North American Pro Soccer 2019

[Dilbert]

Wouldnt mind seeing the Athletic Club St Louis name return

 

 

Also I would love to see Sacramento and Charlotte next but for the love of god Sacramento needs to be named first. They have gotten shafted for so long.

[gosioux76]

11 minutes ago, Maroon said:

 

Some people on twitter are saying that using "Olympic" or "Olympique" in club names is no longer permitted. Apparently Montreal's MLS club wanted to use Olympique but was not permitted? Unknown if this is a copyright thing with the Olympic Committee or a FIFA rule (and the information comes from twitter, so who knows how accurate it is in the fist place). Either way, it'd be highly disappointing if that is the case.

I'd guess this is the same legal issue that keeps Nike and other non-Olympic sponsors from using  the actual words Olympic in their marketing. There was even a charcuterie company in Portland, Olympic Provisions, that had to change its name due to trademark complaints from the actual Olympics.

[gosioux76]

12 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

With Jim Kavanaugh involved in the ownership group of St. Louis MLS, how likely is it that St. Louis FC becomes their USL affiliate? 

I think it's incredibly likely.  STLFC also has a pretty strong youth academy and a lot of the developmental infrastructure that even some MLS teams seem to lack. The STLFC organization also owns St. Louis Scott Gallagher Soccer Club, one of the more prestigious private youth clubs in the nation. 

[BC985]

17 minutes ago, Maroon said:

 

Some people on twitter are saying that using "Olympic" or "Olympique" in club names is no longer permitted. Apparently Montreal's MLS club wanted to use Olympique but was not permitted? Unknown if this is a copyright thing with the Olympic Committee or a FIFA rule (and the information comes from twitter, so who knows how accurate it is in the fist place). Either way, it'd be highly disappointing if that is the case.

 

Yes that would be disappointing. Imagine a team with that name and horizontal stripes, or hoops, on their kits. You could nickname them “the rings.” It’s almost too perfect. 

[GDAWG]

1 minute ago, gosioux76 said:

I think it's incredibly likely.  STLFC also has a pretty strong youth academy and a lot of the developmental infrastructure that even some MLS teams seem to lack. The STLFC organization also owns St. Louis Scott Gallagher Soccer Club, one of the more prestigious private youth clubs in the nation. 

 

So St. Louis MLS won't have the same issues finding a developmental affiliate as Austin FC has.  That's good to know.

[Maroon]

2 minutes ago, gosioux76 said:

I think it's incredibly likely.  STLFC also has a pretty strong youth academy and a lot of the developmental infrastructure that even some MLS teams seem to lack. The STLFC organization also owns St. Louis Scott Gallagher Soccer Club, one of the more prestigious private youth clubs in the nation. 

 

My understanding was that the existing developmental infrastructure and strong dedication to building soccer in St. Louis was an important factor in St. Louis even getting an MLS club. Now, I'm sure it actually came down $$$ and not the developmental stuff, but it doesn't hurt.

[Gothamite]

33 minutes ago, Brandon9485 said:

Yes that would be disappointing. Imagine a team with that name and horizontal stripes, or hoops, on their kits. You could nickname them “the rings.” It’s almost too perfect. 

 

...and that’s why it cannot happen. You just gleefully described a willful infringement of intellectual property. 

[Gothamite]

1 hour ago, Bucfan56 said:

I think people would be surprised to learn that out in the real world, I have a rather sunny, happy-go-lucky, see the good in all things type of mentality. I just use this place as a dumping ground for my built up cynicism rather than unleash all of that unhinged on the general populous  

 

I'm basically Gilfoyle from Silicon Valley. 

 

Or you’re basically every single human being online.

[MJWalker45]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/3925217/toxic-soil-at-beckhams-mls-site-exceed-limits

At this rate, Inter Miami will play in the actual city of Miami in the year 2525. 

[-kj]

6 hours ago, Brandon9485 said:

A name for the St. Louis club is going to come at a later date as MLS advised the ownership group to not pursue a name until after the franchise was announced. The Saint Louis FC club will not be promoted from the USL to MLS, so that name is out.  

