Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

[56Parkies]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

Tradition everyone seems to enjoy, but it ain't bringing in a ton of money.

The CFL has released a ton of videos and such over the years, but none of them have ever made money, including the 2003 "CFL Traditions" DVDs where all 9 teams had their own disc.

When "Tradition" isn't paying the bills, sometimes they have look at things that will. I am the first guy who will support a "back to traditions" effort, and will definitely throw my money at it. I know a lot of people on here will as well. But unless you can get 10,000+ people to shell out those extra bucks, the marketing department will likely look at other things...

[banya]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

I think the brass see some of what is posted here but- I also think that they take what is posted with a rather large grain of salt as posts on this site normally reflect the opinions of about ten die hard fans who post all the time.

I don't post all the time, but if the smart guys who run our community owned team read this I have another thing to say.

Give us back Jackie Parker's

It was a sad day when I found out I needed to part of a $5000 corporate table to get back in.

[Muley69]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

Tradition everyone seems to enjoy, but it ain't bringing in a ton of money.

The CFL has released a ton of videos and such over the years, but none of them have ever made money, including the 2003 "CFL Traditions" DVDs where all 9 teams had their own disc.

When "Tradition" isn't paying the bills, sometimes they have look at things that will. I am the first guy who will support a "back to traditions" effort, and will definitely throw my money at it. I know a lot of people on here will as well. But unless you can get 10,000+ people to shell out those extra bucks, the marketing department will likely look at other things...

I understand what you're saying, but I guess I'm confused on what the mandate of the EE BoD is when it comes to running the team.

As a publically owned team, are they obligated to be "for-profit" or not? I assume (perhaps wrongly) that community owned places the team in a "not for profit" categorization, so why exactly must additional revenue streams be pursued?

[Esks1975]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

Tradition everyone seems to enjoy, but it ain't bringing in a ton of money.

The CFL has released a ton of videos and such over the years, but none of them have ever made money, including the 2003 "CFL Traditions" DVDs where all 9 teams had their own disc.

When "Tradition" isn't paying the bills, sometimes they have look at things that will. I am the first guy who will support a "back to traditions" effort, and will definitely throw my money at it. I know a lot of people on here will as well. But unless you can get 10,000+ people to shell out those extra bucks, the marketing department will likely look at other things...

Some of the traditions, like the 'fans only' singing of the Eskimo fight song aren't at all about money. Others like cramming stupid contests into every available moment of inaction are, I guess. RTo me it seems that the Eskimos are doing more bad things at the stadium to keep people away they than they are to bring them in. I know I have 20% less tickets than I had last year.

[Diesel]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

100% less for me

[GreatWhiteNorth]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

I understand what you're saying, but I guess I'm confused on what the mandate of the EE BoD is when it comes to running the team.

As a publically owned team, are they obligated to be "for-profit" or not? I assume (perhaps wrongly) that community owned places the team in a "not for profit" categorization, so why exactly must additional revenue streams be pursued?

I guessing here, but I think that the madate of the organization is to run in a financially sound way, balancing the pursuit of profits with the interests of the community and stakeholders. Profits are not distributed to shareholders as would be the case in a traditional for profit organization, but rather they go into the stabilization fund to ride out tougher times or get invested back into the community through sponsorship, facilities, or other endeavours.

I don't see them as fitting the not-for-profit tag, but rather straddling somewhere in between. The more profit the team generates and puts away, the more it can do towards its on-field succes (scouting and personnel in areas outside of the cap) as well as in acting in the interests of the fans (new seats, facilities, holding the line on prices, etc)... at least in theory.

[gizmo fan 2]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

My understanding is that Edmonton has one of the more liberal lease deals around the league when it comes to finding revenue streams, and it may be worth looking a little more closely at the Vancouver situation. I'm not sure if Empire Stadium was run by Pavilion Corporation (whom I believe runs BC Place) but I would think that a facility like BC Place, that is used 300+ days a year, might be more averse to on-field advertising. It's possible that things could've been done on a half-season basis at Empire, but it's also possible that they wouldn't have wanted to go down any paths that they couldn't continue to travel. It's also possible that they didn't have interested sponsors that proactively sought it, or that their corporate sales team didn't find anyone willing to meet their price.

I agree, to a point, but we'll see this weekend.

