Rochester Rhinos now "Rochester New York FC"

[tigers]

What are all the lines on the logo for? And why didn't the designer tell me?

[The_Admiral]

7 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

But I  know the Rhinos name, this sounds like the name of a bad NBC knockoff of the Office.

I'm not sure I agree with you there, but the mere thought of yet another Michael Schur show about how it's nice when nice people are nice is more than I can take.

[tBBP]

50 minutes ago, tigers said:

What are all the lines on the logo for? And why didn't the designer tell me?

It's in the link in the OP's original post, my man.  They're a rough abstraction of the High Falls outside downtown Rochester.

 

On its own, it's a solid enough symbol (the abstraction of the falls, that is). But--oh, and this is something else I missed: how in the world are they gonna say that their identity "uses gray in a unique way"?  Um, my mans n'em...did y'all just completely miss Minnesota United? Or how about the Carolina RailHawks from a few years back? My guess is they used the gray to form a neutral base from which to pop off that radioactive Nickelodeon slime green color...

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

I like this.  A lot. 

First, I am 100% behind the trend of teams using "FC".  I don't care that the sport is called "soccer" in the North America; what we're seeing is a reflection of the reality that the traditions of the sport are more important than the North American team-naming conventions.   Every single team doesn't need to be "(city name) FC"; but the fact that this is becoming the norm is a very good thing.  When the FC naming comes even to indoor teams, such as (the beautifully-clad) Utica FC, this tells us that it is something that has put down roots in North America, and that is no longer "Euro" or "foreign".

On to this particular name and logo.  The name is good, even if not very smooth; but, to be honest, it's not hard to beat "Rhinos", which connotes mainly clumsiness — and which had formerly been the extremely embarrassing "Raging Rhinos".   Names like that really peeve me; I remember the season that the Arena Football League had the Minnesota Fighting Pike, a name that clearly communicated the idea "Under no circumstances should you take this sport seriously."

 

The logo is bold, with a distinctly 1970s feel.  Someone above mentioned 1977, seemingly trying to act that that is a bad thing.  On the contrary, that is a great aesthetic.  There is a charm to this logo that no Rhinos logo ever had.  

 

So I really groove on this, for several reasons, both general and specific.  And I am sad to see that this is apparantly an unpopular opinion.

[ManillaToad]

4 hours ago, -kj said:

 

Charleston is a good example of refreshing an older identity without throwing it away.  (But not a good example of holding on to a terrific little soccer-specific stadium.  RIP.)

 

Left has way more character. Right looks like a label on a beer bottle or something

[Digby]

I’m sorry, “Rochester New York FC”?? What, no room for the zip code on there? Why not slot in the street the stadium’s on? This isn’t even traditional global branding, whatever that means.

[tigers]

3 hours ago, tBBP said:

It's in the link in the OP's original post, my man.  They're a rough abstraction of the High Falls outside downtown Rochester.

 

On its own, it's a solid enough symbol (the abstraction of the falls, that is). But--oh, and this is something else I missed: how in the world are they gonna say that their identity "uses gray in a unique way"?  Um, my mans n'em...did y'all just completely miss Minnesota United? Or how about the Carolina RailHawks from a few years back? My guess is they used the gray to form a neutral base from which to pop off that radioactive Nickelodeon slime green color...

 

Thanks, i didn't see the Here link.

Those Grey lines look nothing like water falling, to me i can see a F and a U in there more than anything. Maybe it's some type of Alien word or similar?

 

 

3 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

I like this.  A lot. 

First, I am 100% behind the trend of teams using "FC".  I don't care that the sport is called "soccer" in the North America; what we're seeing is a reflection of the reality that the traditions of the sport are more important than the North American team-naming conventions.   Every single team doesn't need to be "(city name) FC"; but the fact that this is becoming the norm is a very good thing.  When the FC naming comes even to indoor teams, such as (the beautifully-clad) Utica FC, this tells us that it is something that has put down roots in North America, and that is no longer "Euro" or "foreign".

On to this particular name and logo.  The name is good, even if not very smooth; but, to be honest, it's not hard to beat "Rhinos", which connotes mainly clumsiness — and which had formerly been the extremely embarrassing "Raging Rhinos".   Names like that really peeve me; I remember the season that the Arena Football League had the Minnesota Fighting Pike, a name that clearly communicated the idea "Under no circumstances should you take this sport seriously."

