BEST IDEA EVER

[earlimus]

Guys... I just had the best idea ever.

What one thing could solve so many (no, no not all) of the MNT's problems? What could generate a %&$@load of money for the nation team, provide awesome PR, help raise the profile of our star players, and help bridge the gap between youth involvement and national team awareness???

Roots National Team jersey's.

Stay with me here a second... I'm not drunk and this isn't the "Impact joining the French league" crazy. I'm sure most people's initial reactions are: this idea is stupid, Roots doesn't make sports jerseys, never gonna happen... etc.

We are looking (or possibly have found) a new kit sponsor. It's more than likely Nike. Hopefully anyways, because any of the smaller companies won't have the distribution to really help improve sales beyond the hardcore fans. Well... screw Nike.

Roots does indeed make sport-minded clothing. They have some running apparel, and I even have an adidas styled jumper I bought a few years ago. I go running with it in winter and it's still in amazing condition. Quality stuff. Most soccer shirts are made from 100% polyester anyways so Roots isn't going to have to research anything to start manufactor these things. Also, Roots endorses the Canadian Olympic Atheletes, so this woudn't be a reach for them at all.

In marketing terms, this could have huge appeal. Roots is a national symbol as well as brand, that has huge connections with the Canadian image. Imagine driving into Toronto on the DVP or QEW and seeing a billboard with De Guzman and De Rosario sporting their shirts with the Beaver beside the team Canada logo!! Sorry if that last sentance is a little too Toronto orientated but you can apply it to your town/city.

Imagine moms (and not just soccer moms) doing their fall shopping for their little ones and buying Roots/MNT hats, gloves, hoodies.... etc. People don't usally care about the brand of their children's clothing so much as the quality and/or price. The Mens Hockey Team makes a killing off this crap. So do the Leafs and now TFC. I realize that the MNT doesn't have the same appeal, but trust me, one decent marketing campaign could change all of that, and with Roots making a lions share of the money off of sales, they could supply the revenue to fund it that the CSA doesn't have.

As for global distribution, who the hell cares. No one from another country is going to buy one of our shirts. Even if they want to, they can order it online. I went to www.roots.ca before writing this and the Spanish flag poppped up at the top of the screen, with the words "we deliver to Spain" right below it. We could potentially tie the MNT to Canada's best and most symbolic clothing brand the way that the Olympic teams already are!!

Right. I have no doubt that half of you will think this idea is absolutely retarded. Have at it. Those who think this could work, I think we should prepare something and submit it to the CSA asap. All ideas welcome.

[Free kick]

I'm pretty sure that the the number one consideration, if not the only considerion, in deciding on shirt sponsor is the amount of money that the sponsor will pay the team(s)to wear their apparel or gear. Hence all other considerations go out the window if Roots is not willing to pay more than Addidas or Nike.

[Sam]

I doubt Roots would go for this but if they agreed I think this would be a fantastic idea.

[masster]

I like the idea. How much money can the CSA be getting from Adidas anyways? Think of the tradeoff in terms of increased exposure. Of course, it could have been so much more had we qualified for the World Cup...but that is another story.

[Tuscan]

I love this idea. It has potential, but I fear that Roots won't see the MNT/WNT as having a large enough scope to really consider as an outlet to reaching more people with their apparel. An adage (yes... yet another adage) that I've heard quite a few times is that for any contract to be worth investigating, it MUST be win/win, otherwise the feasibility goes out the window along with the contract. Unless Roots can be convinced that the exposure gained by becoming an equipment/apparel sponsor is worth the investment, it will never happen.

How could we explore this further without going straight to the CSA and asking them to look into it? If enough of us are serious about looking into this, offering the suggestion to the CSA should be looked into.

[earlimus]

Ah my coffee never tasted so good! 3 solid positive responses. I agree the hardest thing would be to convince Roots that it would benefit their brand. Definitely the biggest obstical of the plan, and to be honest I don't know.

