Charlotte FC announces name and logos

[UnclearInitial]

7 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

 

 

I doubt any of those names carry world-wide recognition anymore. It was almost forty years ago that the original NASL died. The Cascadian clubs' legacy survived through third parties, but that failure of a league is best left for dead. Given the actions of the later Cosmos, I doubt that name carries any reverence anymore. If anything, the Cosmos are a cancer upon North American soccer. 

 

North American traditions and soccer don't mix, outside of a few "legacy" teams like the Cascadian clubs and the Fire. If London, Paris, or Munich had a gridiron football team, it would follow a North American naming convention and not a Euro format. Formats follow sports, regardless of nationality.

The problem with this is that soccer is such a universal sport that to restrict the naming conventions to the English clubs is really limiting. Yes, the English were the first and many throughout the world copied their conventions (or team names outright) but local cultures also started pretty much immediately and have become part of soccer culture. So if it’s become accepted that a a team could be named after a poem, figures from Greek mythology, a Portuguese explorer, Latin or Greek words, Japanese-Italian portmanteaus,  or even be named something closer to North American naming conventions  like Miners, Tigers, Partisans or Orlando Pirates, I see no reason why an American naming would look too out of place. The real problem was that most of the original MLS names were terrible by American naming conventions too. I do prefer following mostly European conventions but saying that no other naming style works doesn’t even reflect the reality of European soccer

[JayMac]

13 hours ago, QCS said:

Using Trucolor.net, I remade the graphic to be more accurate. For Charlotte I used Panthers blue, but the rest come straight from Trucolor's MLS page. 

 

 

Charlotte still remains distinctive, in fact, the other two black and blue teams, Montreal and San Jose, use the exact same shade of blue. Just for fun, Colorado, Houston, and Vancouver share a shade of blue and a couple of the navy shades are the same. 

So, based off of this graphic, Charlotte's blue is most similar to the criminally underutilized signal blue of the Philadelphia Union.

[nelroy78]

I like it, though they probably should’ve went with Charlotte Crown. It’s already in the logo. I would’ve preferred Soccer Club but the abbreviation would’ve got confused with South Carolina.

[spartacat_12]

If they were insisting on the roundel they could've made it more coin-like. Some gold trim would've been a nice way to separate them from the other black & blue teams, plus could help them stand out a bit from the Panthers.

 

 

Use the right side as a basis for the crest. Put the crown in between the laurel wreath, add the monogram logo underneath where the C is, have "Minted in MMXXII" as the text around the wreath, and add the ridges around the outside.

[Digby]

When did the "galacticos" brand really take hold for Real Madrid? I feel like it was actually after the Galaxy formed. That name has turned into the best of the original crop I think, as a reference to both Hollywood culture and the all-white kit / big-money signings philosophy.

[Digby]

10 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

North American traditions and soccer don't mix, outside of a few "legacy" teams like the Cascadian clubs and the Fire. If London, Paris, or Munich had a gridiron football team, it would follow a North American naming convention and not a Euro format. Formats follow sports, regardless of nationality.

 

This doesn't make any sense to me given that different countries tend to have different "formats". English clubs and Argentine clubs tend to follow pretty different naming conventions, for example. It strikes me as very arbitrary to blanket dismiss North American ones, particularly given that there are successful examples.

[crashcarson15]

2 minutes ago, Digby said:

 

This doesn't make any sense to me given that different countries tend to have different "formats". English clubs and Argentine clubs tend to follow pretty different naming conventions, for example. It strikes me as very arbitrary to blanket dismiss North American ones, particularly given that there are successful examples.

And even at that, there’s plenty of examples in the world where clubs are named similarly to the “North American” naming convention.

 

One of the two most-supported teams in Scotland shares a name with both an NHL and MLB club. Wolverhampton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers are both good, traditional English names that follow a convention that looks similar to ours. Germany has Stuttgarter Kickers and Würzburger Kickers. The two most-supported clubs in South Africa are Chiefs and Pirates.

 

My broad preference for MLS is that it continues this mix of “traditional” soccer names with “traditional” NA names that it has. It’s a nice balance, IMO, and reflective of the game in our countr(ies).

