Monumental FC Edmonton news?

[Jason]

^Nope, the proposed mascot , Whom I have unilaterally Christened BALLS UP!

http://www.fcedmonton.com/kidsclub

So the new website does not have an updated roster and precious little on the field news but they've got a rendering of a mascot on their website. And the mascot looks like it was dreamt up by people who were trying to market soccer in North America at least a decade ago. I've been saying it for a long time on here - I want FCE to succeed but I don't think the people making the decisions have a clue. They have pretty consistently shown that they are disregarding the marketing successes in North America over the last 5 years and relying on methods that did not work pretty much anywhere years ago.

Jason

[Lord Bob]

Whether we like it or not, the ticket money of a mom and her kid is worth just as much as a chanting supporter's. Children love mascots, it improves the game for them and for their parents, and it brings more fans into the stadium. It's not just about pleasing the diehards.

[Jason]

Whether we like it or not, the ticket money of a mom and her kid is worth just as much as a chanting supporter's. Children love mascots, it improves the game for them and for their parents, and it brings more fans into the stadium. It's not just about pleasing the diehards.

True enough. But it does ignore what has worked lately in marketing soccer - focusing on regular sports fans and supporters that buy season tickets. Soccer moms and kids don't have the time or interest to buy season tickets. They come out to a game or two a year which is great but can't be counted on to be the core revenue of the club. Season ticket holders are the cornerstone to the cash flow of every viable sports team.

Jason

[ted]

Whether we like it or not, the ticket money of a mom and her kid is worth just as much as a chanting supporter's. Children love mascots, it improves the game for them and for their parents, and it brings more fans into the stadium. It's not just about pleasing the diehards.

Wrong. False. Untrue. It does not bring more fans into the stadium.

It can help a team connect with future fans and provide some light entertainment but having a mascot is not going to make the difference when someone decides whether to go the game or not.

<bobs_fantasy>

MOM: Hey kids wanna go see Buttcrack FC today?

KIDS: Naw, we are watching a SpongeBob marathon.

MOM: Butty the Crack will be there!

KIDS: Oh boy! Lets go! We should have season tickets!

</bobs_fantasy>

[Scottie]

Wrong. False. Untrue. It does not bring more fans into the stadium.

It can help a team connect with future fans and provide some light entertainment but having a mascot is not going to make the difference when someone decides whether to go the game or not.

<bobs_fantasy>

MOM: Hey kids wanna go see Buttcrack FC today?

KIDS: Naw, we are watching a SpongeBob marathon.

MOM: Butty the Crack will be there!

KIDS: Oh boy! Lets go! We should have season tickets!

</bobs_fantasy>

ahahahaha

[Lord Bob]

If kids enjoy the game, mom is more likely to go. I'm not saying they'll be like "mascots! hell yeah!" but happy kid at the game is better for a parent than bored kid being dragged to the game.

[jedinathan]

As much as I'm not looking forward to having a mascot there, I agree, this will help with tickets, and creating more of a long term fan base. Kiddies will come for the amature entertainment (FCE is also promoting half-time and pre-game mini-games for minor soccer by the way), but will eventually get into the team, and continue coming into the teens and eventually become the hard-core fan base. At least if the team is lucky they will!

There are PLENTY of euro teams that have stupidly cartoony mascots, but have dedicated and hardcore fans. I'm not worried about a Mascot scaring away the supporters. I know I'll still be there, even if they had Mickey Mouse himself come out and high-five the team coming out of the tunnel.

[Jason]

As much as I'm not looking forward to having a mascot there, I agree, this will help with tickets, and creating more of a long term fan base. Kiddies will come for the amature entertainment (FCE is also promoting half-time and pre-game mini-games for minor soccer by the way), but will eventually get into the team, and continue coming into the teens and eventually become the hard-core fan base. At least if the team is lucky they will!

There are PLENTY of euro teams that have stupidly cartoony mascots, but have dedicated and hardcore fans. I'm not worried about a Mascot scaring away the supporters. I know I'll still be there, even if they had Mickey Mouse himself come out and high-five the team coming out of the tunnel.

I agree it shouldn't put off the dedicated and hardcore fans, but my concern is that mascots and so forth is what FCE seems to be focusing on more than putting up an updated roster on their new website. It's not a formula that has worked well in North America and within the last 5 years a new more successful marketing model has been developed. But FCE seems to be ignoring recent advances and is going back to a less successful past.