Improving Roots' market share with kids could be one arguement. The company is much more adult focused, and with good branding an entire line of clothing sporting both logo's (MNT and Roots of course) could become popular with the slightly more affluent demographics, as Roots isn't cheap.

I took notice on their website that they're venturing into Yoga of all things. They now have a Roots Yoga Studio in Toronto, and are pushing their "active wear" leggings, sweats, etc. with it.

I suppose international recognition would be another plus. In the slight chance that the national team ever played a prominent friendly in a country that could afford it (no offense central america or cyprus), the Canadian beaver logo could get some attention. The website is now international so they're obviously serious about infiltrating foreign markets.

As for Free kicks response, I bet you that Nike isn't offering f all in the way of money. Well not much anyways. We all no how much thought Adidas gave our national kits attention and priority when designing them. I was watching Spain-Estonia and Estonia's Nike was much the same. Basically baggy-blue with the Nike and country logo on it. We're not one of the big boys, and I doubt Nike will be putting much into designing our shirts. With Roots on the other hand, we could actually get an original design, and more importantly, some great publicity. We could actually have our kits on the shelves at Roots stores, with big posters of our stars, and even the odd advertisement. Way more then we'll ever get with Nike. Plus, with the possiblity of a clothing line.... bucks.

[ag futbol]

The biggest problem i see with our sponsorship situation is that we don't play enough games, period. Even worse they are practically never on home soil. It's rediculous, because without cash there's not friendlies,and without friendlies there's nothing to sponsor.

As it stands, Roots might get some great marketing exposure for 90 minutes in Estonia or Malta once a year, but it does nothing for their target market. I think the jamaican bobsled team has more outings than we do.

How about we go all-in to get the f'n CSA to play a few games on home soil (gasp) every year! Getting out there on the field and having an active program is the most important thing. Hit up a few foreign friendlies as well. The more we play, the more other teams will want to play us.

So many of our problems could be sorted out by simply being on the field. And yes this costs money, but it's not the same issue it once was with BMO field in Toronto and other SSS stuff just around the corner.

[jonovision]

I think this would be a good idea to pitch to Roots if we were to qualify for the Olympics.

[SilverSamurai]

I think Roots would be a natural fit for CMNT kit supplier.

They probably see all the same stuff that soccer is growing and becoming more popular.

What I like it that we wouldn't have to go through hoops in order to get merchandise.

I think as a starting block, they could do some other minor stuff, maybe a t-shirt or soccer related clothing or something or perhaps test the waters out by becoming sponsors for the CCC.

Another sponsor I think would be good would be Puma, but Roots has their own stores with which to sell merchandise.

[Keano]

quote:Originally posted by SilverSamurai

I think Roots would be a natural fit for CMNT kit supplier.

They probably see all the same stuff that soccer is growing and becoming more popular.

What I like it that we wouldn't have to go through hoops in order to get merchandise.

I think as a starting block, they could do some other minor stuff, maybe a t-shirt or soccer related clothing or something or perhaps test the waters out by becoming sponsors for the CCC.

Another sponsor I think would be good would be Puma, but Roots has their own stores with which to sell merchandise.

Puma has a store in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

[ted]

quote:Originally posted by jonovision

I think this would be a good idea to pitch to Roots if we were to qualify for the Olympics.

Roots have been the uniform supplier for the Canadian Olympic team before. However if the CMNT qualified for the Olympics they would wear uniforms provided the Canadian Olympic Committee and I don't believe that the CSA would receive one dime of the sponsorship money. The good news would be that a national retailer (ie: Roots, HBC) would be carrying the clothing - although it would be one section of an entire line of products.

Anyway, back onto the main track, I think getting Roots to sponsor the team jerseys would be fantastic and could fit very well with their marketing. I would rather see the product in stores and advertised - thus exposing the team to the general public - than a strict cash deal with almost no visibility from Nike et al.

[earlimus]

I think that you're hitting the nail on the head with your Puma comment Keano, although perhaps not the way in which you intend it. Puma does have A store, in each of our three largest cities. I think that we can all agree that Roots could offer a bit more.

