As the Edmonton Elks prepare for their home opener Saturday…
…team president Chris Morris says the fallout from the club’s 2021 name change remains one of the biggest obstacles in rebuilding support among fans.
Morris, who spent 14 seasons on Edmonton’s offensive line and won three Grey Cups with the club, said the franchise continues to deal with fallout from its 2021 name change.
“It was a disaster in so many ways,” Morris said of the transition from the Eskimos to the Elks.
The club changed its name after years of criticism from Inuit leaders and organizations who said the former name was offensive and outdated. The move came amid broader pressure on sports teams to abandon names viewed as racist or stereotypical. […]
“The people who had been local fans and the people who had grown to care and love and have a lot of respect for that tradition were obviously very offended,” he said.
Morris said the name change, along with the COVID-19 pandemic and the team’s struggles on the field, contributed to season-ticket sales falling from more than 20,000 to about 7,000.
I was driving to Edmonton a couple of years ago, and picked up an Alberta sports radio station broadcast recapping the career of Gizmo Williams — describing him throughout as playing for the “Elks”.
It wasn’t “Inuit leaders”s behind it. It was literally one white dude and a paid Twitter bot army. And that pretty much sealed their fate. Frankly, I’m surprised the team and the CFL at large have survived this long. Outside the green Riders, there isn’t much there.
that does not appear to be the case
https://dailyhive.com/edmonton/new-edmonton-elks-owner-change-team-name#google_vignette
from the link: “This occurred at around the same time similar rebrands were occurring in both the MLB and NFL due to names that had offensive connotations toward Indigenous people.
The move was supported by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, a non-profit organization that represents over 65,000 Inuit people in Canada. Legendary Edmonton quarterback Warren Moon also came out in support of the name change.
If new ownership truly desires to return to this old name, it may come at the expense of some of their existing sponsors, notably those who initially pressured the team to make the name change.”
Change it back to Queer Gay Eskimos
I’m old enough to remember when ‘Eskimo’ wasn’t a racial slur …
https://youtu.be/VXDrEeS52vk?si=BBY5UTTVvoj1fzAE
https://youtu.be/klWzVuxdygg?si=0_s8TO-XbcwmyRZ2
In other football news … your PM left the Canada v Switzerland with a sour face having been defeated 1-2. Canada finished 2nd in their group … or as Jose Morino used to say about Arsenal … “they are specialists in defeat” … pretty much always mid-table … 2nd place at best. Canada! We’re #2.
They polled the Eskimos and the Western Arctic Eskimos voted 80-90% supporting the Edmonton Eskimos. It was their team. The Eastern Arctic Eskimos objected because it was not their team. The last Eskimo I met in about 2005 said, “I’m an Eskimo.” That was likely because she wanted me to know she wasn’t Asian. Same thing with a lass from Frobisher Bay at the U of Alberta in about 1975. Speaking of Frobisher Bay, now Iqaluit. Everybody pronouces it Ick-al-oo-it. The last Eskimo I met, likely Western Arctic, pronounced it Icka-loot.
“…team president Chris Morris says the fallout from the club’s 2021 name change remains one of the biggest obstacles in rebuilding support among fans.”
Yes?…so then CHANGE IT BACK, idiot. Grow a spine and do what the fans want.
Bowing to the Woke Mob only leads to more onerous demands in the future.
The way they’ve been playing the past number of years, perhaps they should go full pride and rename the team the Edmonton Eskihomos.
Now now, should have given them a choice between Eskimos and Seal Clubbers and see what they chose. I thinks Eskimos sound much nicer. Another question nobody answers is, where did the name ‘Eskimo’ come from? It’s obviously not Anglo or French.
What!? The Eskimos changed names?! I must have been living under a very hard rock, difficult to crawl from under, but been out of AB for some 30 years. Why not change the name of that stretch of river running through the town (which is named after Edmonton, Middlesex, England), to George McDougall river, who built the first prominent buildings there: a Methodist church and manse, in 1871. Left to the Cree, the spot would still be some unlivable wilderness. Now, wait until the hokey team is renamed “Edmonton Solar-Panellers” (I think it should take two “ells”, It may be a neologism; could not find another entry).
Since the NFL’ers started taking the knee, they can all FOAD. Don’t care what they call themselves.
Exactly.
When the world still had a sense of humour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwO33oUawM8&list=RDCwO33oUawM8&start_radio=1
But “eskimo” is an Indigenous™ word. How dare those racist Nazi transphobe Nazis demand the erasure of Indigenous™ history!
not a precise observation in the least BUT seems the pattern when officialdom and
management CAVE IN to the woke it appears to very quickly BACKFIRE.
p.s. have bud lite sales recovered? no? see what l mean?
I’ll never attend another rider game or any cfl game for that matter due to their uneducated and uninformed covid policies.
I know many people that gave up the rider season tickets for that reason.
The glory days of the CFL are beyond the rear view mirror. Facts of the matter is the big, BIG money of the NFL has rendered the CFL as a last stop for fringe NFLers, and a chance for Canadians to extend their playing years beyond university.
No one’s getting rich. No one is on a stepping stone to the NFL.
The “Elks” was a stupid move beyond words.
What the FCK is a Redblack?
CFL is a reflection of the reactive mess and clusterfck that this country is today.
Those of us who aren’t buy8ng in to the BS are walking away and waiting for a different future while not participating in this woke dysfunctional existence.
Oh Geez, is it true that NDP’s Carla Beck is pushing to change the Saskatchewan Roughriders to the ‘Easyriders’? Don’t doubt there’d be strong support from the ranks.
Haha.. That was (not coincidentally) the year we didn’t renew our season tickets. They made way more money selling us beer and whisky than they did on tickets anyway. We would likely renew if they change back to the Eskimos, but it’s gonna have to be accompanied by an embarrassing, groveling apology by all involved for being Ottawa DEI sycophants, and free Saskatchewan seal skin bindings. 10 minutes of “elbows up” dancing at every half time by anyone in head office too ( to show what a bunch of Carney acolytes they are)
In 1982the Edmonton Eunuchs averaged 57,000. Now it’s about 20,000. The name change cost them about 10,000 per game. In the early 2000s they were still averaging 35-40,000 per game. I think a big problem is no CFL games on free/cheap TV. Their fan base has evaporated from lack of exposure. Sunday is NFL all day. The CFL is in the witness protection program. No one under 80 knows it exists.
I do agree with all of the sentiments expressed in the comments, but would like to add one more variant. Could it possibly be the cost of living having increased dramatically under the federal Liberal governments since 2015?
I am not into sports, but I wish the fans all happiness. I used to enjoy going to live theatre and for a couple of years, in the early 2000’s, my lovely sister gave me season’s tickets to the Calgary Opera, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I am reasonably well off, carry no debt and have good investments, but have to think twice about how I spend my money these days. I truly do not know how couples with at least 2 children are able to juggle all the balls.
Kate, thank you for the good-news post. It brightens one’s day.