Jason

[jedinathan]

well in fairness to the team, this has only come to light since the new website launched. the only information about a mascot is a future "name the mascot" contest and a drawing of it. We're kind of jumping the gun by complaining about it, as I'm sure the mascot won't be at the first game, and probably won't appear for awhile, otherwise we'd have some actual pictures of a costume etc. There are quite a few things that FCE is lacking on, but the updated website is a good start. The players numbers aren't even finalized yet, unless we take a friendly in 'peg as fact. I'll be more concerned if we're at the end of April and there still isn't consistant updating on the webpage for a final roster.

EDIT: and after I went and checked out the website, I noticed a full roster, minus picture, with the players numbers. That'll teach me to talk before researching... All 23 players are up.

[jloome]

Wrong. False. Untrue. It does not bring more fans into the stadium.

It can help a team connect with future fans and provide some light entertainment but having a mascot is not going to make the difference when someone decides whether to go the game or not.

<bobs_fantasy>

MOM: Hey kids wanna go see Buttcrack FC today?

KIDS: Naw, we are watching a SpongeBob marathon.

MOM: Butty the Crack will be there!

KIDS: Oh boy! Lets go! We should have season tickets!

</bobs_fantasy>

Not only that, it DOES drive away hardcore supporters. I think there's a difference between hardcore SOCCER supporters and hardcore professional soccer supporters. I don't care about the game, except at the pro level. And I find it disrespectful to the cultural traditions of the game to add stupid mascots.

I think there are a lot of other fans like that, and it would probably help them decide whether something is piss-ant or not, whether it's professional enough to be worth their time. Stuff like this indicates it isn't.

Driving away one fan to potentially -- potentially -- get a very young other fan who has to bring a parent is stupid, stupid soccer business.

Soccer is selling as a pro sport in several markets because of the in-stadium atmosphere, nothing more. Take that away by marketing to families as a core demographic and you're ****ed. Kiss your money goodbye.

[Lord Bob]

You're really going to stop going to FC Edmonton games because there's a mascot in an entirely different section interfering with neither you nor the game?

[Richard]

I couldn't care less whether there's a mascot or not but the kids sure enjoyed Winger at the D2 Whitecaps games and even I had the odd chuckle now and then. He became part of the scene at Swangard. I believe Winger has recreated himself for MLS Whitecaps with a new costume and the name 'Spike', but I have not yet seen him in the stadium during games though he may be there somewhere. Then again we've only had one home game so far ;-)

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

You're really going to stop going to FC Edmonton games because there's a mascot in an entirely different section interfering with neither you nor the game?

People on soccer boards in North America seem to get much more worked up about this issue than hardcore fans in traditional soccer countries. Having a mascot is now very much the norm for professional level teams in the UK for example.

[Razcle]

^ Like Michael Jackson at Craven Cottage (Fulham)?

[alberta white]

Mascots are by their very nature Unfunny. and are in that way aligned with clowns, So therefore are inherently EVIL!:mad::eek:

[alberta white]

Mascots are by their very nature Unfunny. and are in that way aligned with clowns, So therefore are inherently EVIL!:mad::eek:

[alberta white]

People on soccer boards in North America seem to get much more worked up about this issue than hardcore fans in traditional soccer countries. Having a mascot is now very much the norm for professional level teams in the UK for example.

Can't say I've seen a Comedy Cormerant at Anfield. However at Leeds we do have the ever avuncular Ken Bates!

Mascots only seem to have appeared in the UK Post Hillsborough, which was a seachange in UK society let alone the lowest ebb in English football. Quite frankly they only really make sense if you consider them in conjuction with a TV show called "ITS A KNOCKOUT" and its European Parent "Je Sans Frontiers- ( games without frontiers). I would conceede that they were implemented as a device to win back the young supporter with his/her mother and father. However,prior to this period Football was essentially a Male preserve with Dads taking sons and leaving 'the girls' to do 'other things'.

Quite frankly FFF's (Female Football Fans) were viewed as rather Odd back in the early eighties. (Lesbians didn't exist back then in 1980's Britain- just watch the re-runs of 'Only Fools and horses' on Vision TV and you'll get the picture)

They actually tried NFL style cheerleaders but the other FFF's (Ferocious Femenist Forever) put the skids under that. If you've never met the FFF you can identify them by their clarion call of "GGGGEEERRRMMAINNE GRIIEEER!!"

To be honest the English football fanbase never needed the Mascots to bring them back just safe stadiums without cattle pens and urinals that were waste deep in reprocessed larger that had previously passed for general admission facilities. Mascots for some reason, just like clowns, didn't disappear. As didn't the women?

