MLS Kits 2021

[Gothamite]

12 hours ago, Corvus said:

What a ridiculous amount of unnecessary drama to come out like this. 

 

That's what happens when trust fund babies decide that being handed billions means they know better than people who actually like the sport. 

[Gothamite]

2 hours ago, gosioux76 said:

I'm beating a dead horse at this point, but why does this logo need words at all? Why can't these teams just create marks that stand on their own as symbols? 

 

Most clubs have their name on their badge.  Makes it easier to turn merchandise into a promotional billboard.

 

The exceptions are either very old or have so much massive brand equity that they can get by with just initials.

[gosioux76]

3 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

 

Most clubs have their name on their badge.  Makes it easier to turn merchandise into a promotional billboard.

 

The exceptions are either very old or have so much massive brand equity that they can get by with just initials.

 

Understood, and I get why they do it. I just disagree that it's necessary. 

 

I look at the jersey crest as being similar to the logo on a baseball hat. Simple ligatures and symbols, without words, are sufficient in relaying a brand identity. It delivers brand equity just as well for the major leagues as it does minor leagues. And in nearly every case, the cap logo is a variant — if not completely different — from the team's primary mark. 

 

I see no reason why the same shouldn't be the standard for MLS. Just because they have more real estate to cram words onto a jersey doesn't mean they should use it. Maybe I'm just an unreasonable jersey purist. 
 

[Gothamite]

1 hour ago, Sport said:

I question the quality of their focus-grouping because if they'd talked to a single Crew fan any one of them would tell them the one thing they wanted was just remove SC from the name. Instead they left SC and removed Crew, which is almost comical in its ignorance of the fanbase's wishes. 

 

But it is very much par for the course for the Haslams.   And for billionaire American sports owners in general.

 

They have mistaken "making a lot of money" (or even "being born with a lot of money") for "knowing more than anyone else".  We see plenty of this abroad as well, in Anfield and Ashburton Grove, Old Trafford and Tottenham.

[Gothamite]

1 minute ago, gosioux76 said:

Understood, and I get why they do it. I just disagree that it's necessary. 

 

I look at the jersey crest as being similar to the logo on a baseball hat. Simple ligatures and symbols, without words, are sufficient in relaying a brand identity. It delivers brand equity just as well for the major leagues as it does minor leagues. And in nearly every case, the cap logo is a variant — if not completely different — from the team's primary mark. 

 

I see no reason why the same shouldn't be the standard for MLS. Just because they have more real estate to cram words onto a jersey doesn't mean they should use it. Maybe I'm just an unreasonable jersey purist. 

 

I honestly don't think you can equate a shirt badge to a cap logo, though. 

 

Football shirts are more equivalent to other sports jerseys.  And there's a reason NFL clubs are now desperately trying to cram words on to their jerseys with each new rebrand.  And a reason why most baseball jerseys have the full team name across the front and a complicated logo patch on the sleeve.

 

Of course, I say this as someone who has spent the last seven years trying to get NYCFC to use their monogram on the front of their shirts.  And who will someday succeed.   

[TenaciousG]

11 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

 

But it is very much par for the course for the Haslams.   And for billionaire American sports owners in general.

 

They have mistaken "making a lot of money" (or even "being born with a lot of money") for "knowing more than anyone else".  We see plenty of this abroad as well, in Anfield and Ashburton Grove, Old Trafford and Tottenham.

I see someone is not familiar with Worthington’s Law

[BrySmalls]

I like the fact that Columbus Crew's current logo isn't a roundel. There's too many of those in MLS (and sports).

However, they could have approached the rebrand much more effectively by having players, supporters, and the community involved.

[beachperroAZ]

MLS is doing everything they can to eliminate their core base from the very beginning when the league was founded to make every club look generic and European. 

[gosioux76]

1 hour ago, Gothamite said:

 

I honestly don't think you can equate a shirt badge to a cap logo, though. 

 

Football shirts are more equivalent to other sports jerseys.  And there's a reason NFL clubs are now desperately trying to cram words on to their jerseys with each new rebrand.  And a reason why most baseball jerseys have the full team name across the front and a complicated logo patch on the sleeve.

