MLS Kits 2021

[SCL]

Unpopular Opinion: Flag elements in sports identities have reached oversaturation.

[Brian in Boston]

How tone-deaf are the team's investor/operators and/or league leadership? The very reason this team exists in its present market - rather than having been relocated to Austin, Texas and rebranded there - is because a passionate supporter base rallied against what seemed were insurmountable odds in order to #SaveTheCrew. Let's be clear: the hashtag says it all. This team's fans didn't rise up to #SaveColumbusSC.

Look, I'm on record as thinking that the Columbus Crew's original name left something to be desired and that the logo the team sported for its first 19 seasons struck me as decidedly amateurish in execution. That said, the current badge - though less than earth-shattering from a design standpoint - is a significant improvement over the Clipart "tap handle". As for the name, logic would dictate that 25 complete seasons of play - to say nothing of 2 MLS Championship triumphs, 3 Supporters Shield wins, and a U.S. Open Cup victory - under the sobriquet would cement the words Columbus Crew in the club's official nomenclature.

Hell, if the suits felt that Columbus needed the Europoseur treatment, at least lean into German branding tradition and dub the club something like Columbus Crew 96 or Crew 96 SC. Or, if they truly felt that "The Crew" should serve only as a nickname for an identity such as Columbus SC, include it somewhere in the official crest design (à la Stoke City's THE POTTERS).  

Bottom line? If this league feels it simply must continue to engage in its fetishization of international soccer branding conventions, it would be better served to limit said "soccosplay" to expansion franchises and existing clubs with little-to-no existing enthusiastic supporter culture. Frankly, the Columbus Crew don't qualify for such a ham-handed makeover on either front.

      

[MJWalker45]

5 minutes ago, Brian in Boston said:

Hell, if the suits felt that Columbus needed the Europoseur treatment, at least lean into German branding tradition and dub the club something like Columbus Crew 96 or Crew 96 SC. Or, if they truly felt that "The Crew" should serve only as a nickname for an identity such as Columbus SC, include it somewhere in the official crest design (à la Stoke City's THE POTTERS).        

If any team deserved to get a redesign it might be New England Revolution. But only the logo, not the name. Crew 96 has a great ring to it, and it's the league's hashtag for them this year. If that logo was for a USL League 2 team playing at Historic Crew Stadium, people wouldn't be as angry as they are right now. That it's most likely to be the new badge of the senior team is just pathetic. 

36 minutes ago, SCL said:

Unpopular Opinion: Flag elements in sports identities have reached oversaturation.

I think if it's a localized thing, rather than the national standard, it's a good way to go. But there are still limits to how they should be used. Heck, every college in Texas has some version of the Texas flag in their school colors on gameday, And other schools do the same with the US flag. Columbus has a great logo already available if they want to drop the German looking badge. Take take that 96 logo and there you go! Just lower the 96 and place the Crew wordmark, current or old, and you're done. 

[Sport]

Changing the Crew's name is one of the dumbest branding decisions I've ever seen. You have brand equity that you simply cannot buy - 2 cups, original franchise, and the story of a grassroots effort led by fans who fought tooth and nail to save the crew. Every franchise in MLS would love to have something like that associated with their name and they're just going to toss it and for why? No amount of market research would've indicated that this was the right move, which leads me to believe that they didn't do any and this is just classic hot shot execs thinking they're smarter than the commoners. And now they've needlessly alienated fans who are forced to #SavetheCrew all over again. I can't believe I'm out here while numbskulls get paid a killing to be that f****** stupid. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

3 minutes ago, Sport said:

Changing the Crew's name is one of the dumbest branding decisions I've ever seen. You have brand equity that you simply cannot buy - 2 cups, original franchise, and the story of a grassroots effort led by fans who fought tooth and nail to save the crew. Every franchise in MLS would love to have something like that associated with their name and they're just going to toss it and for why? No amount of market research would've indicated that this was the right move, which leads me to believe that they didn't do any and this is just classic hot shot execs thinking they're smarter than the commoners. And now they've needlessly alienated fans who are forced to #SavetheCrew all over again. I can't believe I'm out here while numbskulls get paid a killing to be that f****** stupid. 

 

Infuriating, isn't it?

 

We're being ruled by idiot children were handed everything and think they're geniuses. Just think of how stupid it will all be 20 years from now.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

So stupid but funny:

 

[kmccarthy27]

There was talk on reddit that all of this was orchestrated by Whitney Haslam, daughter of the owner, who felt like with them moving into a new stadium that they should have a new start with branding and a like for the team. 

 

[MJWalker45]

3 minutes ago, kmccarthy27 said:

There was talk on reddit that all of this was orchestrated by Whitney Haslam, daughter of the owner, who felt like with them moving into a new stadium that they should have a new start with branding and a like for the team. 

 

Well it looks like she didn't spend any time in Columbus when she came up with this. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

18 minutes ago, kmccarthy27 said:

There was talk on reddit that all of this was orchestrated by Whitney Haslam, daughter of the owner, who felt like with them moving into a new stadium that they should have a new start with branding and a like for the team. 

