In today’s Ticker, we’ve got a change to the Bronx Bombers’ batting helmets, a mix-up in England’s WSL, and more!
Uni Watch News Ticker for April 20, 2023
Posted in:
Baseball
MLB
- The A’s are apparently heading to Las Vegas by 2027. If the move goes through, this will be the franchise’s MLB-leading fourth location, after Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Oakland.
- A really neat and longstanding quirk of the Yankees’ batting helmets was that they used Helvetica number decals. It seems that just recently the club has decided to eschew that, going with decals that now match the team’s number font. Good for consistency, bad for quirkiness! (Great spot by Mike Engle)
- Sticking with the Bronx Bombers: Someone check my math, but 2009 to 2023 isn’t 100 years, right? I guess celebrating 100 years of a stadium that was torn down after 86 years isn’t as fun.
Softball
More
- The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters have unveiled a 20th-season logo.
Football
NFL
- The Browns have announced the uni number assignments for their offseason additions.
College
- North Carolina Central has unveiled rings for winning the 2022 HBCU national championship. (From Kary Klismet)
CFL
- Following up on an item from yesterday, here’s more info on the Stampeders’ new uniforms.
More
- Tom Brady’s retirement party had a cake designed to look like his Michigan, Patriots, and Bucs helmets. (Thanks, Phil)
Hockey
NHL
- Third time’s the charm? A group apparently headed by a Georgia car dealership owner has released renderings of a $2 billion project for a new hockey arena (as well as hotels and other things) in southern Forsyth County, north of Atlanta. (From Kary Klismet)
Soccer
USA
- NYCFC have selected a contractor and architect for their $780 million stadium in Queens, which should be ready by 2027. NYCFC have been playing in Yankee Stadium since the club began play in 2015, which (as you may imagine) is not the best venue for watching soccer.
International
- England: Manchester City have proposed $373 million in renovations to the now-20-year-old City of Manchester Stadium, including an expanding capacity to 60,000. The City of Manchester Stadium is one of the primary stadiums to be used should the UK and Ireland be awarded the 2028 UEFA European Championship.
- England: It appears Arsenal forgot a jersey for ST Jodie Taylor during their trip to Manchester United yesterday, as her kit number was white (on a light pink jersey) and from the Leigh Leopards’ rugby league team, which shares Manchester United WFC’s stadium. (Thanks, Jamie)
- Uruguay: New home kits for Peñarol of the Primera División. (From Kary Klismet)
Auto Racing
- Marcus Ericsson will have a new, Swedish-inspired helmet for the Indy 500. Ericsson is a native Swede. (From Cork Gaines)
Grab Bag
- Here’s a thorough piece from NPR about how several public schools are facing losses of funding for keeping Native American-team names and imagery as more states pass laws prohibiting them. (From Kary Klismet)
- Reader Will Scheibler was going through microfilm archives of an Ontario newspaper, The Fort William Daily Times Journal, and spotted a couple of items from 1938: one about yellow baseballs being used in a Dodgers/Cardinals game that year, and another featuring these great tennis club unis.
- New cabin crew uniforms for Italy’s ITA Airways. (From Kary Klismet)
- A prep sports website is holding a bracket-style tournament to crown the best high school mascot in America. (From Kary Klismet)
Comments (24)
Very happy to hear the A’s are moving, you can’t sneeze in the Bay Area without someone filing an environmental based lawsuit to stop it. I knew they’d never be able to stay there, glad it’s being resolved. That said, I really hope they keep the Athletics moniker. Las Vegas Athletics sounds fine. I’d prefer they keep the colors too but could live with a color change. Wouldn’t be shocked to see them adopt silver & black to both match the Raiders and page homage to Nevada as the Silver State. But the Athletics name should live on.
As for where this leaves MLB expansion.
Nashville Stars & Utah Bees. You can take that to the bank.
I’d say Carolina and Portland are at least as in the mix as are Nashville and SLC. But all four are in play for two slots.
I would imagine Charlotte and Nashville have the upper hand, with SLC probably third. I imagine Portland has tumbled some given the unrest issues the city has been having.
It will be Charlotte OR Nashville and Portland OR SLC. Already stated they intend 1 in the east and 1 in the west.