If the Lions have an orange-and-black logo at centre field on Friday night, then the physical limits to on-field advertising are nil (assuming the logo is washed off/removed for the Whitecaps game Sunday afternoon - the football lines will definitely be removed). In that sense, the only limitations then for the Lions would be financial cost (of paint) v benefit, and your last two points, corporate interest etc.
I'm not surprised that they didn't put down any ads at Empire because, as you said, I think it was run by the PNE and not PavCo. The temporary nature of the stadium probably didn't help, either.
I do remember a clean field during the last year (maybe two) of the old BC Place, though. Maybe they've changed tack, we'll see. You are right in that we probably won't know for sure till next year, because there's only 1/3 of the season left.

This I really like.

I think it gets to the root of a lot of the issues that I have with the EEFC right now.

In change management, there are a lot of approaches from the authoritarian - "We're going to do this and you have to accept it", to the participatory and democratic - "We need to plot our course for the future and we want your input". My read is that the EEFC is about 75% towards the authoritarian when it comes to their fans anyways (I don't have the visibility to see how it's handled internally) and haven't felt the need to explain the changes, the moving on from traditions and the ramming of invented ones down our throat. If I have to hear the war amps kid tell me that the 13th man flag is a "Great Eskimo tradition" one more time, I'm going to lose it.

I firmly believe that they're not going to be able to please everyone. Even in this thread we have a call to reinstate a bar area and kick out the "blue hairs" and a rebuttal about how disliked another bar area was and the hassles that it caused. There are also certainly a number of us that embrace some of the traditions to varying degrees, be they physical space, behavioural, organizational conduct, or others, just as there are others that likely feel somewhat alienated by us talking about "back in the day" and resisting some of the changes that come. Personally, I'd like the gold numbers, but don't notice it unless it's brought up, yet I get quite worked up when we're talking about the Grey Cup Championship plaques not being there. We all have different levels of attachment to those things, but when they disappear without comment and the organization acts as if they don't owe any explanations, it doesn't fill you with sense that you're appreciated or heard.

For as much respect as Mandrusiak has within the organization as the keeper of many traditions, I don't get the sense that the organization as a whole truly understands how much more grace they could buy with some communication and explanation on matters. While it might not be true participative decision making, it would at least feel a little more like it at times, and perception can go a long ways.

Well put all round. Agreed totally.

[Rival]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

I was told it was the temp home for the green and gold room that got displaced when the renos were going on. Since I haven't been in CW since Pervie got hired, not sure if that's the permanent home or not. I agree with you, they should replicate what they did for the Parker room on the west side. Call it the honour room and have all the WOH guys displayed there

I totally agree and I thought the same as you. I thought for sure this year it was going to be open like it was before but its done. Ridiculous.

[Etownbo]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

To be honest i didn't really notice the ads on the field at first because they were small and in white so they did kind of blend in with the other white marks on the field. No one has commented to me about the ads other than what i read on this forum.

I don't really have a problem with it, but then i'm a fan of motorsports so maybe my tolerance level for that sort of thing is high. The Esks organization has put in a lot of money for the new recreation centre and is paying for part of the cost of the new seats so more money is never a bad thing. I know it goes against tradition, but i dislike the ads on the jersey more than i do even bigger ads on the field.

The Eskimos have a tradition other teams would kill for. Why not celebrate that? What happened to the banners that are put in front of the first row of seating that goes from end zone to end zone? It had a really nice colour scheme and logos and had words on it like "Tradition", "Determination", etc... I think they were out last year or the year before last. Those were a lot better than the banners they have this year. I can't believe they don't have those banners in some storage room somewhere. Where else could you use those banners? I can't believe they had them made up and then just threw them away or something. Put those ones back up.

Why not make new Grey Cup Plaques, (not put up the old black ones), that are bigger than the old ones and more attractive with a green and gold colour scheme and then milk that for the whole year. Maybe unveil the 50's dynasty plaques with members of that team one game and then the 80's dynasty plaques with members of the team on another game and so forth. I think that would be cool. Young or old, people love success. Why do you think there are so many Dallas Cowboys and Yankees fans in places where people have no hope of ever seeing "their team" play live? Don't live in the past, but what's wrong with celebrating it now and then?

I once read on this forum about someone running into an older Eskimos player at the supermarket and the Esks player pulling out a championship ring. Who is the oldest Eskimos player alive right now? Bring'em out for a lap on a NISSAN before the game. Why not?

