After just one season sporting antlers, the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Elks have gone back to using their double-E logo on their helmets.
The team’s new helmets for 2022 were unveiled on Thursday, March 3. They feature a green double-E logo in green with a thin white outline on each side of the yellow shell. A green stripe bordered in white runs down the middle, and large green numbers outlined in white appear at the very back, near the base of the helmet.
An “ELKS” wordmark appears on the nose bumper, while an “EDMONTON” wordmark is emblazoned on the neck bumper. The facemask is black.
“The Double E represents our club’s tradition of excellence both on and off the field. It’s an Edmonton icon and we’re thrilled to have a fresh version on our new helmet,” Elks president and CEO Victor Cui said on the team’s website.
“This helmet bridges the past with the present and is symbolic of our commitment to connecting our tradition with a bright future. One look at our new helmet and you know who we are and what we stand for. We’ve listened to our fans and can’t wait to proudly wear this new helmet at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.”
Rave reviews came from current and former Elks players who got a sneak peek of the new helmets in videos posted to the team’s Twitter account leading up to Thursday’s unveiling.
The team officially changed its name to the Elks in June 2021, a year after announcing they would drop their old nickname. The antler helmets were introduced at the same time. Prior to that, the team had worn a double-E logo in some form — usually white letters inside a green oval — since at least 1965.
The closest the Elks have worn to this new helmet may be the alternate style worn from 2014 to 2018, which featured a large yellow double-E logo with no oval on a green helmet.
When the rebrand was announced, team officials said they wanted to find a new name that began with the letter E so they could continue to use a double-E logo and retain its green-and-gold colour scheme. The double-E logo introduced in June 2021 is uses slightly different letterforms from the previous version.
Fans got a hint that a helmet change might be in the works on Feb. 18, when Cui posted a video to Instagram with a helmet prototype in the background. While this turned out not to be the final design, it certainly got people talking.
The Elks kick off their 2022 CFL season on Saturday, June 11, when they visit the BC Lions. Their home opener takes place a week later, when they host the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Commonwealth Stadium.
All photos courtesy GoElks.com and @GoElks / Twitter, unless otherwise noted
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