The winter holidays are supposed to be a happy time. Regardless of whether you celebrate Christmas or not, there’s a feeling of love and warmth in the air that’s infectious.
After the holidays? Not so much. What was a wonderful, and ridiculously long, winter break for yours truly has been followed by a period where the return to the school routine is hitting like an emotional freight train. And I’ve only been back for a week.
But with the New Year in full swing, the new Major League Soccer season is approaching, which, despite a ho-hum offseason for the league thus far, is at least some reason for positivity.
As many other Last Word SC writers will attest, my favourite part of a new season brewing is the new jerseys that come down the pipeline. In fact, since launching in 2013, MLS’ annual “Jersey Week” has been something of a second Christmas for me.
However, rather than waiting anxiously for Jersey Week 2016 to kick off, I’m left wondering if the only three-year-old event has already started a decline into obscurity.
The Power of the Internet
We all know the effects that the digital age has had on our society. It’s made it possible to put a message (like this one of mine) out to the masses and has made our world more efficient and productive.
But it’s also accelerated our global pace. The need to know has become so important that anything that isn’t up-to-the-minute isn’t good enough.
Getting back to the holiday analogy, think of when you first heard Christmas music playing this past year. For me it was November 17 that Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” came on. I was in disbelief at how early it was for Christmas music.
But in soccer, the jersey industry is also falling victim to a jump-the-gun society. Some jerseys for the 2016-2017 European soccer seasons were leaked around Christmas 2015.
The problem with getting stuff out early is that the allure of the actual event wears off by the time the event finally rolls around. There comes a point when the pomp and the grandeur of the event is so jacked up that the actual event is celebrated more for ending the madness than for actually happening. We aren’t far from a time when we’ll have to count to ten to avoid punching family members wishing us “Merry Christmas” at the December 25th family dinner.
We may already be nearing that sort of time in Major League Soccer.
Jersey Week 2016: Clubs Missing the Memo?
In the three seasons it has existed, Jersey Week has generally taken place the week before the MLS season begins. There have been no announcements about Jersey Week 2016, but generally announcements aren’t made until days before Jersey Week begins. Jersey Week 2015, for example, began on February 28 and was only announced on February 24.
Each year there have been some clubs that don’t take part. In Jersey Week’s inaugural season, only 12 of MLS’ 19 clubs took part. In 2014, the San Jose Earthquakes unveiled their jerseys ahead of Jersey Week, likely due to their rebrand that offseason, as did D.C. United for no clear reason. Last year, Orlando City SC and New York City FC released their jerseys early, giving fans more time to buy in due to their expansion club status. But D.C. again went early, and the Vancouver Whitecaps joined them, too.
This year one would think that with no expansion clubs and just one very minor rebrand (hello again, D.C.) that Jersey Week would be simple. Twenty clubs divided by five days in a week, making four releases a day.
But this is MLS we’re talking about, the league where over-complication plays queen to the lack of transparency’s king.
The Chicago Fire is releasing their new home jersey on Wednesday. D.C. United is releasing theirs on February 6.
Heck, Real Salt Lake came completely out of left field this past week and released their new home kit (tweet link) (and my GIF of the Week) on Friday.
When you get new kits ? pic.twitter.com/H8JW66ZvzF
— Real Salt Lake (@RealSaltLake) January 23, 2016
There’s no stopping information getting out early. In 2014, all but one jersey set to be released during Jersey Week got leaked early, mostly by Footy Headlines but also through, you guessed it, Real Salt Lake’s social media accounts.
The Future?
Whoever came up with the idea of Jersey Week in MLS headquarters deserves a hefty raise and a more comfortable office chair. It’s unique to the league, it builds excitement for the new season, and is just generally marketing gold. Major League Soccer needs to start realizing this and stop letting its individual clubs spoil things for everyone else.
I can almost guarantee Jersey Week will happen in 2016. Even MLS would be stupid to let what MLSSoccer.com’s Simon Borg called “the newest annual MLS tradition” in 2013 go after just three seasons.
But if unexplained early releases like RSL’s continue, the main event is going to lose its lustre.
Does it seem a bit strange that MLS would give such a small window between when the jerseys are unveiled and when the season kicks off? Slightly. I can understand the small window in that it keeps the excitement together. At the same time, you have to wonder if moving Jersey Week up to the end of January would result in fans taking advantage of a longer preseason sales window and buying in bigger numbers.
Teams are starting their preseasons now anyways. Why not show off the new jerseys in those exhibition matches and put even more eyes on them?
MLS has one heck of a promotion on their hands in Jersey Week, and they need to take full advantage. In a league that so often champions clubs working together under the league umbrella, it doesn’t make sense that the clubs are being giving free reign where collective work might ACTUALLY be of benefit.
Jersey Week needs to be tweaked, there’s no doubting that. But tweaking should come in the form of moving it up earlier and maximizing exposure opportunities, not letting clubs join in, and opt out, as they please.
Just no summertime leaks. PLEASE.
Main Photo: Daniel Smith, Getty Images