The Green Bay Packers have a fan hall of fame. I'm not saying we should do that, but maybe acknowledge some long time fans or fans that have interesting stories to tell. Here's an amazing Green Bay Packer fan story: http://www.packers.com/news-and-even...6-528cc843f916

Cancel the damn stupid Wendy's and Subway "contests". I think they are stupid and aren't interesting at all. Does anyone ever lose? It's just the same thing over and over and over and over again. It's not amusing or fun. I would gladly put their logos on the field if they just stop doing that and replace that "dead air" with some Eskimos specific stuff like Eskimos vignettes on the scoreboard or whatever. The Esks web people do an awesome job so maybe have them come up with some creative stuff to show the fans on the big tv. No matter who you are, young or old, everyone loves humour and loves to laugh. A lot of the videos on the web page only get 200 views or so. Now they would get at least 40k views.

I too was apprehensive about the field turf being put in Muley, but i have done a 180 on that and now i really like it. I think i could even convince you, but it would be several paragraphs. I have thoughts on it.

I just want to forget the homo-erotic billboard incident ever happened.

[adb]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

Er.

20-something here. Noticed it the second I sat down, and wasn't happy.

And here's what I want back.

1) A properly coloured/numbered field. Gold goal line. Gold numbers. 55 on the centre stripe. 00 on the goal line. Like we used to have. (Yes, I know it's something to do with the gold paint being tough to wash off the turf etc. But it can't cost THAT much more.)

2) The inflatable igloo back for intros. Everyone has a helmet. NOBODY else has an igloo. If it was leaking...fix it. I doubt it would cost that much more than the helmet anyways.

3) Fireworks (just one blast is fine) after field goals. Worth half a TD, should get half the fireworks (or a quarter - TD's get four blasts).

4) The Grey Cup plaques from the south facade put back up. We don't have them up in the stadium any more. I suggest back on the south facade, just below the railing - I think there's room there. We have the pennants up in the south end, but no one can see those from their seats because the wind is never in the right direction for them to be readable.

Strongly agree with points 1 and 4. In terms of the gold field markings that would look really sharp especially when the green seats get added. In terms of the GC plaques as another poster mentioned they wouldn't have to be the original plaques. They could be new ones and having members of the GC winning teams unveil them would be a nice touch. I guess it's not all bad as we will still be one of the few CFL teams out there who aren't playing out of a facility that have sold their stadium naming rights. Thought I heard something in the press last week stating that BC Place will be selling the naming rights to their facility shortly.

[adb]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

One of the more recent Eskimos traditions started by Danny Maciocia and continued on by Richie Hall, and now Kavis Reed is the Kids program at the Stollery Hospital where the HC with players in tow visit weekly. Was really moved by the story and pictures on the esks website. Link appears below:

http://www.esks.com/article/do-you-k...very-home-game

[cmbuk]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

One of the more recent Eskimos traditions started by Danny Maciocia and continued on by Richie Hall, and now Kavis Reed is the Kids program at the Stollery Hospital where the HC with players in tow visit weekly. Was really moved by the story and pictures on the esks website. Link appears below:

http://www.esks.com/article/do-you-k...very-home-game

x2.. its great to read and see this..

[gizmo fan 2]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

One of the more recent Eskimos traditions started by Danny Maciocia and continued on by Richie Hall, and now Kavis Reed is the Kids program at the Stollery Hospital where the HC with players in tow visit weekly. Was really moved by the story and pictures on the esks website. Link appears below:

http://www.esks.com/article/do-you-k...very-home-game

Yep.

Give this year's team credit too in that they brought back the Knothole Gang (as much as they could, anyways). That was something that should never have gone, too.

[Esks1975]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

Yep.

Give this year's team credit too in that they brought back the Knothole Gang (as much as they could, anyways). That was something that should never have gone, too.

Aren't Knot-whole Gang tickets $19 per kid per game? That's not much different than a Sobeys ticket. Before they got rid of the Knot-Whole Gang we were buying tickets for my nephew for $2 and later $5 a game.

[pizmo]

Re: Duane Vienneau - Destroying Esk traditions 1 by 1?

Aren't Knot-whole Gang tickets $19 per kid per game? That's not much different than a Sobeys ticket. Before they got rid of the Knot-Whole Gang we were buying tickets for my nephew for $2 and later $5 a game.

Ahh, the good old days..25 cents....