If you haven’t already heard the news from Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), you’ve probably been cramming in lecture notes in preparation for the endless stream of midterms. In case you missed it, here’s what happened—on Oct. 20 at dual press conferences in Ontario and Quebec, CIS announced that the organization will have a new logo to go along with their new name, “U Sports.”
The sudden announcement of a rebrand has come as a surprise to nearly every Canadian sports media analyst and fan who follows university athletics, and will mark yet another change to the image of the company. In 2001, the enterprise decided to rebrand from its founding name, Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union. The report also comes as a substantial shock to journalists who were in attendance for the press conference, since it had been previously rumoured that CIS had called the meeting to announce changes for a new logo and nothing else. No matter which way you spin it, the management in charge has made it clear that they are prepared to start on a clean slate in an attempt to keep up with an ever-changing market demand.
The logo is fresh, simple and one of the best logos from a sports organization that I can remember in recent memory. The large-scale “U” in varsity-style lettering, the subtle addition of the red maple leaf, the overall contrast of black, white and red colours make this logo a vast improvement over its predecessors. However, the “U” doesn’t represent what you might think. Rather than being an acronym for university sports, the “U” will represent terms such as united, unbeatable, unsurpassed, undaunted, unrelenting, or however one chooses to read it, according to the press release.
Furthermore, the title will be instantly recognizable to both French and English fans to pay tribute to our country’s bilingual background. Fashion analysis aside, the organization is obviously making an endeavour to attract more fans from the post-secondary and graduate level by implementing a more modernistic approach to their image.
One intriguing view that comes in wake of the rebranding of CIS is why the committee decided to make the announcement in the midst of a crucial point in the season for many major sports. It’s typical in present-day sports that leagues will usually wait until most seasons are complete, so that the committee will be able to devote more time and effort into announcements such as this one. In other words, this is the type of news that you would hear during the offseason rather than during the midst of playoffs.
Now that we’ve covered timing and fashion, let’s get down to business—literally. From a business standpoint, this is an absolutely ingenious move by management. Before the change to U Sports, CIS had been intrigued by the opportunities of changing their status from associate to a sports business. By doing so, this would allow the company to bring more focus and attention to stories about the student-athletes competing in those sports to fans across the country.
This news also comes at a time where the organization has been struggling to gain national consideration due to low ticket sales and lack of media coverage for a majority of their leagues. With its rival competitor, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, continuing to garner the curiosity of young American and Canadian fans and athletes, U Sports surely hopes the implementation of this new strategy will be able to increase Canadian viewership for future generations.
As of today, U Sports represents 56 universities with 12,000 student-athletes and 500 coaches, meaning that there is definitely a good possibly that U Sports might be on the verge of reaping the benefits from a potentially untapped market. I’m not going to say that it’s a sure-fire bet the company succeeds, but if they can play their cards right, they just might.
