Major League Soccer 1996

[MJWalker45]

Since we're on the tangent of names, does anyone know what DC United was to be called originally? I remember a story that the DC owner had to fight for DC United because he wanted a name that paid homage to the English game and had to put his foot down before MLS signed off on it.

[Brian in Boston]

Since we're on the tangent of names, does anyone know what DC United was to be called originally?

Washington Revolution was under consideration. In fact, I believe that the league went so far as to register the trademark for said name.

[Gothamite]

So what would New England have been?

[Brian in Boston]

Apparently, New England Nitro was being pushed by the league's design partners. It never gained any traction with the Krafts, who made it known that they wanted their MLS franchise to be branded in a manner that would provide thematic synergy with the NFL's Patriots.

Incidentally, while Washington Revolution advanced far enough to have been trademarked by MLS, other names that I've heard were reportedly under consideration in DC were Washington Force, Washington Justice, and Washington Spies.

[Gothamite]

Spies would have been cool. A unique take on the patriotic/nationalistic theme so often applied to DC teams.

[henchmeister]

Apparently, New England Nitro was being pushed by the league's design partners. It never gained any traction with the Krafts, who made it known that they wanted their MLS franchise to be branded in a manner that would provide thematic synergy with the NFL's Patriots.

That would've been right up there with the Burn for stupid nicknames. Crisis averted

[zigzag]

Apparently, New England Nitro was being pushed by the league's design partners. It never gained any traction with the Krafts, who made it known that they wanted their MLS franchise to be branded in a manner that would provide thematic synergy with the NFL's Patriots.

Incidentally, while Washington Revolution advanced far enough to have been trademarked by MLS, other names that I've heard were reportedly under consideration in DC were Washington Force, Washington Justice, and Washington Spies.

Justice would of been a cool name. Although I may be biased because i've only seen Windell918's concept for the name and not the Nike version

[WideRight]

While I like D.C. United as a brand, I cannot help but think they missed a great chance by naming the Washington Franchise "Athletic Club of the District of Columbia", get a little A.C.D.C. rockin' in Landover.

[Sodboy13]

While I like D.C. United as a brand, I cannot help but think they missed a great chance by naming the Washington Franchise "Athletic Club of the District of Columbia", get a little A.C.D.C. rockin' in Landover.

[pcgd]

Althought not uniform related, I was recently listening to the Permanent Relegation Podcast (Indy Eleven supporters) and they were interviewing the color man for the Indy Eleven broadcasts. He played in the USISL at the time of the MLS founding and was talking about kick ins instead of throw ins and the 35 yard penalty along with some other things. He didn't realize at the time that those were test rules for the MLS and I found that fascinating that they were testing all that. I wonder if any of the divisions actually tested the space behind the goal?

[Digby]

Althought not uniform related, I was recently listening to the Permanent Relegation Podcast (Indy Eleven supporters) and they were interviewing the color man for the Indy Eleven broadcasts. He played in the USISL at the time of the MLS founding and was talking about kick ins instead of throw ins and the 35 yard penalty along with some other things. He didn't realize at the time that those were test rules for the MLS and I found that fascinating that they were testing all that. I wonder if any of the divisions actually tested the space behind the goal?

Check out this oral history for a lot of that early-era weirdness: http://www.complex.com/sports/2015/05/oral-history-major-league-soccer-first-season

[Digby]

My only concern would be if long-time MLS franchises jettisoned existing identities solely to ape whatever branding style happened to be trending at a given time. Similarly, as new teams enter MLS representing cities that had longstanding traditions in previous American and Canadian soccer leagues, I would hope they'd give consideration to reviving/maintaining identities from said leagues (as the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers, and Vancouver Whitecaps recently have).

And that's what bugged me about Kansas City's rebrand, in particular. Obviously "Wiz" was a 1996 abomination but "Wizards" was a perfectly fine name, one that even had history and a title behind it. Of course a new logo and especially a new stadium were great, but to throw that away in favor of "Sporting Kansas City" (which makes zero sense in any language) seemed unfortunate to me.

[JayMac]

My only concern would be if long-time MLS franchises jettisoned existing identities solely to ape whatever branding style happened to be trending at a given time. Similarly, as new teams enter MLS representing cities that had longstanding traditions in previous American and Canadian soccer leagues, I would hope they'd give consideration to reviving/maintaining identities from said leagues (as the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers, and Vancouver Whitecaps recently have).

