The Edmonton Football Team unveiled its new name on Tuesday and will now be known as the Edmonton Elks. The club announced its decision to discontinue using the name ‘Eskimo’ on July 17, 2020, a moniker that dated back to 1910.
An Angus Reid poll conducted in August 2020 indicated that 57 percent of Canadians felt that Edmonton made the right decision to change its name. This percentage dipped among the CFL fans who were polled (47 percent) and for residents of Alberta (42 percent).
The findings also correlated strongly to political affiliation. Of those polled, only 28 percent who voted Conservative in the most recent federal election felt as though changing the name was the right decision compared to 79 percent of Liberal voters and 83 percent of NDP voters.
There was plenty of engagement on social media regarding Tuesday’s announcement and we’ve collected a sampling of the reaction below.
Radio play-by-play man Morley Scott snapped some great photos of the team’s new helmets and merchandise.
Look at the size of this logo!
Lots of people seemed very happy with the new name, logo, and brand.
https://twitter.com/Jim_MullinTSN/status/1399767810377543692
https://twitter.com/cmelchertdrums/status/1399770487014658048
https://twitter.com/michaelberg1979/status/1399772476591181825
https://twitter.com/HarrySwartout/status/1399773088116613123
https://twitter.com/DarrenWHaynes/status/1399769809118666756
https://twitter.com/Morgan_Gay/status/1399772771262074883
https://twitter.com/ConnorRONeil/status/1399759460873220097
https://twitter.com/JoshuaKnaak/status/1399768797049802759
https://twitter.com/DinkMagic/status/1399770157568954372
https://twitter.com/grantdeme/status/1399769913909252099
https://twitter.com/Tey11_/status/1399775640782618626
Some fans weren’t so keen on elements of the new brand.
https://twitter.com/CappyD/status/1399768723188297730
https://twitter.com/Da_Big_Dogg/status/1399768533249126401
https://twitter.com/georgenagai1/status/1399778296640901124
https://twitter.com/Spyd11/status/1399766668662935554
https://twitter.com/bronxfanatic/status/1399768780713205767
https://twitter.com/JohnSmi86493931/status/1399771185370451968
Don’t panic, linguistic aficionados — ‘Elks’ is considered an acceptable pluralization of ‘Elk.’
https://twitter.com/DavidJBoles/status/1399762258717134848
Also, this is a really good point…
https://twitter.com/Marisa_Ingemi/status/1399773254357852163
This comment made us laugh out loud.
https://twitter.com/darcyhenton/status/1399772286215884802
As did this one.
https://twitter.com/jeffyoil/status/1399770228486201349
Yes, Elks merchandise is currently for sale. Edmonton’s old website, esks.com, is still up, but new gear can be purchased at goelks.com.
https://twitter.com/EdmFootballTeam/status/1399768538223546371
How do you feel about the ‘Edmonton Elks’? Let us know via Twitter.