So... I see just about everyone here who's replying agreeing on the issue, shall we come up with something to take to the CSA? I don't see any harm in trying. This has been a year of some great victories, with Mitchell getting canned and now our National Stadium looks like it's getting grass.

ag futbol has a good point, and I agree completely. Lack of friendly games here in Canada is a huge issue. If Roots were given the number one sponsor spot, I'm sure that their marketing minds and the heads of the CSA could come up with some way of paying for a few friendly's per year? I just read the MLSE claim that the Real Madrid friendly generated around 10 million for Toronto as a whole. And the top teams (ie. Spain, Brazil, England) ask for around 1 to come over and play? I think that this could be very feasable.

[redhat]

quote:Originally posted by ted

Roots have been the uniform supplier for the Canadian Olympic team before. However if the CMNT qualified for the Olympics they would wear uniforms provided the Canadian Olympic Committee and I don't believe that the CSA would receive one dime of the sponsorship money.

If the MNT ever qualified for the Olympics and Adidas is the CSA sponsor and the COA sponsor is Roots, the MNT would have to wear the official COA Roots uniform for ceremonies and would have to wear their Adidas kits for anything else soccer-related.

The same applied for basketball in Sydney 2000, where Roots was the uniform/ceremonial apparel, but Nike was the athletic gear worn by Steve Nash and company. So yes, the CSA only benefits from its uniform agreement with Adidas, but not the ceremonial Olympic garb.

Earlimus, I have had the same idea for years (I've advocated Roots on several threads throughout the years), but the problem is Roots itself. They are a casual apparel company (actually started as a SHOE company by Americans in Toronto), rather than a technical athletic sportswear manufacturer. They are well-known globally, but doesn't compete with Adidas (which also owns Reebok), Puma (Adidas' founder's brother), Nike, and minor players like Diadora, Kappa, and Uhlsport.

To me, Roots competes with retailers like American Eagle, the Gap, Lacoste, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Club Monaco, than a sports manufacturer like Puma or Nike.

I have my doubts as to Roots' ability to sponsor the CSA, but I do like and support your enthusiasm for having Roots as Canadian sponsor. And I'm glad your idea didn't involve buying a UEFA team.

[Lennie]

quote:Originally posted by ag futbol

I think the jamaican bobsled team has more outings than we do.

And I know that the Brazilian Men's Curling Team has had just as many games as we have had this year.

I do like this thread because it contains a fresh idea with developing and constructive comments.

[Tuscan]

If the kit isn't feasible, what about general apparel?

[ted]

quote:Originally posted by redhat

.. the MNT would have to wear the official COA Roots uniform for ceremonies and would have to wear their Adidas kits for anything else soccer-related.

Cool, good to know they are separate deals. That would make such a deal better for Roots.

Of course this all assumes they could make acceptable playing kits.

[Free kick]

quote:Originally posted by ag futbol

The biggest problem i see with our sponsorship situation is that we don't play enough games, period. Even worse they are practically never on home soil. It's rediculous, because without cash there's not friendlies,and without friendlies there's nothing to sponsor.

As it stands, Roots might get some great marketing exposure for 90 minutes in Estonia or Malta once a year, but it does nothing for their target market. I think the jamaican bobsled team has more outings than we do.

How about we go all-in to get the f'n CSA to play a few games on home soil (gasp) every year! Getting out there on the field and having an active program is the most important thing. Hit up a few foreign friendlies as well. The more we play, the more other teams will want to play us.

So many of our problems could be sorted out by simply being on the field. And yes this costs money, but it's not the same issue it once was with BMO field in Toronto and other SSS stuff just around the corner.

Thats a good point that didn't occur occur to me. let say we play a friendly against Estonia and, as is the case with such friedlies, the game is either not televised or shown at the most gawdly hours of the day. Who is watching from canada? Perhaps some Estonians will be watching but does roots sell its products in Estonia? Is roots interested in selling its products in Estonia?

