MLS 2007 Uni Changes

[AJM]

Real Salt Lake (already has) and Colorado (will have) very not-hidden partnerships with the Euro clubs that sport their names. I guess you can't call it jacking if they establish a partnership...it may be unoriginal in a naming sense, but nontheless a reality.

To spare you my own explanation...here's the standard issue history provided on Wikipedia...

Arsenal were founded as Dial Square in 1886 by a group of workers employed by the Dial Square workshop at the Royal Arsenal, an armaments factory in Woolwich, south east London. The same year the club decided to turn professional, and at the same time they changed their name to Woolwich Arsenal.

"Real" (which also means royal) is a common word in the names of Spanish football clubs, such as Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Real Valladolid, Real Betis, Real Zaragoza, Real Oviedo and similarly named football (soccer) clubs in other countries, such as Real Salonica in Greece and Real Salt Lake in the United States.

[Viola73]

So is MLS just jacking all the premier league team names and such? As an "outsider" that's what it seems like to me. Real, Arsenal, all that.... Is there some hidden partnership with "European" leagues? What does Real mean anyway(in the soccer sense)? Can anyone help me figure that out?

I can help you out....on everything.

1. No the MLS is not 'jacking' Premier League club names. If they did 'jack' them they would have done it when the MLS first started 11 years ago. What is going on is rebranding on the part of some clubs to become more attractive to 'Euro-snobs' like me who cannot bring ourselves to root for a football club called the Wiz, Burn, Crew, Mutiny, and Clash.

2. There is some partnerships going on with some of these clubs. NY/NJ Metrostars were bought by RedBull and renamed like their sisterclub in Austria. Chivas in LA, well that's a no brainer...oh yeah...sorry. Chivas Gujadalahara (I think it's spelled right) purchased an expansion franchise and called it Chivas Gujadalahara USA.

LA Galaxy has a partnership with Tigres of the Mexican League and Houston Dynamo, I believe, has a partnership with Club Americas also of the Mexican League.

Real Salt Lake has a partnership with Real Madrid (that's in Spain). Real means Royal in Spanish.

Hoped this helped.

[Alphabet Man]

Houtson Villa?

Chicago Wednesday?

[AJM]

So is MLS just jacking all the premier league team names and such? As an "outsider" that's what it seems like to me. Real, Arsenal, all that.... Is there some hidden partnership with "European" leagues? What does Real mean anyway(in the soccer sense)? Can anyone help me figure that out?

I can help you out....on everything.

1. No the MLS is not 'jacking' Premier League club names. If they did 'jack' them they would have done it when the MLS first started 11 years ago. What is going on is rebranding on the part of some clubs to become more attractive to 'Euro-snobs' like me who cannot bring ourselves to root for a football club called the Wiz, Burn, Crew, Mutiny, and Clash.

2. There is some partnerships going on with some of these clubs. NY/NJ Metrostars were bought by RedBull and renamed like their sisterclub in Austria. Chivas in LA, well that's a no brainer...oh yeah...sorry. Chivas Gujadalahara (I think it's spelled right) purchased an expansion franchise and called it Chivas Gujadalahara USA.

LA Galaxy has a partnership with Tigres of the Mexican League and Houston Dynamo, I believe, has a partnership with Club Americas also of the Mexican League.

Real Salt Lake has a partnership with Real Madrid (that's in Spain). Real means Royal in Spanish.

Hoped this helped.

Guadalajara.

[Brian in Boston]

Houtson Villa?

Chicago Wednesday?

No. Reportedly, Major League Soccer's member franchises will be branded as follows:

Arsenal Colorado FC

CD Chivas USA

Chicagornik Zabrze

CSD Colo-Columbus

DC United

FC Dallas

Heart of MidAmerica FC

Houston Dynamo

Los Angeles Galatasaray SK

New England Celtic FC

Real Salt Lake

Red Bull New York

Toronto FC

[Joely]

So is MLS just jacking all the premier league team names and such? As an "outsider" that's what it seems like to me. Real, Arsenal, all that.... Is there some hidden partnership with "European" leagues? What does Real mean anyway(in the soccer sense)? Can anyone help me figure that out?

'Real' means royal in spanish, and is used exclusively by spanish clubs (in a european sense), and denotes that a member of the royal family of spain has patronised them at some time (ie. Real Sociedad, based in San Sebastian were patronised by Alfonso XIII, as it was his holiday resort).

I believe that winning the Copa dely Rey (Kings Cup, FA Cup equivalent) a certain number of times entiltles you to the moniker too...

[DrBear]

Not having followed this closely - wherinhell is Heart of Mid-America? A farm field in Nebraska?

(Wishes somebody would use Wanderers, or maybe Columbus Hotspur.)

[Ez Street]

Houtson Villa?

Chicago Wednesday?

No. Reportedly, Major League Soccer's member franchises will be branded as follows:

Heart of MidAmerica FC

Seriously? Kansas City will change to that?

Good lord. Why not go corporate....

Sprint FC

Sounds better than Heart of MidAmerica FC. That's crappy. no tie to KC.

[Saturn]

Houtson Villa?

Chicago Wednesday?

No. Reportedly, Major League Soccer's member franchises will be branded as follows:

Arsenal Colorado FC

CD Chivas USA

Chicagornik Zabrze

CSD Colo-Columbus

DC United

FC Dallas

Heart of MidAmerica FC

Houston Dynamo

Los Angeles Galatasaray SK

New England Celtic FC

Real Salt Lake

Red Bull New York

Toronto FC

Good thing you're being sarcastic.

