Calgary Flames tap into fan nostalgia with retro jerseys

The Calgary Flames have announced their players will be switching back, full-time, to the "retro" jerseys of the 1980s.

The organization unveiled the new look this week in a video that featured Flames team captain Mark Giordano modelling the iconic red, yellow and white jersey.

The Flames organization says this is what the fans want.

Chris Creamer, author of Fabric of the Game: The Stories behind the NHL's Names, Logos and Uniforms, agrees that the return of the retro jersey reminds fans of the glory days.

"For the last 11 years, after they reintroduced this uniform as sort of a throwback jersey. The fans have made it quite clear that this is what they want, this is what they love," Creamer told the Calgary Eyeopener.

"When you think about that jersey, as I just did, the first thing you think about is Lanny McDonald, that big bushy mustache with the cup far above his head at the Montreal Forum back in 1989. You can't help but have great feelings and great memories about that." 

The retro home-game jersey is bright red, with yellow and white stripes around the waist and a white flaming "C." The white away-game jersey features red shoulders and a red flaming "C." 

Creamer says there is a trend across not just the league, but the entire sports landscape, to go retro.

"You think of baseball, the Toronto Blue Jays threw back about 10 years ago," he said. "In hockey, just in the last couple of months, we saw the Buffalo Sabres, they're going back to their original uniforms. The Ottawa Senators, they're going to introduce new uniforms [Tuesday] which are the same as they were back in the '90s."

Creamer says teams have been getting away from the more muted colours of the past 20 years — the Edmonton Oilers also switched from royal blue and bright orange to their navy blue and copper tones.

"And that sort of happened across the whole sports landscape," Creamer said. "And after about 10 years of that, people get bored of seeing the darker, dull colours. They want that bright colour, they want to be punched in the face with it again. And you want your team to stand out against the sports world."

And then there's the nostalgia factor.

"People miss what they grew up watching," Creamer said. "People miss what they sort of, you know, fell in love with the game [seeing]. And they want to see it back."

The team captain participated in the jersey unveil.

"My teammates and I love them," Giordano said in a release. "The first thing that comes to mind is that these were the jerseys worn when they won the cup back in 1989. There is a certain amount of pride for the current players knowing that we carry on a legacy and tradition. They look great and feel even better on. I think they are the coolest jerseys in the league."

The Flames will be wearing the "new" retro jerseys to start the next season. The current jersey with its flaming black "C" will become the alternate  jersey.

Creamer, who is also the founder of sportslogos.net, has made a study of sports jerseys. He says that for the past couple of years, he has been tracking baseball performance based on what jersey the players are wearing — "just for fun."

Creamer says he has found that there are a few teams that play really well when they wear one jersey and really terrible when they wear the other. 

"It could be a matter of superstition. It could be a matter that whoever is the starting pitcher that day is just not very good, and they keep picking the same jersey," he said.

"I have heard some studies out there that in sports where there are referees and judges, they tend to favour teams that wear red because it's more of a powerful, aggressive colour, and just subconsciously the official leans toward that."

Creamer stops short of predicting a Stanley Cup win for the Flames in the retro jerseys.

"It would just look so beautiful, skating around the Saddledome or wherever they're playing at the time, with that old uniform," he said.

"I fell in love with that uniform because, like, even though I live in Toronto, the first NHL game I remember watching is the '89 Stanley Cup finals against the Canadiens. So that uniform is sort of stuck in my mind as associated with a very happy, positive feeling of light."

"So I love seeing the Flames wearing these uniforms again."

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.