16-17 Soccer Kits

[Gothamite]

 

18 hours ago, Digby said:

 

Ah, so that's the new Adidas thing.  Vertical stripes just at the top of the sock instead of three horizontal stripes across the whole top.

 

I like the new shoulder-boards application of the Adidas stripes.  If we must have them, this seems about the best way to minimize them.  So much better than the down-the-sleeve approach we've seen lately.

 

Really looking forward to the new NYCFC kit.

[TaylorMade]

4 hours ago, Gothamite said:

I like the new shoulder-boards application of the Adidas stripes.  If we must have them, this seems about the best way to minimize them.  So much better than the down-the-sleeve approach we've seen lately.

 

So the stripes down the side was a one-year experiment?

[MJWalker45]

23 minutes ago, TaylorMade said:

 

So the stripes down the side was a one-year experiment?

They are rotating the placement of the stripes, 2018 will be back on the sides again.

[Digby]

A couple teams already had socks like that this year, just for the record. 

 

 

 

This scheme to alternate stripe placement is a little weird, as it means teams will always have shoulder-striped homes and side-striped aways, or vice versa. But I also don't expect Adidas to stick with this as their shtick for very long, either. But either way is an improvement from the extra long stripes of years past (remember circa 2006 or so? Yeesh).

[AnPheitseog]

9 minutes ago, Digby said:

A couple teams already had socks like that this year, just for the record. 

 

 

 

This scheme to alternate stripe placement is a little weird, as it means teams will always have shoulder-striped homes and side-striped aways, or vice versa. But I also don't expect Adidas to stick with this as their shtick for very long, either. But either way is an improvement from the extra long stripes of years past (remember circa 2006 or so? Yeesh).

Yeah, TFC will never have a side stripes home jersey. 

 

Thankfully l'OM changes every year. 

[OlavoP]

2 hours ago, Digby said:

A couple teams already had socks like that this year, just for the record. 

 

 

 

The 2016 (sidestripes) adidas template comes with this socks, the thing is, the adistripes part is actually "inside" and ther players can choose to pull them out or not.

[CDunn]

The idea of Adidas alternating shoulder/sleeve and side stripes each year has me wondering about the supplier contract and future of MLS jerseys.

 

Adidas' contract with MLS ends in 2018.  Has a new deal with Adidas already been brokered, or is there a chance that a new supplier comes in?

[MJWalker45]

I'd expect MLS to open up bidding rather than sit on the current contract. Nike and Under Armour should be interested.

[AnPheitseog]

9 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

I'd expect MLS to open up bidding rather than sit on the current contract. Nike and Under Armour should be interested.

If that's the case, I'm hoping UA. If not them, new balance. 

 

Edit: basically anything but nike. Though I'd like to see the nike ball in MLS. 

[Berlin Wall]

Colo-Colo away:

 

[hendocfc]

9 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

They are rotating the placement of the stripes, 2018 will be back on the sides again.

 

I have heard 2018 will see the stripes back on their usual shoulder/sleeve position. Can't confirm anything just mentioning what I've been told.

[MJWalker45]

As long as that Columbus Crew alt gets replaced I'll be happy, unfortunately they'll have it one more year.

[Berlin Wall]

I don't know where the 'rotating the three stripes every year' rumour comes from. I don't think it's true.

[pepis21]

Shoulders stripes are in current season and side stripes will be also in new season, so this "rotating the placement of the stripes" is a gossip.

[Gothamite]

The Carolina Railhawks (NASL now, who-the-hell-knows next year) are planning a rebrand and MLS push.  The new name and logo leaked early this morning, four days before the official announcement:

 

 

[Digby]

First thing: too bad to replace a unique name and solid badge with a boring generic identity. Second thing: they're in the Triangle, right? Doesn't strike me as a market MLS needs to get into, especially without a history of unusually outstanding support.

 

Also, tough to imagine Adidas letting the MLS jersey contract slip away at this point.

[Gothamite]

Yeah, I'm not sold on the market.  It's tried to sell itself as the hot relocation market for the past couple decades, but hasn't paid off.  But we'll see what kind of a push they're able to put together.

 

3 hours ago, Berlin Wall said:

I don't know where the 'rotating the three stripes every year' rumour comes from. I don't think it's true.

 

I don't either.  I suspect that Adidas will just keep bringing out a variety of templates each year, mixing them up.  This year's template, it was side stripes.  Next year, shoulder boards.  After that, the new templates might go back to the down-the-sleeve variety, or they might do something crazy like three stripes down the front, PSG-style.  But I don't see any reason to believe that they're on a rotating schedule.

 

As for the league-wide contract, it would be crazy for MLS not to take bids.  Their product has become so much more valuable (and visible) in the past few years that the new deal ought to blow away the old.  I would absolutely expect Nike, Under Armour and Puma to make competitive bids, as I would expect Adidas to do whatever it could to hang on to the contract.  All of which is to say that I don't expect an announcement until late next year.

[Digby]

Two things that I am verrry interested in. Assuming MLS tops out at 28-32 like a typical American league, hard to see the Triangle having a team of course, but if they pursue a model closer to 40 teams (through pro/rel or two regional leagues), maybe Triangle-type markets have more of an in? I dunno... the endgame of MLS as a stable league remains very foggy to me, but I could see it being unusual. But short term, big "no", sorry NC.

 

On the jersey thing, not saying MLS won't or shouldn't take bids, just that it seems like an important investment for Adidas at this point. Wonder when they last renegotiated though? If it's been the same deal since 2006, then they're waaaay due for a bigger deal. But...given that MLS TV ratings are still quite bad, and Barcelona probably sells more merch in the US than the entire league, is there enough demand from manufacturers for MLS to get paid here? (Could also see New Balance as a surprise entrant, given their increased presence in pro team sports generally/soccer specifically, and their made-in-USA ethos.)

[Jer15]

21 minutes ago, Digby said:

 Wonder when they last renegotiated though? If it's been the same deal since 2006, then they're waaaay due for a bigger deal.

I'm going off the top of my head, so I am sure i'm not right but I believe that the original deal was announced as "extended" about 2 years ago (for 5 years) . 

I don't know exactly what extended means in this case: was it a case of "let's just keep this going as is" or otherwise?

 

[MJWalker45]

The league had the option to extend the negotiated deal rather than sign a new one.