Nashville has a well organized group, and also Charlotte is more solidly Braves country. As for the west. The problems in Portland will be the same as in Oakland. Even if they can come to an agreement, you’ll have probably dozens of groups suing to stop it on NIMBY and environmental grounds. It’ll never go shovel to dirt.
In contrast with SLC in which the government is already ready to roll out the red carpet, and it’s much farther from any other MLB city than Portland is from Seattle.
Portland and Charlotte make the most sense geographically for the league.
There’s an enormous property that the A’s already half own called the Coliseum where there would have been no issues building a new stadium. But a new stadium wasn’t the real goal of ownership.
Instead, this all comes down to the business of sports: the billionaire owners want to get the most corporate welfare possible for their real estate projects, and it happens that in this case they (justifiably) think they can get more taxpayer money in Las Vegas taxpayers than they can in Oakland.
While sad for Oakland A’s fans (including myself) to see the team leave, it is almost certainly good news for Oakland taxpayers and residents that the city is not making it a priority to subsidize the team’s rich owners.
Agree, Nashville actually has an ownership group in place. However, additional factors to consider is Charlotte’s MSA is 2.3 million vs. Nashville’s 1.3 million and Charlotte has actually been growing at a faster pace. Charlotte is the 22nd largest TV market, Nashville 29th.
Absolutely no color change! Green and gold is exclusively theirs, it’s great, and it’s not even Oakland-specific since it originated in KC.
What’s bizarre is that they haven’t gotten their CC uniforms yet, and unless something changes they’ll be celebrating a city they’re planning to leave. Not a good look. They should scrap whatever they have planned and do a uniform with “We’re Outta Here” or something on it. The first City DISconnect uniforms!
Actually the name originated in Philly. The colors originated in Oakland.
Demolishing the original Yankee Stadium is an unforgivable sin.
That heavy bolt crashing through the ceiling and smashing those seats didn’t do it any favors.
The original Yankee Stadium was essentially demolished and rebuilt when the Yankees played two seasons at Shea. Even 1923-1973 doesn’t get you to 100 years – yet a lot of people claimed what the Yankees played in through ’08 was the same park. Just as silly.
Could Atlanta lure back the Flames from Calgary?
Ironic…don’tcha think?
While I certainly would never say never, I think it’s going to be hard for the NHL to return to Atlanta any time soon considering they’ve already lost two teams.
With the Oakland A’s move to Las Vegas and major league baseball having known about this possibility, is there a way to find out if he athletics and major league baseball already started working on a new set of uniforms? also, there should be a contest to design a new set of Las Vegas A’s uniforms.
I suppose this is the one upside for teams wearing nickname initial rather than city initial on the cap: When the team relocates but keeps its name, the basic uniform doesn’t need to change.
As much as I’m a bit bummed for the A’s to leave Oakland, I am curious to see how the team’s aesthetics will adapt. Back to kelly green for a brighter, The-Strip-At-Night look? LV alt/road cap logo?
We know MLB expansion is happening, but I don’t get the buzz around Portland. They kicked their AAA team to El Paso so the baseball stadium could turn into a soccer stadium.
My money is on Nashville and Charlotte with four divisions per league. Then the schedule can be perfectly balanced:
48 interleague games (3 games x 16 teams) + 72 intraleague games (6 games x 12 teams) +42 intradivision games (14 games x 3 teams) = 162 game season
The A’s should change their name to Nomads. Not really, but I wouldn’t mind. It’s applicable.
Don’t forget about Montreal! They deserve a team.
While I’d love to see a return of the Expos one day, I don’t think MLB baseball will be coming back to Montreal. However, undoubtedly the city will continue to be used as a pawn to get better stadium deals from other cities.
I’m satisfied with the Nationals paying homage to their time as the Expos.
Those powder blues are terrific!
I do hope to see a white racing stripe throwback sometime in the near future.
What have Montrealers been doing for baseball since the Expos packed up?
The NHL in Atlanta? Doomed. The NBA in San Diego? Doomed. The NFL in St. Louis? Similarly doomed. I’m surprised MLB took a third crack at Washington D.C.
No more hockey teams for you Atlanta!