And that's what bugged me about Kansas City's rebrand, in particular. Obviously "Wiz" was a 1996 abomination but "Wizards" was a perfectly fine name, one that even had history and a title behind it. Of course a new logo and especially a new stadium were great, but to throw that away in favor of "Sporting Kansas City" (which makes zero sense in any language) seemed unfortunate to me.

I wonder if any of the fans call Sporting KC the Wizards. Like Chelsea are the Blues and Arsenal are the Gunners.

[Gothamite]

My only concern would be if long-time MLS franchises jettisoned existing identities solely to ape whatever branding style happened to be trending at a given time. Similarly, as new teams enter MLS representing cities that had longstanding traditions in previous American and Canadian soccer leagues, I would hope they'd give consideration to reviving/maintaining identities from said leagues (as the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers, and Vancouver Whitecaps recently have).

And that's what bugged me about Kansas City's rebrand, in particular. Obviously "Wiz" was a 1996 abomination but "Wizards" was a perfectly fine name, one that even had history and a title behind it. Of course a new logo and especially a new stadium were great, but to throw that away in favor of "Sporting Kansas City" (which makes zero sense in any language) seemed unfortunate to me.

I agree.

I like the "FC"s, but that one both stupid and a downgrade from their previous name.

[Crabcake]

My only concern would be if long-time MLS franchises jettisoned existing identities solely to ape whatever branding style happened to be trending at a given time. Similarly, as new teams enter MLS representing cities that had longstanding traditions in previous American and Canadian soccer leagues, I would hope they'd give consideration to reviving/maintaining identities from said leagues (as the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers, and Vancouver Whitecaps recently have).

And that's what bugged me about Kansas City's rebrand, in particular. Obviously "Wiz" was a 1996 abomination but "Wizards" was a perfectly fine name, one that even had history and a title behind it. Of course a new logo and especially a new stadium were great, but to throw that away in favor of "Sporting Kansas City" (which makes zero sense in any language) seemed unfortunate to me.

I agree.

I like the "FC"s, but that one both stupid and a downgrade from their previous name.

Ditto.

[raysox]

My only concern would be if long-time MLS franchises jettisoned existing identities solely to ape whatever branding style happened to be trending at a given time. Similarly, as new teams enter MLS representing cities that had longstanding traditions in previous American and Canadian soccer leagues, I would hope they'd give consideration to reviving/maintaining identities from said leagues (as the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers, and Vancouver Whitecaps recently have).

And that's what bugged me about Kansas City's rebrand, in particular. Obviously "Wiz" was a 1996 abomination but "Wizards" was a perfectly fine name, one that even had history and a title behind it. Of course a new logo and especially a new stadium were great, but to throw that away in favor of "Sporting Kansas City" (which makes zero sense in any language) seemed unfortunate to me.

I wonder if any of the fans call Sporting KC the Wizards. Like Chelsea are the Blues and Arsenal are the Gunners.

Their supporters group is the Cauldron, a play on the old nickname so I imagine. But the team was sold from the Hunts to a group wanting to start a Sporting Club like European and South American teams. The plan was to make Sporting Park the home for a lacrosse team and a rugby team. They rebranded with that in mind. I would love for a cleaned up version of the KC Wizards like the Galaxy's look. Where they have a name that doesn't stand out because the rest is so classy.

I was reading about the Mutiny's early days and someone mentioned that if the Mutiny were named the Rowdies, they would probably still exist. At the time of the MLS, the Rowdies had already completely folded. Instead they were named after the act of rejecting your captain, and was represented by a bat and not promoted well.

[Corvus]

I don't mind the FC and SC at all, but the weird language mangling or odd allusions like Real Salt Lake and Sporting KC are super awkward. I think it is telling that both teams seem to be most commonly referred to by their acronyms more than anything else.

Also, in regard to names, there was some uncertainty that the Whitecaps were going to keep the name when making the jump up to MLS from USL (or whatever the hell the league was called at that point, it was changing all the time). It would have been really lame if the Cascadia MLS teams hadn't used the historical names from their markets.

[ICTknight]

I guess I'm the only one who didn't like the Wizards name. I wish they could get the lacrosse team running and buy and/or rebrand the women's soccer team and the rugby team. That would make the sporting club make sense:

Sporting Club of Kansas City anyone??

[Berlin Wall]

I really hope the Atl franchise will get the name 'Atlanta Athletic' btw. That would be the best adopted team name from Europe in the MLS imo. And it would also be a standard American team name in a way.

[fumbler]

So much angst over the FC, SC thing.

When it's forced it looks silly like Sporting Kansas and Real SL, but i believe Toronto FC and FC Dallas fit well with what their identity is.