 

The logo is bold, with a distinctly 1970s feel.  Someone above mentioned 1977, seemingly trying to act that that is a bad thing.  On the contrary, that is a great aesthetic.  There is a charm to this logo that no Rhinos logo ever had.  

 

So I really groove on this, for several reasons, both general and specific.  And I am sad to see that this is apparantly an unpopular opinion.

 

So you think it's ok to have European style logos and names but not the US Soccer Historical names and logos? 

 

Clubs like this are so quick to rid themselves of what was attractive to them, like Sounders, Whitecaps, Quakes, Metros, Cosmos, Drillers and Mutiny all had appeal but only the smart ones stayed with them.

[Dilbert]

4 hours ago, tBBP said:

Just because I'm curious, which was the first American club to go the "FC" route? I feel like it was FC Dallas, but I'm probably wrong. And all this doesn't even get into the dumbness of using FC when we call it soccer in this country, but I guess that's a whole other can of worms. (At least Columbus and Nashville got that part right...but whatevs.)  

In 1984 during the final NASL season an independent club called FC Seattle hosted a tournament involving the Minnesota Strikers, New York Cosmos and the Vancouver Whitecaps. The NASL folded after that season and FC Seattle joined other independent clubs FC Portland, the Victoria Riptide and San Jose Earthquakes in the Westerna Alliance Challenge Series of 1985. In 1986 Seattle, Portland and San Jose formed a new league called the Western Soccer Alliance adding teams in Edmonton, Hollywood, Los Angeles and San Diego. So I believe that this league was considered division 3 on the US soccer pyramid so I would say FC Seattle and FC Portland were your first.

 

At the MLS level in 1998 the Miami Fusion FC began however the FC was usually ignored. Otherwise in 2005 when the Dallas Burn became FC Dallas joined by Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake that same year.

[Gothamite]

12 hours ago, oldschoolvikings said:

Admittedly, I'm not a soccer guy and never will be, but I'm baffled by the popularity of this FC stuff.  Maybe the first american team, whoever that was, that tried to go pretend Euro by naming themselves FC could claim it was kind of cool or clever, but it probably wasn't even then. 

 

As someone who's an outsider to soccer, it just seems like another stupid thing that makes me not want to get into it.

I know you’re not alone in that attitude, but it has always baffled me. 
 

People in Japan don’t have a problem with adopting American naming conventions like “Hanshin Tigers” or “Orix Buffaloes” for their baseball teams.

[M4One]

Seems like they are trying to be more than a sports team and want to be a lifestyle brand with that new logo.  

 

 

[Gothamite]

 

1 hour ago, tigers said:

Clubs like this are so quick to rid themselves of what was attractive to them, like Sounders, Whitecaps, Quakes, Metros, Cosmos, Drillers and Mutiny all had appeal but only the smart ones stayed with them.

“Mutiny” didn’t have any appeal at all. 
 

And “Metros” only did in that sure-it’s-embarrassing-but-it’s-all-we’ve-got way.  Which is to say not much.

 

And the Cosmos kept their name, which was literally the only thing they had going for them.  But it still wasn’t enough to keep them from failing time after time after time. 

[Gothamite]

2 hours ago, Digby said:

I’m sorry, “Rochester New York FC”?? What, no room for the zip code on there? Why not slot in the street the stadium’s on? This isn’t even traditional global branding, whatever that means.

This. 
 

I liked “Rhinos” a lot, but would have been okay had it been replaced by something decent.  Which ain’t this. 
 

And why the hell is a guy who plays in Leicester trying to put on snobby geographic airs?

[Needschat]

So, if/when the Capital District of New York gets a team, they'll have to go by AlbaN.Y. FC? 

Euro-snobbish team names do not sell merch very well, outside of their markets.   This trend is getting tired! 

 

The number one sports team of merchandise is the New York Yankees, not Manchester United, not FC Barcelona, not the Dallas Cowboys, and NOT the New York City Base Ball Club (NYCBBC).

[oldschoolvikings]

8 hours ago, Gothamite said:

I know you’re not alone in that attitude, but it has always baffled me. 
 

People in Japan don’t have a problem with adopting American naming conventions like “Hanshin Tigers” or “Orix Buffaloes” for their baseball teams.

 

True enough, I readily admit it probably has everything to do with me having zero connection to soccer.

 

Interesting point about Japanese baseball teams. Was there some other previously established naming convention they left behind for American style names?