Whereas someone like Addidas and Nike sells products worldwide

[bettermirror]

Thread title should read: Best.Idea.Ever.

I love it. Maybe they'd actually make a kit reverse Ajax - so it looks like our flag. They'd sell a tonne!

[Tuscan]

^ That'd be sweet!

I'm going to break into my own idea for a second here, not related to the kit or apparel. What if the summer after the World Cup Canada hosted a tournament with nations that have only red and white in their flags (us, Bahrain, Austria, Poland, Denmark, Peru, Georgia, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey). Sort of make it a battle for the red and white kind of gimmick. Please don't start on the "well... we could only beat X number of those teams..." as the point is to do something with soccer and especially with the national team that really puts it in the spotlight. It would be something unique that could really draw some interesting attention. It could also work well as a build-up for our MNT towards WCQ for 2014.

Back to Roots. How do we go about talking to the CSA about this in a manner where they would see it as a serious idea and not just a bunch of people offering a skeleton idea?

[earlimus]

^^^ That's the question. If enough of us agree that contacting the CSA over this I'd be willing to write something, which could then be put up here for review before submitting it. Something like the Mitchell protest, but obviously with a lot less steam and venom behind it.

Redhat is right in that Roots isn't a true sporting brand. This would be a potentially new market for them, but as I've stated before I honestly think that it could be a good fit.

One quick point, this isn't just a rant about wanting to see the MNT in a Canadian brand. I truly believe that this could be a way of vastly improving the MNT's profile and generating revenue, arguably two of the most important things that we can do to help the team. If we want more friendlies we need money. The old saying that you need to spend money to make money is usually true. As for getting the average Canadian sports fan behind the team, I think that we all agree that this could really help that.

As for writing an effective letter to the CSA, any statistical information that anyone has would be of great use. For example, how much does Roots make off of clothing and merchandising sales during Olympic runs? What do Roots make in sales in a year on their kids apparel, etc.

Tuscan raises a good point, could Roots possibly use the MNT brand even if Nike picks up the shirt sponsor contract. I don't see that working, but maybe it's possible.

Freekick, I know that Roots doesn't have much market share outside of Canada, but as I've said before, I don't think that the CSA sells too many shirts on foreign soil. It's usually hard enough to find them here.

Bettermirror, I don't know you well enough to tell if you're being sarcastic. Interesting idea in any case.

[Regs]

If I were a betting man (I am), I would say Umbro...

If I were in the industry (I am), I would say Umbro...

[Trillium]

Untill you have a series of home games in a short time frame i.e. six games in four months your marketing effort to sell jerseys is really hard to do....

You need the National team to be before public when you push to sell the jerseys.

Secondly you need to have a womens team jersey that is different from the men's a different cut to appeal to female fans... and yes you stll need the xxl sizing too...

At present the MNT program cannot sustain a effective team jersey program the companys that sign on are hoping for a bit of positive strokes and to sell clubs jerseys... by being present in the market.

Since Umbro is owned by Nike... you dont have lot of real price competition for the National team account.

[john tv]

One of the most ever soccer nuts and active player I met some years ago was Ray Perkins,sales manager of Roots Canada.His no was at Roots,416-961-8479 or 416-927-8585.I recall that Ray was also on the board of the MTSA.

I think I discussed this as well but don't remember what happened or what reasons were given for lack of further follow up.It may have very been the other biggies around at that time,Adidas and Umbro.

[TOcanadafan]

I guess people wouldn't mind a pink national team jersey then, because that's what a Roots made jersey will fade to after a few washes. If it even lasts that long without the seams ripping. I've owned two Roots sweatshirts and bought a Roots backpack and all have been the worst quality items of clothing / bag I've ever owned.

[redhat]

^ cold water wash, my friend. I've had no problems with Roots quality, but I'd suggest you check with your Roots retailer for their take and suggestions. I know they guarantee their leather goods, but I'm not too sure about their garments.

Anyways, I don't think Roots can accommodate the CSA's outfit needs.