The Calgary Stampeders have teased a potential change to their on-field aesthetic for the 2023 season.
Communications director Jean Lefebvre tweeted a photo of a team helmet with a white facemask on Tueday, calling it “an example of the work by [George Hopkins] and the equipment crew as they prepare for 2023.”
It’s a subtle change that follows Calgary’s recent trend of embracing white as a stronger component of their colour scheme. The club slowly incorporated more black into their home uniforms during the 1990s and 2000s, culminating in the black side panels and pants the club wore at home from 2012 to 2019 (pictured below).
Calgary also incorporated plenty of black in their away uniforms during this era, featuring black numbers on red and white jerseys along with black helmets.
The Stampeders changed their home uniforms for 2021 in celebration of the team’s 75th anniversary, creating an updated version of the jerseys worn by the team from 1948 to 1952. The uniforms featured exclusively red and white (pictured below) and remained Calgary’s primary jerseys for the 2022 season.
The club has worn black facemasks for decades with the lone exception being a semi-departure during the 2010s. Calgary wore black helmets with their away uniforms from 2011 to 2018 and paired them with white facemasks. During this time, they continued to wear red helmets with black facemasks while playing at home.
It makes sense for the Stampeders to eschew black as part of their colour scheme given that Ottawa has traditionally worn red and black as their primary colours, even naming the team as such when they returned to the league in 2014. It’s probably not a coincidence that Calgary began embracing the colour during an era in which Ottawa mostly did not have a CFL team.
The Stamps’ two primary colours have traditionally been red and white, though they have embraced black, silver, and gold as accents in the past.
The club introduced black alternative uniforms in 1994 and have kept them ever since, usually wearing them during the annual Labour Day Classic. An updated version of these uniforms was unveiled in 2022 (pictured below) and worn during the club’s 26-18 victory over the visiting Edmonton Elks.
