50 replies to this topic

[Konnan511]

Am i the only person who doesn't give a crap who our sponsor is? We are still the Red Wings. Illitch is still the owner. It's not like we are the Detroit Amways or play at Joe Louis Amway Arena. Amway is footing a huge bill. Without that massive corporate sponsorship, we'll start being less competitive. I know I don't want that, do you? Would you be ok not being able to spend to the max and have the best possible team possible? It's a sponsor. It doesn't change the team and no one outside of Red Wing fanboys give a hoot who our sponsors are. I can't name more than 2 or 3 sponsors of any teams around the league, i assume most can't either.

[55fan]

How on earth does having a barely legal money-sucking scheme associated with our team make us more competitive? Their vitamins aren't that good. Anything they can buy, the Illitch family could also buy. It's just coming from a different pocket, and a dirty one at that.

That said, it is a done deal. Nothing we can do about it now.

Edited by 55fan, 08 October 2011 - 10:15 AM.

[cusimano_brothers]

Wherever he is, I hope Mr. Aurie's ribs hurt from laughing.

[Miss Wing Queen]

I don't know much about Amway or it's ethical nature. However, I agree with those that said this is more so about the business end of things. First and foremost, this team is a business, and just like every other business there is a budget to be balanced between income and expenses. Do you think the tough economy does not hit a business like Ilitch Holdings in some way? Part of it is the nature of sports in this era and it being infiltrated with overwhelming sponsorship, the other part is that they have to meet their bottom line or expenses will have to be cut.

I, for one, would rather suffer through excessive advertisement (as much as I don't like it and think it is distasteful for such a tradition-steeped sports team/franchise) than have to worry about cuts that could affect more important things in relation to my team: keeping/hiring quality players, providing them with the best equipment/athletic training, team transportation and safety, etc. The deal so far is for three years. It may just be a bridge until economic issues improve and the need for extra sponsorship income is not needed as extensively. But keep in mind, Amway (while being the most obviously advertised) is not the only sponsor this year. You have to include DTE, Quicken Loans, VolunteerEnergy, and previous ones like Belle Tire, AT&T, Kroger, Meijer, Better Made, Tim Horton's, State Farm, Miller Lite, and the DMC.

It can be an eyesore to our arena, but in grand scheme of things, I'm just happy to be able to watch my team compete night in and night out. All that other stuff just fades into the background when players like Lidstrom, Datsyuk, and Zetterberg step onto the ice.

[lookalive07]

Actually, there IS something we all can do about it. The professional teams get taxbreaks, and our tax dollars for their buildings. The public universities get our tax dollars. They in turn sign contacts with merchandising companies that produce the shirts, hats, etc. that they count on us to buy. Well, almost, if not all of it is now made outside this country. If we all take a stand, and refrain from purchasing their non-American(and to our friends up North, non-Canadian) made products, they WILL notice.
These teams and schools want us to support them, to spend our hard earned money on them. They count on us to support them, and we should demand the same. They make a lot of money from the merchandise sales, but they don't seem to care that it's not made here. I personally will not buy any merchandise, from any sports team, that is not "Made In The U.S.A." I am not advocating a boycott of their games. We are all fans, and should enjoy our teams. Just don't spend your money on anything else.

Oh please, the whole "Made In The U.S.A." crap is a little cliche, don't you think? Tell me, where did they make your TV on which you're watching the Wings play? How about that cable box or satellite dish you ordered so you can get the games on your TV? If you can find on your TV a sticker or an etching that says "Made In The U.S.A.", then your TV sucks.

Now, first and foremost, the Red Wings aren't getting jack s*** in profit margin with merchandising as compared to the sponsorship deals they're making with companies like Amway and Belle Tire.

Here's why: The Detroit Red Wings and their logo are a brand. Reebok, for example, is a merchandising company that pays the Red Wings organization a certain amount of money to use their logo on their apparel. For every item sold, the Red Wings organization makes a little bit of a percentage of that money. The better the item does, the more money the Red Wings organization gets. However, this is only a small percentage since Reebok has to make their profit as well, which I will assure you is far greater than what they are sharing with each individual team for their logos. They also make money by selling stores like Hockeytown Authentics and JLA kiosks that same merchandise for a fraction of the retail value so those stores can turn around and make bigger profits so they can support their overhead.