[MJWalker45]

8 hours ago, M4One said:

Seems like they are trying to be more than a sports team and want to be a lifestyle brand with that new logo.  

 

 

That logo is absolutely dreadful and it's not even the worst part of this rebrand. 

8 hours ago, Gothamite said:

 

“Mutiny” didn’t have any appeal at all. 
 

And “Metros” only did in that sure-it’s-embarrassing-but-it’s-all-we’ve-got way.  Which is to say not much.

 

And the Cosmos kept their name, which was literally the only thing they had going for them.  But it still wasn’t enough to keep them from failing time after time after time. 

And sometimes I think that the name is all that's still out there. I know they're in NISA now, but they've sat out part of the current season so it's almost like they roll the name out to keep someone else from taking it. 

8 hours ago, Needschat said:

So, if/when the Capital District of New York gets a team, they'll have to go by AlbaN.Y. FC? 

Euro-snobbish team names do not sell merch very well, outside of their markets.   This trend is getting tired! 

 

The number one sports team of merchandise is the New York Yankees, not Manchester United, not FC Barcelona, not the Dallas Cowboys, and NOT the New York City Base Ball Club (NYCBBC).

We saw that when Columbus Crew became Columbus SC for about 3 days. People were willing to let that stuff sit around and cost the Haslem's some cash. They changed back to Columbus Crew SC, and slightly changed the incoming badge but I guess we'll see how well that change does next season.  As far as the Yankees outselling the others, it's because they are the big local team. I'd expect them to outsell everyone, especially since the Jets and Giants are floundering and the Mets are the Mets. Even though the Yankees haven't won the World Series in a while, they are still competitive enough to make the playoffs and they are still the team that everyone else in the league hates more than anything else. 

12 hours ago, ManillaToad said:

 

Left has way more character. Right looks like a label on a beer bottle or something

I like the update more than the original. They could have tried keeping the badge shape of the original but it's much cleaner than the one on it's replacing. 

[Digby]

They already rebranded once, dropping the "Raging" from "Raging Rhinos". That was a smart update, dump the dated thing but keep the essence of who you are. This is not who you are, this is dumb trend-chasing. I know the North American soccer intelligentsia can't help itself but in I think the refusal to acknowledge any history or distinctiveness is a bad move, long term, especially if you decide to switch to try-hard new names and logos that look like Illustrator tutorials.

 

At the very least, a true faux-English rebrand could've done just fine with "Rochester FC" and kept the rhino as the focus of a shield in the English animal mascot tradition, these bizarre hybrid brands are the worst of all worlds and will age about as well as Miami Fusion did.

[gosioux76]

50 minutes ago, oldschoolvikings said:

 

True enough, I readily admit it probably has everything to do with me having zero connection to soccer.

 

Interesting point about Japanese baseball teams. Was there some other previously established naming convention they left behind for American style names?

 

I can't say I know the answer to this, but I think the broader point is that Japan had no issue embracing a sport and the naming conventions that are traditional to that sport. They didn't attempt to make the sport adapt to its culture, which is essentially what's happening when an argument arises suggesting the FC/Inter/United, et. al, names in soccer are inferior to the North American CITY + NICKNAME tradition. 

 

I think the North American soccer landscape is diverse enough to have a healthy mix of both styles. I'm OK with a newly created franchise adopting European-inspired names. (I'd prefer they aim for something a little more novel than just "{City} FC.") But if you have a brand with some semblance of an American soccer legacy — Crew, Rhinos, Timbers, Sounders, etc. — then it's absolutely worth preserving, if for no other reason than to recognize the roots of the game on this continent. 

 

[BBTV]

15 hours ago, Gothamite said:

People in Japan don’t have a problem with adopting American naming conventions like “Hanshin Tigers” or “Orix Buffaloes” for their baseball teams.

 

Do you know this as fact?  Or just assume it since the teams are named that way and people still go?

[IceCap]

38 minutes ago, BBTV said:

 

Do you know this as fact?  Or just assume it since the teams are named that way and people still go?

I've never heard of anyone having any issues with the names of Japanese teams. The league is incredibly popular over there and if there were any issues with the way the teams were named I feel like we'd have heard about it by now. 

[The_Admiral]

I've noticed the convention now seems to be "Nippon-Ham Fighters," finally settling whether the team fights against ham or on behalf of it.