 

 

57 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

Infuriating, isn't it?

 

We're being ruled by idiot children were handed everything and think they're geniuses. Just think of how stupid it will all be 20 years from now.

 

They live such nice lives. Why do they have to mess things up for people? Like, constantly?

[PrimalCookie]

 

"Forever known as the Crew," they say while teasing a rebrand where they will no longer be known as the Crew.

[kmccarthy27]

37 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

 

They live such nice lives. Why do they have to mess things up for people? Like, constantly?

So, she has some BS title of Chief Experience Officer as part of her parents main business, and also does something of that extent for the Browns. Sounds a lot like that odd title Stephanie McMahon has for WWE..Chief Brand Officer. 

[Gothamite]

53 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

They live such nice lives. Why do they have to mess things up for people? Like, constantly?

 

Rich people tend to think they know more than others.  And they seem to feel compelled to share their wisdom with the poors who obviously don't have any. 

 

That goes double, triple, an order of magnitude for those who became rich by being born to it.

[Gothamite]

And yes, I'm still salty about Mark Attanasio and his kids deciding that the classic Brewers logo needed their "improvements" before they would bring it back.

[Sport]

 

 

 

16 minutes ago, Magic Dynasty said:

 

"Forever known as the Crew," they say while teasing a rebrand where they will no longer be known as the Crew.

 

I feel like they might be walking backwards now after seeing the backlash. They'll say something like "the C stands for CREW!" although that's not what they initially intended. 

 

As for the leaked logo, I say this as someone who loves our pennant shaped flag and the hockey team who uses it in the logo - the state flag has become this crutch for facebook marketplace caliber design and pinterest bullcrap and if you're going to incorporate the flag's elements into your logo, do it better than this. 

[gosioux76]

59 minutes ago, Sport said:

 

 

 

 

I feel like they might be walking backwards now after seeing the backlash. They'll say something like "the C stands for CREW!" although that's not what they initially intended. 

 

As for the leaked logo, I say this as someone who loves our pennant shaped flag and the hockey team who uses it in the logo - the state flag has become this crutch for facebook marketplace caliber design and pinterest bullcrap and if you're going to incorporate the flag's elements into your logo, do it better than this. 

 

What they're doing is exactly what many on these boards have suggested teams with bland SC/FC names do: embrace a nickname that's divorced from the team name, a la Reds/Liverpool or Gunners/Arsenal.

 

The problem here, of course, is it's a really hard, and pretty dumb, thing to do in reverse. It's a very different thing to start with a bland name, like Charlotte FC, and then let a nickname form organically. It's a much harder thing to explain to a fan base why you're removing a beloved nickname from the brand, but "please, still call them the Crew." 

 

 

 

[PrimalCookie]

26 minutes ago, Sport said:

 

 

 

 

I feel like they might be walking backwards now after seeing the backlash. They'll say something like "the C stands for CREW!" although that's not what they initially intended. 

 

As for the leaked logo, I say this as someone who loves our pennant shaped flag and the hockey team who uses it in the logo - the state flag has become this crutch for facebook marketplace caliber design and pinterest bullcrap and if you're going to incorporate the flag's elements into your logo, do it better than this. 

They're gonna try and pull something like "SC stands for Soccer Crew" aren't they?

[kmccarthy27]

Just now, Magic Dynasty said:

They're gonna try and pull something like "SC stands for Soccer Crew" aren't they?

Or the big C is going to stand for Club, Crew, Columbus, Community.... anything you want it to be. 

 

The triangle will also be called a symbol of trust in Ownership, Teams and Fans. 

[Corvus]

If you're rebranding to be more Euro (which you shouldn't), why would you keep SC and not change to FC like most of the other MLS clubs with that type of branding. 

 

This is a tremendously stupid move by Crew ownership. 

[AnPheitseog]

Crew 96 would seriously have been an amazing euro/traditional style branding if they felt the need to change

[gosioux76]

1 hour ago, DiePerske said:

Crew 96 would seriously have been an amazing euro/traditional style branding if they felt the need to change

 

That's what's truly baffling about this. This appears to be related to the club's move to a new stadium, but there doesn't seem to be a correlating sentiment among the fanbase that there was anything wrong with the brand. If anything, the sentiment is that the logo could change, but the name "Crew" should remain intact. To drop the part of the name that became a rallying cry to save the team is just dumbfounding. 

 

And I wholeheartedly agree on Crew 96. And credit to @Brian in Boston for pointing it out, too, along with the naming style's German connections. It feels like the "Nickname/Founding Year" concept has been the one European naming style to go untested in MLS, at least since Houston aborted the Houston 1836 brand for Houston Dynamo.

 

Crew 96 would have been almost perfect: It gives the team something new going into the new stadium; it's a European-inspired naming style that's not overused; it maintains the Crew name; and it offers a homage to the club's roots as a founding member of the league. It was sitting there, right in front of them.