So now in the UK we are infested with Mascots!

They even get their own Raceday!

The British football mascot is easy to spot. It is usually some "Billy No Mates" ulberfan, with personal grooming issues and an overinflated sense of their own comedic abilities, who hangs around the club like a groupie at a Justin Bieber concert. You know the ones. All Virginal and "NEEDY" Anyway, when this individual finally gets to pull on an oversided Fox/ Rabbit/ Cow costume; and believe me there are waiting list for this 'privalage', he'll bounch around like a complete ingnoramous thinking he's the Funniest thing since Sienfeld (Yes I know). However, in all eventuallity the mascot will be ignored by the kids, who are far too intrested in the Team managers programme notes, and will spend most of his time dodging the cigerette butts flicked at him by the blokes down by the touchline (not necessarily members of the crowd). I beleive one was once set alight and had to be put out by a St John Volunteer with a Dry Powder Can. To the best of my knowledge it was not Sunderlands Cat. (Quick! Put the Cat Out! -get it?)

Anyway, the only time they attract any real attention is when they fall over their own Clown like (EVIL! EVIL!) feet, or start a (suprisingly genuine) punch up with a visiting Mascot, which will inevitably go viral on facebook; The irony of which been, if two 'normal' fans started fighting like this the ground would be closed, fines and points deductions imposed. and the whole of British society grinds to a halt. again!

But Hey!

He's Cute He's Round He bounces on the Ground,

ITS THE BALL! ITS THE BALL!

And then at halftime the mascot unzips itself to reveal Edmontons Marquee player for the Season ...Mr...Owen (oops there goes my career) **********!

(Wonder how much flack I'm gunna cop for this piece?)

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Something to ponder maybe is that people who emigrate from a country tend to have attitudes that are frozen at the point when they left, while the culture they left moves on and slowly evolves.

[foreverthursday]

Not only that, it DOES drive away hardcore supporters. I think there's a difference between hardcore SOCCER supporters and hardcore professional soccer supporters. I don't care about the game, except at the pro level. And I find it disrespectful to the cultural traditions of the game to add stupid mascots.

I think there are a lot of other fans like that, and it would probably help them decide whether something is piss-ant or not, whether it's professional enough to be worth their time. Stuff like this indicates it isn't.

Driving away one fan to potentially -- potentially -- get a very young other fan who has to bring a parent is stupid, stupid soccer business.

Soccer is selling as a pro sport in several markets because of the in-stadium atmosphere, nothing more. Take that away by marketing to families as a core demographic and you're ****ed. Kiss your money goodbye.

I agree with you. It also doesn't help that it is a giant blue ball. Maybe we can name it "Stripper Aftermath." Maybe we can get two mascots and a cheer team they can dance with so all the soccer dads can try and remember that sex existed before kids and marriage. Just throwing that out there....

[alberta white]

Something to ponder maybe is that people who emigrate from a country tend to have attitudes that are frozen at the point when they left, while the culture they left moves on and slowly evolves.

I ain't been gone that long! But I get your point.

Still have a Steven King style distrust of Mascots though.

[Grizzly]

The key to marketing soccer is that the atmosphere is different than the other North American sports. The fan culture of most other sports has been largely destroyed by creating an artificial game culture which is very corporate friendly, mascots, cheerleaders, hired bands and spectators cheering when told to by the scoreboard. Soccer needs to establish itself as a sport in which the fans make their own culture and create an atmosphere far more intense than other sports. Using a mascot is a step in the wrong direction.

[jedinathan]

Not only that, it DOES drive away hardcore supporters. I think there's a difference between hardcore SOCCER supporters and hardcore professional soccer supporters. I don't care about the game, except at the pro level. And I find it disrespectful to the cultural traditions of the game to add stupid mascots.

I think there are a lot of other fans like that, and it would probably help them decide whether something is piss-ant or not, whether it's professional enough to be worth their time. Stuff like this indicates it isn't.

Driving away one fan to potentially -- potentially -- get a very young other fan who has to bring a parent is stupid, stupid soccer business.

Soccer is selling as a pro sport in several markets because of the in-stadium atmosphere, nothing more. Take that away by marketing to families as a core demographic and you're ****ed. Kiss your money goodbye.