 

Of course, I say this as someone who has spent the last seven years trying to get NYCFC to use their monogram on the front of their shirts.  And who will someday succeed.   

 

I don't know that I agree with the equivalency of MLS jerseys to NFL jerseys. Many of those NFL jerseys, without the wordmarks or extraneous logos, have no identifying marks on them at all. As much as I hate it, I understand why the Jaguars force the jaguar head logo onto the collar. Otherwise it's just a teal jersey. 

 

Every soccer jersey, though, has its badge, which should be sufficient to stand on its own without cramming a city name into it. Your gut tells you that the NYCFC badge can stand alone on the monogram, and you're not wrong. Go through the roster of MLS badges and you can make a case for simplifying almost every one of them.

 

The new Dynamo badge is sufficient as a monogram, without words. Atlanta, Miami, Montreal and Philly — much like NYCFC -- all have solid, simplified jersey badges housed within unnecessary roundels, so just remove the roundels. I could see Cincinnati isolating the lion on the jerseys in much the way the classic Arsenal jerseys isolate the cannon. There are many ways to improve Charlotte, the easiest of which would be to only use the crown or -- better yet -- place the crown on top of a roundel housing the club's secondary initials. 

 

I still believe the Timbers should be the standard-bearer on this point. Their jerseys carry no words on the badge. There's just an axe, chevrons, and no concerns that their logo doesn't deliver brand equity worldwide just because it doesn't say "Portland Timbers" on it. 

 

(Apologies for ranting from my soapbox. Just feel strongly on this point.  ) 

[kmccarthy27]

Updated Logo Confirmed:

 

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/columbus-crew-reveal-updated-crest-following-decision-to-retain-crew-name

[Dilbert]

The C logo is still bad but reversing the name change is a step in the right direction,

[SportsLogos.Net News]

Columbus MLS Team Brings Back ‘Crew’ Name After Meeting with Fans; New Crest Unveiled

May 18, 2021 - 21:48 PM

After meeting with supporter groups, team announces it will keep "Crew" in club's official name; no timeline given for new crest

Read More...

[schlim]

Maybe Kansas City can get rid of its horrible SC on its logo now too.

[Needschat]

Glad the goatee is gone.

But still, makes the Crew look like the Cleveland Browns of MLS.  Who thinks that's a go...nevermind.  

[Brian in Boston]

1 hour ago, kmccarthy27 said:

Updated Logo Confirmed:

 

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/columbus-crew-reveal-updated-crest-following-decision-to-retain-crew-name

While I'm happy that the ill-conceived rebrand to Columbus SC has been abandoned in favor of reviving the Columbus Crew identity, the new logo is still a steaming pile of excrement.

[_RH_]

30 minutes ago, schlim said:

Maybe Kansas City can get rid of its horrible SC on its logo now too.

The Wizards?

[DEAD!]

That's still bad. I guess I would have preferred the bottom of the C to be horizontal and have 9 and 6 below that

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Yeah. They took something nice and made it stupid and spent a lot of money doing so.

 

Idiots.

[Red Wolf]

4 hours ago, BryanSmalls said:

I like the fact that Columbus Crew's current logo isn't a roundel. There's too many of those in MLS (and sports).

However, they could have approached the rebrand much more effectively by having players, supporters, and the community involved.

 

Part of the problem is that they did involve the supporters and then ignored them. It's the Principal Skinner meme in real life.

 

 

That said, I do also appreciate that it isn't a roundel or shield. I thought the previous logo was overly generic and the old construction workers jpeg was just embarrassing.

 

  

4 hours ago, beachperroAZ said:

MLS is doing everything they can to eliminate their core base from the very beginning when the league was founded to make every club look generic and European. 

 

While I think trying to kill all of the old names is a mistake, I think it's worth considering that the old core base was made up of dozens of people.

[Digby]

They spent a year and a half building a new branding scheme just to roll out a significantly tweaked one in 24 hours.