Now, with advertising, companies like Belle Tire and Amway spend millions of dollars to plaster their names all over the arenas and the broadcasts so they can implant the idea in your head that you need to get your tires from Belle Tire and you need to spend your money with Amway. Why? Because subliminal advertising works. You might wonder why sometimes you suddenly are craving a Jimmy John's sandwich after posting on LGW. It's because that bigf****** sidebar gets your attention without you even really realizing it. It's this kind of advertising that gets those companies money, and since they're paying the Red Wings organization directly, they can take that money and apply it to whatever they may need it for. Combine this with ticket sales, concessions, and overpriced beer, and you have pretty much all the money that the players and the rest of the organization sees.

Bottom line, the boycotting foreign goods thing isn't going to do much, if anything. For one of you "I'll only buy American made" people, there are 5 others that don't give a s*** who made it and buy it anyway. So if the Red Wings are making a 1% profit margin on apparel sales at JLA, you're stopping .0016% of their total profit. Ask Illitch if he gives a rat's ass.

Edited by lookalive07, 08 October 2011 - 12:49 PM.

[robat]

"Time for a Detroit Red Wings, presented by Amway, powerplay brought to you by Gold Star Financial!"

[WizardOfOz30]

The talk about only buying certain types of Wings merchandise is something I sort of agree with. If they start branding the Wing with "sponsored by Amway" I will be much less likely to buy that. I have relegated myself to the fact that we can't get away from the Reebok thing, but they have always had something to do with sports. I don't think the corporate sponsors should have advertising on the merchandise. I really hope it doesn't come to that and since I haven't been out shopping for new Wings things yet I don't know if it's even on there.

I understand the need for corporate sponsors but I hope we don't see the guys uniforms littered with their logos.

[Pskov Wings Fan]

The Illitch family are the best owners in all of sports. They've given the city 4 cups and 30+ years of dedication and hockey excellence. The Red Wings sponsorship agreement with Amway is wrong.

The team belongs just as much to the fans as it does the ownership and corporate sponsors. The constant branding of Amway makes the sport I love seem like a infomercial.

Tell the Illitch family to end their agreement with Amway and to give Hockeytown back to the fans.


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tell-the-Illitch-Family-to-Drop-Presented-by-Amway/219242108138480


This is not an anti-Red Wings page. This page is for Red Wing fans who want to see the Illitch family make the right decision about their relationship with Amway.


Go Wings!

How is this even an issue? Advertisements are currently a part of life, like it or not. Just learn to ignore it.
Also do not forget that without corporate money watching hockey most likely would be more expensive for the fans.

Am i the only person who doesn't give a crap who our sponsor is? We are still the Red Wings. Illitch is still the owner. It's not like we are the Detroit Amways or play at Joe Louis Amway Arena. Amway is footing a huge bill. Without that massive corporate sponsorship, we'll start being less competitive. I know I don't want that, do you? Would you be ok not being able to spend to the max and have the best possible team possible? It's a sponsor. It doesn't change the team and no one outside of Red Wing fanboys give a hoot who our sponsors are. I can't name more than 2 or 3 sponsors of any teams around the league, i assume most can't either.

You do not have to feel alone, there are at least two of us.

[RedBengals]

Thank god we aren't having this arguement about a soccer team. The Wings can be "presented by" Amway all they want, it's a sponsor and helps the club out financially. It's pretty hard to name a sports team that has no sponsorships, they need the money. They aren't gonna charge $300 dollars a ticket when they can charge alot less and have a sponsor put up some signage and a small audio blurb. Soccer teams have Sponsor logos right on the chest and Nascar's are covered in sponsors and nobody minds. It doesn't affect anything. We should consider ourselves lucky that Hockey is one of the sports that doesn't logo up the sweaters.

[dallas27]

Who. Cares.

People let the silliest s*** bother them, it's quite funny.

But you all want a new arena correct? That requires a lot of money, which they may or may not have. Either way Amway is giving them more of it.

