Angus Reid draws some parallels between the successes of the Dallas Cowboys and BC Lions that followed their less successful 80s and pre-Buono eras respectively. He points out the Lions' focus this year on a topic that has been of some contention on this board: homogenising the particular hue of orange in their team colours, much as Dallas has always stayed true to theirs. But I was somewhat surprised he omitted any mention of the work of Bob Ackles who played a great part in the turnaround of both teams. Perhaps this was in his first draft and got axed in editing (it's arguable that any mention of his name might have overshadowed the rest of the article and served to remind that things may not quite be firing on all cylinders as well as they were before he passed 5yrs ago).
Angus Reid: How to build a successful football franchise
By Angus Reid, Special to The Province August 15, 2013
Building a successful football team means paying attention to branding —like the very specific orange the Lions use on their jerseys. The popcorn bucket, however, is not approved team apparel. Photograph by: Gerry Kahrmann, PNG
I read just the other day that Forbes magazine ranked the Dallas Cowboys as the NFL’s most valuable franchise. Their estimated value clocked in at a mind-boggling $2.3 billion US. How in the world did they manage that?
Well, the numbers may not even be close, for obvious reasons, but many on our side of the border will argue that our B.C. Lions are now the CFL’s most valuable franchise. Considering where we came from 15 years ago or so, the very same question could be asked — how in the world did we manage that?
Building a club from simply a team with uniforms to a powerhouse brand has become the goal of every organization in today’s sports culture. The pro game is just as much about selling the image as it is about winning games. It wasn’t all that long ago that the Cowboys and our Lions weren’t doing either.
The late ’80s saw a major slip in play from America’s Team. The Tom Landry era was ending and for the first time in a long time it wasn’t that cool to be a Cowboys fan.
The Lions’ real downturn was for most of the ’90s. The glory teams from the ’80s were gone and the novelty of B.C. Place Stadium had run its course. The Lions’ classic orange uniforms were replaced with generic black, leaving a now-losing organization without even a recognizable face.
Both organizations were at their respective low points. Both were about to follow similar paths and rise back to the top.
For real change to occur, movement at the top had to take place. Jerry Jones became the new owner of the Cowboys in 1989 and David Braley bought the Lions and saved us from certain collapse in 1997.
The plan seemed almost too simple when you look back. Hire the absolute best person you can to run the team, get and keep the best players, win championships, and seal it all with a simple yet powerful branding approach. Sounds easy, right? It’s not, but these two clubs did it, and did it right.
Jimmy Johnson was immediately hired as Dallas’s coach and given complete control. All he did was go out and assemble a brilliantly-built team. The organization kept the nucleus for nearly a decade and Dallas went on to have one of the great runs in NFL history.
While some teams were flipping uniforms trying to sell new looks, Dallas stayed simple and true, and the big blue star with the silver trim was once again a symbol of greatness.
It was sheer brilliance, for even long after that run their logo remains the same. That emotional attachment can be very powerful. That’s true branding.
Yes, it took Braley a few seasons, but by 2003 he had found his Jimmy Johnson. Wally Buono was hired and given complete control of the team. Like Johnson, all he did was go out and get the very best players available and by his second season had us in the Grey Cup. The club did its part and kept the core players intact, and similar to the Cowboys you have seen the greatest run of success in Lions history.
Early in this run the club made a very slick branding move. We went back to a logo and a bright, distinct colour that mattered. We dropped the generic black and silver and returned to our roots. Orange was once again the proud Lions tone.
This season you can see it being taken one step further. Almost all our fan gear is now orange, and not just any orange — we have a very specific Lions orange. The colour is our brand now. Coaches must wear it, all sideline players not playing must wear it, and if you’re buying some swag at a game, you will be wearing it now, too. It’s the visual and emotional link that is helping us cement our organization beyond the field.
It’s almost funny drawing the comparison between the Lions and Cowboys, as both clubs have recently ushered in their new state-of-the-art stadiums. In fact, our new replay screen is second in size only to that in Dallas.
It sometimes seems like magic the way some clubs can rise out of the bottom to become the head of the class, but today’s pro football organizations need look no further than the Cowboys and the Lions to see how it’s done.
Find an owner truly committed to winning. Get the very best coach possible. Sign the best players and then keep them for as long as you can. Finally, once winning takes place, don’t confuse your fan base. Sell them a simple yet powerful symbol of who you are, and don’t ever change. It’s that symbol that fans will wear with pride and equate with greatness well past the championship game.