If you thought that having a waterboy or a giant soft-toy mascot for your favourite sports team was a bit odd, then you better think again, as a new the Major League Soccer team Philadelphia Union has just announced its newest signing: a Chief Tattoo Officer. Yup, you read that right.
According to the club the idea is that by having an in-house tattooist, it will foster a closer team-spirit between the inked players – which, to be honest, is most of them.
It's inked, Bonedaddys Tattoo and Dan Czar will fill the role of our CTO.
Welcome to the club: https://t.co/f88pupQGkB#JoinOrDie pic.twitter.com/njDRB0GpCW
— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) August 9, 2017
But even in the crazy world of sports marketing, this was an announment that made fans raise a collective eyebrow. It seems that supporters groups didn’t seem too pleased with resources being spent on an in-house tattooist, rather than a mercurial, playmaking midfielder. Especially, if your team currently sits eighth out of 11 teams.
Union VP of marketing Doug Vosik told Philly.com. “The CTO (Chief Tattoo Officer) will be another professional resources for our players just like trainers [and] … nutritionists, if a player wants a tattoo, now they know they can call an artist who can work to their tastes and their specific schedules.”
What we can’t work out is whether this is further evidence of personal appearance and branding mattering more than winning games, or if the “Us” have thought of a new innovative way to start picking up more wins.