[StoneRaizer]

I hate the new Rapids stuff. It's cool that's similar to the Avalanche and Mammoth (NLL) but still the Rapids are their own identity. Black and blue looks awesome and the original Rapids logo was one of the best (and still is) logos in all of pro sports.

[BaltimoreFan]

MLS does sort of have a bizarre way of nicknaming teams. I don't really care if they use "American" nicknames or traditional European nicknames. But it would be nice if they just picked one way and stuck with it. If they did want to use European nicknames it would have also been nice if they didn't force them on to the teams. For example, DC United (doesn't that mean two teams came together, which didn't happen to DC), Real Salt Lake. Also maybe use SC instead of FC, since we call it soccer here. If they really wanted European names it probably would have been best to just have each team name themselves, after the city and create a crest. Then just let a nickname come to them. For example I know AC Milan's nickname is the Rossineri (red-blacks), which I believe was just what the fans called them and it stuck. If no nickname stuck they could have always gotten a partnership like some teams have done now.

[Brian in Boston]

Good thing you're being sarcastic.

You think?

[AJM]

Rapids press conference just wrapped up...it didn't have any sound, which made it impossible to understand what was discussed, but they had logos and kits still with the name Rapids. Both the Manager and Head Coach for Arsenel spoke, but again...no idea what they said.

[speedy]

ok my 2 cents... yes the name changes suck, but does it get people talking about the MLS (good or bad)?

Answer: yes it does.

end of story.

[hecticbro]

I'm looking at Fox Soccer Shop and they have the '06-'07 jerseys. I love the Galaxy colors and their look. I hope that they don't change just for change sake. I actually think the only reason they are changing is because they got Beckham (sorry if I killed the spelling), it's kind of like when the Kings got Gretz and happened to be changing the colors at the same time. It's an opportune time to change, but that would be like the Yankees changing because they got A-Rod or the Rangers because they got Messier.

Did the Rangers unveil their Lady Liberty jerseys before or after they got Gretzky? It seems like it was about the same time.... Not that I'm saying that's why they did it, but if it was after they got him, it's similar.

[oddball]

I'm looking at Fox Soccer Shop and they have the '06-'07 jerseys. I love the Galaxy colors and their look. I hope that they don't change just for change sake. I actually think the only reason they are changing is because they got Beckham (sorry if I killed the spelling), it's kind of like when the Kings got Gretz and happened to be changing the colors at the same time. It's an opportune time to change, but that would be like the Yankees changing because they got A-Rod or the Rangers because they got Messier.

Did the Rangers unveil their Lady Liberty jerseys before or after they got Gretzky? It seems like it was about the same time.... Not that I'm saying that's why they did it, but if it was after they got him, it's similar.

I just looked it up. They unveiled their Lady Liberty jerseys in '97-'98, and if I'm not mistaken that was Gretzky's first year with them. Knowing that they unveiled them that year means knowing the process for a new jersey. etc. takes a year or two, it I guess was coindience that they unvieled them that year. I think having him wear one was a great marketing ploy. But back to the subject of MLS and jerseys. I happened to check the Galaxy website and was looking at jerseys and noticed that you can't order a jersey with Beckham on it. If you do they will cancel the order! Marketing at it's best. Sell them what we want, when we want, and they can't do it any other way except our way. Not that I blame them, but it seems very snootish what they are doing. Of course I also realize that they don't have a number for him yet so, that could be a licensing issue to have his name and that number (7?) that they haven't secured yet.

[lost_limey]

Of course I also realize that they don't have a number for him yet so, that could be a licensing issue to have his name and that number (7?) that they haven't secured yet.

Actually, the day after the signing news broke, Beckham held a press conference wherein he announced he'd be wearing 23 with the Galaxy.

[-kj]

Regarding the Galaxy re-brand, here's an angle I hadn't considered until someone mentioned in Wednesday: AEG owns the Galaxy and the LA Kings. So, they may be doing the same thing the Rapids and Kroenke are doing, bringing the MLS team into line, color-wise, with their other team(s).

Just a hypothesis, but it seems like a valid point. I still think it's a bad idea, mind you, but to them it may well make sense.

[Gothamite]

If they did want to use European nicknames it would have also been nice if they didn't force them on to the teams. For example, DC United (doesn't that mean two teams came together, which didn't happen to DC)

Who says they're "forcing them on to the teams"?

And no, that's not what "United" means. Common misconception. It means that sometimes (as in Newcastle United), but not in others. Manchester United and West Ham United both took the name when a single team rebranded. They liked the sound of it, sounded more professional or more "football-y," nothing more than that.

[duma]

well the day has come and gone and Colorado is staying as the Rapids. i assume something went wrong because they had already registered 5 different domains all with aresnal, colorado and/or fc in the domain name. no new news, the pics of their kits and badge have been up here for a while now.

on the topic of MLS name changes, this is my theory. MLS is in its 11th year. thier marketing approach in 1996 was to cater to the young crowd of youth soccer players. Hence the names Wiz, Burn, Mutiny, Clash. there were only 2 teams out of 10 in the league with a name ending in s (MetroStars and Rapids), which suggest they were marketing to the young generation X. now after the league has been established for 10 years, the US markets for these clubs have settled. MLS is now trying to focus their attention on Europe and to get Europeans to watch their games. It makes sense because the MLS starts opposite of the Euro leagues so it will give club games to watch in the off season. Beckham signing will attract a ton of Europeans to watching Galaxy games you can be assured of that. It could also be said they are trying to gain the attention of American immigrants (Mexican, South American, European) but making team names sound more familiar to them. These immigrants have basically shunned the MLS so far. MLS is trying the take the "kiddie" names off the teams and trying to become taken seriously. but as we all can attest, it makes them look like even more of joke than they were originally, a copy cat league.