[SFGiants58]

I’d prefer steering hard in the English/Spanish/Italian tradition. An Inter, a FC “insert city name,” and a nickname (no city name) FC would be nice. If not, the “city name FC” is the way to go, with fans/supporters generating sobriquets.
 

The North American names come with the worst excesses of North American soccer. The awful running of the Cosmos and the original NASL, the MLS 1.0 tire fire, and the corniness of ‘90s names all come with the old “tradition.” The Cascadian clubs, the Fire, Crew, Earthquakes, Rapids, etc. are fine to keep, but I prefer the current direction. It seems more dignified and respectable for world soccer fans, with the exception of Real Salt Lake (I love Sporting Kansas City as a name, fight me). No new names in the North American style, please.
 

That’s just my take. 

[UnclearInitial]

2 hours ago, Digby said:

When did the "galacticos" brand really take hold for Real Madrid? I feel like it was actually after the Galaxy formed. That name has turned into the best of the original crop I think, as a reference to both Hollywood culture and the all-white kit / big-money signings philosophy.

It was at the start of the first Florentino Perez presidency, and I think it’s more closely tied to those teams (sort of like Orange Crush is tied to the Broncos in the 80’s) then a blanket nickname for the team. Merengues or Blancos are way more common, Vikingos in Spain and talking about the fan base. It was a very lucky coincidence that a Galáctico went on to play for the Galaxy, especially since they looked so similar to Real Madrid. Was the rebrand unveiled before or after they got Beckham?

[Digby]

Is dignified what we're after, though? For the league whose primary value proposition is the fan experience of drinking and jumping and shouting and smoke bombs (with league approval and fire marshal oversight)? (I think this is a question the league has always struggled with; I think of that classic SI piece about the wild MLS 90s, with Peter Wilt accurately pointing out that early MLS position as if it was an extreme sport. That was insane, but I don't know that "dignified" was quite right either for the sport as a whole, fresh off of the peak hooliganism era.)

 

I don't know, I think the current problem with MLS is that most of the branding work is very well-done, but also very... generic, I guess, and defaulting to names that are Generic FC or minor variations on that doesn't help. In the last five years of MLS new brands we've got six roundels, four of them black. That the second-most unique thing about this Charlotte crest is that they said "Minted" in it is not a sign of divine inspiration. On top of the logos, the nature of MLS jersey conventions means you miss an opportunity for distinction there, with Adidas templates and the visual priority of sponsor logos ... that gives us the fashion collection this year that's largely interchangeable. And maybe any league would be susceptible to an overload of trendy contemporary design, but given that MLS is still a young league that's building and re-building on the fly, it sticks out more.

 

Obviously this hasn't hurt a team like Atlanta, so maybe it doesn't matter as much as it's just personal preference. But I just struggle with, what makes this league particularly worth your time and energy? And what makes each team a representative of its market, not just a franchise location of a big corporate overlord?

[Digby]

11 minutes ago, UnclearInitial said:

Was the rebrand unveiled before or after they got Beckham?

 

Oh, that rebrand was nuts. They signed Beckham in the winter of that year but he didn't join until summer, halfway through the MLS season but after Real Madrid's had concluded. So the Galaxy used their old crest and their classic yellow/green kits the first half of the year, then switched to using the new logo and the white ones midseason once Beckham was officially in the squad. Haven't seen anything like it in a major league. It was truly craven, but hey, if any moment deserved it, that was it.

 

I don't know if the rebrand was going to come whether or not they landed Beckham. Six or so months is a tight turnaround based on what we know now. But the first white/navy/yellow era kits for the Galaxy were basic templates of the time, too (templates back then looked nicer than 2019 Cincy / 2020 Chicago too).

 

I seem to remember, too, that the rebrand was very deliberately positioned as being a new and more professional era for MLS, in concert with Beckham. A classy all-white kit, a clean and modern logo, dialing the garish color scheme way down.

