The San Francisco 49ers’ new slogan certainly seems to be a thinly veiled shot at the now-departed Las Vegas Raiders.
The team’s new campaign is based on the slogan “Faithful to the Bay,” which clearly draws attention to the fact that the Niners are now the only team in the Bay Area. The Raiders officially moved to Las Vegas this offseason after spending 25 years in Oakland.
49ers chief marketing officer Alex Chang denied that the slogan had anything to do with the Raiders or their departure, via Ryan Barwick of Adweek:
“We’re not trolling the Raiders; that was one of our key tenets internally. We don’t have a plan or a strategy to convert Raiders fans — sports fans are inherently loyal, as they should be. We, as a team, respect that loyalty.”
Maybe the goal isn’t to troll the Raiders. However, the 49ers certainly have their eyes on some disaffected Raiders fans who remain in Oakland. A decent number of Raiders fans may be going with the team. Not all of them are, though, and if they can be converted, the Niners would love that.
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