the lower back of the jersey is also gone.
“Given the feedback from the teams, we made cosmetic changes to the jerseys including adding a matte finish around the necks and shoulders of the jerseys,” Baetz added. “We also changed the CFL logo to chrome to update the look.”
“We’re excited to see our New Era Official Canadian Football League uniforms take the field for the first time this weekend. This is an exciting moment for the brand.”
A team-by-team look at all the changes announced today.
BC Lions: New black helmet with the traditional team logo on the side and striping at the top, this replaces their thinking-outside-the-box helmet worn since 2016. Numbers are now trimmed in an accent colour with white added to the black numbers on the orange set, and black added to the orange numbers on the white set. The shoulder striping extended across the entire back at the top of the road whites mostly encapsulating the player’s name, previously the striping shot up to the collar at the shoulder blades.
Calgary Stampeders: No major changes, the striping around the shoulders of the road jersey has been increased in size to incorporate the player’s name.
Edmonton Eskimos: No changes were necessary and none were made.
Hamilton Tiger-Cats: Trim colour removed from the player’s numbers, now just one colour
Montreal Alouettes: A whole new look for the Als, we’ve covered all of Montreal’s changes several times in the past and I recommend you read our coverage of it to learn about all the various elements that put their new logo, uniform, and everything together.
Ottawa RedBlacks: Slight modification to the red striping around the shoulders and collar
Saskatchewan Roughriders: Changes to the collar puts more emphasis on white over green versus their previous design
Toronto Argonauts: Striping removed from sleeves but the numbers are now light blue on both the home and road sets, this pop of colour looks sharp and certainly helps the team live up to its “Double Blue” nickname.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers: Like the Stampeders, just the shoulder yoke has been embiggened to fit the player’s name within it. A small, but necessary tweak.
The Canadian Football League announced New Era as the league’s official outfitter back in September 2018, the league’s on-field uniforms had been provided by Adidas since the 2016 season.
“This is the first time New Era Cap will charge onto the football field providing uniforms and sideline apparel in addition to our line of fan gear and headwear that blends sports with lifestyle,” said Dave Heimburg, Vice President & General Manager North America, New Era Apparel at the time. “We’re very happy to be taking this bold step to help the CFL put a unique stamp on their apparel and uniforms that excites their growing fanbase.”
The 2019 CFL pre-season begins this weekend with the BC Lions taking on the Edmonton Eskimos in Edmonton on Sunday, both teams wearing their new New Era uniforms. Week one of the 2019 CFL regular season kicks off June 13th with the 107th Grey Cup game played in Calgary on November 24th.
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