[qckgnc]

I don't mind the use of Black and Blue because only two other teams (out of thirty) use that specific color combination, and our shade of Blue is different enough from Montreal and San Jose to not cause any issues. At least one of those colors was going to be featured to create synergy between the Panthers and the Crowns (Wakanda Forever! ). They could've added some months green though, check these out from the CLTFC subreddit...

 

 

 

 

Personally not a fan of the minty crown. First one is my favorite. I could live with two but I'm not sure if I like the monogram above the crown.

 

 

[sky1324]

The second one is nice, it has the best color balance. The first one uses too little mint to work, the third is a bit too much, that color scheme needs white as another light color to balance the black and blue as two dark colors. I'd lighten up the shade of mint on the second one, it's a bit dull for my tastes. 

 

On a related note, if we don't get a checkered kit, I will have to question if Tepper actually lives in Charlotte. It's so obvious as a pattern but with how much of a miss the name was I'm not sure if the team will go for it.

[sportsfan7]

3 minutes ago, QCS said:

I will have to question if Tepper actually lives in Charlotte

He doesn't. Born in Pittsburgh, attended Carnegie Mellon, lived in Jersey for a while, and now lives in Miami Beach, where his company is based.

[Brian in Boston]

Brainstorming...

COLOR SCHEME

         Mint City Green                 Monarch Gold               Charlotte Town Blue
    

LOGO

Combine this overall layout by WideRight...                   ...with the fonts, placement, and sizing of the alphanumeric elements from the original mark.            
                          

 

 

The crown and the center circle of the badge would be rendered in Monarch Gold. The outermost and innermost rings would be rendered in Charlotte Town Blue. The center ring that bears the CHARLOTTE FOOTBALL CLUB and MINTED 2022 elements would be rendered in Mint City Green. CHARLOTTE FOOTBALL CLUB and the CLT FC monogram would be rendered in White, with the MINTED 2022 elements rendered in Charlotte Town Blue.
 

[sky1324]

3 minutes ago, sportsfan7 said:

He doesn't. Born in Pittsburgh, attended Carnegie Mellon, lived in Jersey for a while, and now lives in Miami Beach, where his company is based.

I know his official residence isn't in Charlotte, but I have to assume he lives here for at least a bit to run Panthers and now CLTFC operations. 

[sportsfan7]

37 minutes ago, QCS said:

I know his official residence isn't in Charlotte, but I have to assume he lives here for at least a bit to run Panthers and now CLTFC operations. 

Yeah, I think he has enough cash to own a place in Charlotte. I'm just sayin' he isn't a local.

[sky1324]

4 minutes ago, sportsfan7 said:

Yeah, I think he has enough cash to own a place in Charlotte. I'm just sayin' he isn't a local.

No, but anyone that's spent even a couple days in Charlotte would know the connection NASCAR has with the place, hell, you don't even have to visit the place to connect the two.

[UnclearInitial]

3 hours ago, Digby said:

 

Oh, that rebrand was nuts. They signed Beckham in the winter of that year but he didn't join until summer, halfway through the MLS season but after Real Madrid's had concluded. So the Galaxy used their old crest and their classic yellow/green kits the first half of the year, then switched to using the new logo and the white ones midseason once Beckham was officially in the squad. Haven't seen anything like it in a major league. It was truly craven, but hey, if any moment deserved it, that was it.

 

I don't know if the rebrand was going to come whether or not they landed Beckham. Six or so months is a tight turnaround based on what we know now. But the first white/navy/yellow era kits for the Galaxy were basic templates of the time, too (templates back then looked nicer than 2019 Cincy / 2020 Chicago too).

 

I seem to remember, too, that the rebrand was very deliberately positioned as being a new and more professional era for MLS, in concert with Beckham. A classy all-white kit, a clean and modern logo, dialing the garish color scheme way down.

LOL. I’ll never mock a team for trying to line up a rebrand with a new stadium again.

[sportsfan7]

13 minutes ago, QCS said:

No, but anyone that's spent even a couple days in Charlotte would know the connection NASCAR has with the place, hell, you don't even have to visit the place to connect the two.

Well, billionaires are known for being a little ... out of touch with reality.