 

Woohoo!  Throwing away more potential US soccer history, only to complain about how there's no soccer history in the US!

 

The more things change, blah blah blah...

[Digby]

I’m tired of all this generic nonsense. Hoping for St. Louis Firebirdz.

[WJMorris3]

7 hours ago, Gothamite said:

 

...and that’s why it cannot happen. You just gleefully described a willful infringement of intellectual property. 

Surprised they haven't gone after Lyon or Marseilles.

[Burmy]

28 minutes ago, willmorris said:

Surprised they haven't gone after Lyon or Marseilles.

I'm guessing they were grandfathered in.

Regardless, I don't know why STL can't be the "St. Louis Olympians" or something like that...

[gosioux76]

8 hours ago, willmorris said:

Surprised they haven't gone after Lyon or Marseilles.

Yes, I'd guess this has to do with those clubs pre-dating the International Olympic Committee's aggressive protectionist stance toward its brand. Lyon dates to 1950 and Marseilles was formed in 1899.

[gosioux76]

8 hours ago, MBurmy said:

I'm guessing they were grandfathered in.

Regardless, I don't know why STL can't be the "St. Louis Olympians" or something like that...

For the same exact reason. Olympians is still a form of Olympic, which the IOC and the various regional federations police aggressively. If they care enough to send a cease-and-desist letter to a meat packer or a winery, then they'll certainly go after another form of athletics. I actually wrote a story a few years ago about all the non-sports organizations that were forced to change their name due to a legal challenge from the Olympics:
https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/morning_call/2015/02/knitters-ferrets-and-rednecks-meet-9-groups-that.html

 

[Maroon]

9 hours ago, willmorris said:

Surprised they haven't gone after Lyon or Marseilles.

 

Their naming was why I largely thought it could be possible for St. Louis to use that kind of naming. But it makes sense that they could be grandfathered in as @gosioux76 and @MBurmy mentioned. But I mean, it's not like those are the only French clubs that use Olympique. It's pretty common naming in Ligue 1. OGC Nice is Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur and then there's also Nîmes Olympique. A good number of French rugby clubs also use "Olympique" in their name.

 

Other French naming conventions seem more unlikely to transfer well to a St. Louis club. Association Sportive de Saint Louis (AS Saint Louis) and Stade Saint Louis (Stade STL) don't translate quite as well and would likely appear too French for a city that doesn't actually speak French, as opposed to Olympique which would harken to French naming conventions but still make sense to Americans. But now that I think about it, I'm surprised that Montreal Impact didn't try either of those.

[Jer15]

Just now, Maroon said:

But now that I think about it, I'm surprised that Montreal Impact didn't try either of those.

Why? (just curious, not trying to be stand-offish...if that's a word) 

 

Impact was a long established brand before Montreal was in MLS. 

[Maroon]

24 minutes ago, mr.negative15 said:

Why? (just curious, not trying to be stand-offish...if that's a word) 

 

Impact was a long established brand before Montreal was in MLS. 

 

Oh, just because it'd be cool, make sense, and be unique to MLS. Plus, a twitter rando (who, again, I have no clue if he knew what he was talking about) said that Montreal wanted to use Olympique but was told they couldn't, so they stuck with Impact.

 

No disrespect intended to the current Montreal club or anything.

[BC985]

1 hour ago, gosioux76 said:

Yes, I'd guess this has to do with those clubs pre-dating the International Olympic Committee's aggressive protectionist stance toward its brand. Lyon dates to 1950 and Marseilles was formed in 1899.

 

What I noticed from your article is the lawsuits were brought by the United States Olympic Committee. Perhaps France doesn’t have a desire to bring it against these clubs. Probably, as you also reasoned, the longevity of the club names might play a role in that. 

[gosioux76]

39 minutes ago, Brandon9485 said:

 

What I noticed from your article is the lawsuits were brought by the United States Olympic Committee. Perhaps France doesn’t have a desire to bring it against these clubs. Probably, as you also reasoned, the longevity of the club names might play a role in that. 

My guess is that the various Olympic federations of each country are charged with maintaining trademark protections in their respective countries, though I can't say for certain that it's the case.