I'm sorry but I'm going to need to see some kind of proof for this kind of statement. Show me a professional soccer team where "hardcore supporters" ran away in droves, causing the eventual failure of the club. If some goof-ball in a costume is going to keep a "hardcore supporter" away, then they weren't really hardcore were they? This seems like a really easy way to dump on the club, when they're just attempting to expand their market. FCE has been doing a good job of trying to get out to bars for Champions League games and promote their brand, talk to the supporters in Edmonton and help figure out what they need to do, and just all around be as present as they can be in the community. Edmonton is a tough sell because of failed pro soccer before I realize, but having people slamming it for trying to expand is just petty.

Hell, I think a lot of casual fans would see a mascot as being more professional than having nothing there. This is just the way sports run in North America. Look at all the other sports teams in Edmonton: Capitals have one, Eskimos have two, and the Oilers have their cheer team.

Now if we had commercials playing with ballsie the FC Edmonton Soccer ball telling fans that they can come down to Foote and sit in his happy fun section to cheer on the FCE, that would be something completely different. There is nothing wrong with attempting to attract fans through whatever means possible. A kid and their parent pay just as much as a hardcore supporter. Why can't the team attempt to attract both without being slammed?

I feel like you look to TFC and their fanbase way too often as the measuring stick for fans in this country. Richard already made a great point of Vancouver having a mascot for a long time, and did very well with it. Look where they are now... MLS.

Do I like the idea of a mascot? Not really, I find them distracting and stupid. However, if it helps the team survive, I'll live with it, and watch the play while the mascot is pulling off some stupid antic. I'm pretty sure that you'll find any number of other "hardcore supporters" like myself who will do the same.

[RS]

I couldn't care less whether there's a mascot or not but the kids sure enjoyed Winger at the D2 Whitecaps games and even I had the odd chuckle now and then. He became part of the scene at Swangard. I believe Winger has recreated himself for MLS Whitecaps with a new costume and the name 'Spike', but I have not yet seen him in the stadium during games though he may be there somewhere. Then again we've only had one home game so far ;-)

He was there, I saw him in the private boxes. He looked like a roided up cousin of BJ Birdie.

[strobe_z]

But we're hard core supporters... so you're wrong.

So there!

[ESG Shawn]

I'm sorry but I'm going to need to see some kind of proof for this kind of statement. Show me a professional soccer team where "hardcore supporters" ran away in droves, causing the eventual failure of the club. If some goof-ball in a costume is going to keep a "hardcore supporter" away, then they weren't really hardcore were they? This seems like a really easy way to dump on the club, when they're just attempting to expand their market. FCE has been doing a good job of trying to get out to bars for Champions League games and promote their brand, talk to the supporters in Edmonton and help figure out what they need to do, and just all around be as present as they can be in the community. Edmonton is a tough sell because of failed pro soccer before I realize, but having people slamming it for trying to expand is just petty.

Hell, I think a lot of casual fans would see a mascot as being more professional than having nothing there. This is just the way sports run in North America. Look at all the other sports teams in Edmonton: Capitals have one, Eskimos have two, and the Oilers have their cheer team.

Now if we had commercials playing with ballsie the FC Edmonton Soccer ball telling fans that they can come down to Foote and sit in his happy fun section to cheer on the FCE, that would be something completely different. There is nothing wrong with attempting to attract fans through whatever means possible. A kid and their parent pay just as much as a hardcore supporter. Why can't the team attempt to attract both without being slammed?

I feel like you look to TFC and their fanbase way too often as the measuring stick for fans in this country. Richard already made a great point of Vancouver having a mascot for a long time, and did very well with it. Look where they are now... MLS.

Do I like the idea of a mascot? Not really, I find them distracting and stupid. However, if it helps the team survive, I'll live with it, and watch the play while the mascot is pulling off some stupid antic. I'm pretty sure that you'll find any number of other "hardcore supporters" like myself who will do the same.

It's not the mascot itself that is the concern of jloome. Its the general direction and tone of the clubs marketing. Pro soccer in Edmonton has been marketed to the soccer mom and kids crowd, and it DOESN'T work. If you you are going to differentiate FC Edmonton from the rest of the pro sports teams in this town, you have to try something different and that is to cater to the "hardcore" fan, something that will appeal to the hundreds of Eurosnob football supporters in the City. Those are the people that are going to make FC Edmonton a success, not the soccer moms.

Having/not having a mascot doesnt make the club more/less professional. It just going down the same path that we've been down before.

Frankly, if Foote ends up being anything like an Oil Kings game with hundreds of screaming children, I don't know how anything the ESG plans on doing willl make it a place that "hardcores" or "casual-hardcores" would want to be a part of. Like or not, TFC and Vancouver use the supporters groups in advertising and marketing the gameday experience. That's what brings people to the stadium.