In what is surely breaking news to those of you living under
a rock, the Cleveland Browns unveiled a new uniform scheme last night. While the internet, the media, and the
annoying guy at your work that somehow always corners you have all given their opinion,
I wanted to share a quick recap of the actual event held at the Cleveland
Convention Center.
Full disclosure: I’m not a Browns fan. At least not by trade. I married a Browns fan, so I cheer for them
in the sense that “when they lose my wife is super pissed and that’s not really
very fun for me.” So I had no dog in this pound.
That being said, this was a well-executed event; one that
had to be an incredible experience for die-hard fans.
Outside of the larger room that held the stage and seating
area for the actual unveiling was a reception area with a sort of gauntlet of
fan-porn:
A long display of jerseys and helmets throughout the entire franchise history provided some perspective on not only the team, but football equipment itself.
Swagger and Brownie the elf were in attendance.
In addition, various television and radio affiliates were on hand doing giveaways and interviewing fans to get their reactions.
The event itself tried to toe the line between a live event and television broadcast. It came off feeling a bit like The Decision - dragging out a 2-minute event into 30 minutes of content. The videos, the interviews with Nike, asking a guy dressed as Macho Man to give his pre-uniform take in-character - didn't quite translate live. But the crowd was engaged and "HERE WE GO BROWNIES" is probably still echoing through the halls of the Convention Center.
The strangest part of the evening was the actual uniform reveal. As the players threw off their coats to reveal the new look, a previously engaged audience was surprisingly silent. A few boos rained out, but mostly there was no reaction whatsoever. Maybe seeing 9 combos was overwhelming, maybe the leaks had made the moment a bit anti-climatic.
Following the reveal, more photo ops were available with the players in-uniform. Again - total fan porn.
All-in-all it was an impressive event. The team obviously spent a lot of time and effort into making this a fan-friendly and enjoyable live experience, and not just a TV show. These are the sorts of perks and fan outreach that go a long way, especially for a team at a bit of a crossroads with many fans due to performance and off-the-field incidents. The team caught a lot of flak for the logo reveal, and should receive an equal amount of praise for going above-and-beyond for the fans in this instance.
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