[RedBengals]

I mean, I understand that people have an issue with Amway as an organization. But Amway has been a great sponsor of the Wings and is part of why the Wings can do what they do. I could understand wanting the Wings to get a new sponsor, but then we'd have "Presented by Ford" or something and someone new would be upset.

[vladdy16]

I think we all understand the cold, harsh realities of corporate sponsorship; very, very few would have an issue if Ford or almost any other company were sponsors. Well, maybe except for Wal-Mart. Amway is seen as a very shady company and not an appropriate sponsor for an organization that has a sterling reputation.

And the reason no one can name anyone else's sponsor is because they are not loaded onto the logo at every available opportunity.

[Electrophile]

Ford Arena/Ford Coliseum sounds good, if we must have corporate feces smeared all over the building. Use something at least native to Detroit or Michigan, if you absolutely have to. Anything but something containing the word "Amway."

[Dylan Mckay]

I think the Amway thing is inevitable. Like the Fight Club montage about naming the planets after Starbucks and Microsoft etc. The Illitch family has done so much for detroit including Fedorov's contract back in the day. Everything is made in china anyway. OP's thought process doesn't understand the big picture.

[T.Low]

WALLSIDE WINDOWS


I have paddled by the owner's house on White Lake. He has a window on the back of his fireplace so I can see the fire as I paddle by at night. It's sweet. He also has a 14 car garage in the basement that I imagine to be quite sweet also.

Ford Arena/Ford Coliseum sounds good, if we must have corporate feces smeared all over the building. Use something at least native to Detroit or Michigan, if you absolutely have to. Anything but something containing the word "Amway."

Amway is native to Michigan. And I remember the first million dollar home sold on Deer lake in Clarkston went to an Amway person.

[Bambino Lino]

This is about as close as you can possibly get to having them be called the Detroit Amways or having "Amway" across the sweater like you see in European soccer league. I hate it but whatever.

[Wingzman91]

Sponsors keep ticket prices and concessions lower.
Also, why stop there demand that the board be blank and that the tv networks don't advertise during games and....lets see what else can I add to this pointless conversation?
Advertising, while annoying, is alot better than ads on jerseys etc, the guys don't play for free and we want the guys.

Edit: I guess as long as you don't have to use Amway to get to the games then it shouldn't be a problem, better than Tampax Arena or something like that.
Im sorry to harp on it, but, where would the NHL be without beer sponsorship and IMHO, alcohol is worse than a "shady" company.

Edited by Wingzman91, 09 October 2011 - 04:01 AM.

[T.Low]

where would the NHL be without beer sponsorship and IMHO, alcohol is worse than a "shady" company.

True. Not too many fans getting in trouble because they crashed their car due to the lifetime supply of shampoo and window cleaner they ended up with in their trunk. Amway>alcohol

This post brought to you by Sam Bernstein.

[WizardOfOz30]

Thank god we aren't having this arguement about a soccer team. The Wings can be "presented by" Amway all they want, it's a sponsor and helps the club out financially. It's pretty hard to name a sports team that has no sponsorships, they need the money. They aren't gonna charge $300 dollars a ticket when they can charge alot less and have a sponsor put up some signage and a small audio blurb. Soccer teams have Sponsor logos right on the chest and Nascar's are covered in sponsors and nobody minds. It doesn't affect anything. We should consider ourselves lucky that Hockey is one of the sports that doesn't logo up the sweaters.

I think all those logos are very tacky when put on the uniforms and those Nascar cars. For hockey I don't mind having to see the advertising on the boards in the arena, on the glass during the game and even some of the annoying commercials. Just keep the uniforms clean.

And it's a good thing they aren't being sponsored by the Bernsteins.

[SouthernWingsFan]

The Louisiana Superdome down here where the Saints play recently got a name change, the Mercedez-Benz Superdome.

I am assuming like locals here wanting a sponsorship with a local company like Ford or perhaps Little Casears Arena (if possible) et al, I would've loved if the Superdome would've been sponsored by a local company (Entergy is an energy company that is the only Fortune 500 company down here), but I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

Corporate names on arenas and such has been going on for a while now. I'd like just regular names as well, keep things nostalgic and traditional, but there are worse tragedies in life. And as stated above, corporate sponsors bring in business benefits that don't really need to be repeated.