Milwaukee Wave (MISL) New Logo

[illwauk]

It's notable that the Wave are North America's oldest continuously operating professional soccer club... even if you'd be lucky to find 50 people on the entire continent who actually care about indoor soccer.

New:

Old:

[kbaker19]

I went to a Wave game a few years back and it was a ton of fun.

I like the logo, big upgrade, imo.

[Gothamite]

Interesting. I like the skyline bit. Not much soccer-y about it, though. That could just as easily be a radio station logo.

Are they going black, white and blue now?

[ridenlow71]

I like the skyline but there's not much of a "wave" in the logo.

[Gothamite]

I like the wave better on the jersey:

And I answered my own question - looks like they're now a black and white team, touch of blue. Like the Admirals.

[Discrim]

Seeing as there are a lot of futbol crests that wouldn't seem soccery unless you were outright told, I kinda like the direction the Wave decided to go here. Not all that sold on the shirt posted though. I kinda wish the Detroit Ignition still existed, on a related note, now those guys had an awesome crest.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

The wordmark in the new logo uses the Die Nasty font (with the W, A, and V reversed), which was created out of the letters of the Kiss logo.

[mcrosby]

I'm torn. It's a clean logo, but just doesn't do a lot for me.

As an aside, Wave games are so much fun.

[pcgd]

The wordmark in the new logo uses the Die Nasty font (with the W, A, and V reversed), which was created out of the letters of the Kiss logo.

You don't have to run when you see a free font, but you really should pause and look into it closely before using it, especially on a logo.

[illwauk]

And I answered my own question - looks like they're now a black and white team, touch of blue. Like the Admirals.

They need a much lighter shade of blue like the Admirals use in order to pull this off.

As far as Wave games... I've been to a few. They were okay, but nothing I'd go out of my way to attend regularly. Personally, I'd much rather they purchase the rights to an NASL club. If indoor soccer is THAT important so certian segments of Southeast Wisconsin, then make US Cellular Arena the permanent home of the US Futsal (indoor soccer) team... which shouldn't be that hard to do since the US Futsal coaching staff (and many of its players) pretty much IS the Wave's coaching staff.

[Gothamite]

Interesting. I didn't know that about futsal.

And I agree - the NASL would be a great fit for Milwaukee. The city has a huge youth and amateur soccer culture to build on.

[beruud]

Soccer.. in the usa it will always be soccer. Thank you.

[Sodboy13]

Indoor soccer is called futsal far and wide, including in the U.S.

[jaha32]

I remember attending one Wave game as a child about 20 years ago. Anyway, there is lot of empty white space in this new logo, which leaves this looking rather bland. The shape of this makes me think of home plate, which would only make sense if they played baseball. I don't know why they felt the need to incorporate the Milwaukee skyline. Other than the Art Museum, it is hardly recognizable (compared to the skylines in NY, Chicago, Seattle, or San Fran). Plus, way too much minor detail in the skyline, such as flags, etc... An update of the old logo would have been better than this.

[Gothamite]

What's odd to me is that they've skipped the two most notable buildings in that skyline, City Hall and the Wisconsin Gas Building with its flame sculpture on top:

I don't see either of those distinctive silhouettes in this logo.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

Indoor soccer is called futsal far and wide, including in the U.S.

Actually, indoor soccer and futsal are two different games. Futsal is worldwide and is the FIFA-endorsed indoor version of the game. By contrast, indoor soccer as played by the Wave and the MISL is played only in the U.S. (well, and in Mexico -- the current MISL once had a team in Monterrey). The MISL, however, does occupy a place in the USL (United Soccer Leagues -- note the plural), which is the organiser of pro and amateur soccer in the U.S. (not to be confused with the USSF, which is the national governing body and a member of FIFA).

Futsal is played with five a side, and it is played on a hard floor with no walls. American indoor soccer is six-a-side, and is played on artificial turf on a playing surface with rebound walls. Futsal has normal scoring, and resembles actual soccer; American indoor soccer has multi-point scoring, with some goals counting for two points; its gameplay is very unlike that of regular soccer.

The U.S. national futsal team is composed mainly of players who play in the MISL; but the league itself does not play futsal. While playing by futsal rules would seem obvious, the MISL stubbornly refuses to do so, holding on to a game which is terribly outmoded, but which at one time showed some promise.

The original MISL had some success in the 1980s; and the NASL set up its own indoor league to compete against it. (The original MISL and the indoor NASL league did not have multi-point scoring.) Eventually, the NASL shut down its indoor league, and those NASL teams which wanted to play indoor competed in the MISL.

For a short time, the indoor game as played by the MISL did indeed seem like it was going to be the version of soccer that would be the most popular in the U.S. After the NASL folded, the MISL was actually the recognised Division I league for the United States. However, the original MISL folded in the early 1990s, the U.S. got the 1994 World Cup, and MLS was created as a condition of the U.S. hosting the tournament. So regular outdoor soccer became the dominant form once again.

The current MISL that the Wave play in is not related to the original MISL; yet it persists in playing the six-a-side, multi-point, rebound-wall game, rather than adopt the international norm of futsal. Futsal is normal soccer, scaled down for size. But, unfortunately, there are fans of the 20-15 scores that the MISL produces who don't like normal soccer.

So, the players on the U.S. national futsal team are at a tremendous disadvatage, as they play full seasons of another game, and play futsal only in national team training.

[illwauk]

What's odd to me is that they've skipped the two most notable buildings in that skyline, City Hall and the Wisconsin Gas Building with its flame sculpture on top:

{City Hall Pic}

{Gas Building Pic}

I don't see either of those distinctive silhouettes in this logo.

{Wave Logo}

The gas building is by far my favorite building in Milwaukee.

Also, this.. it may be half a mile down the road from downtown, but it's the biggest 4-sided clock in the world.

And what about the signature trusses the First Wisconsin Center US Bank Center? Certianly our state's tallest building deserves to be rendered with the design feature that makes it distinct.

[ridenlow71]

What's odd to me is that they've skipped the two most notable buildings in that skyline, City Hall and the Wisconsin Gas Building with its flame sculpture on top:

{City Hall Pic}

{Gas Building Pic}

I don't see either of those distinctive silhouettes in this logo.

{Wave Logo}

The gas building is by far my favorite building in Milwaukee.

Also, this.. it may be half a mile down the road from downtown, but it's the biggest 4-sided clock in the world.

And what about the signature trusses the First Wisconsin Center US Bank Center? Certianly our state's tallest building deserves to be rendered with the design feature that makes it distinct.

WAS the largest 4 sided clock. There's one in Abu Daubi that's now larger

[Gothamite]

I just downloaded the Journal-Sentinel's new "about town" app, and noticed that their version of the skyline is infinitely better at selling the city, not to mention much simpler.

Something like this would have been better for the Wave. Add a couple more buildings, maybe, but keep this spirit.