MLS Kits 2021

[JTernup]

51 minutes ago, Sport said:

It's funny thinking back to being a kid when the league started and not knowing anything about soccer naming conventions. I thought calling a team DC United was just the same as the Columbus Crew, Dallas Burn, Tampa Bay Mutiny, Orlando Magic, Colorado Avalanche, Miami Heat etc. I called them "the United" as in, "I'm going to the Crew game tonight. They are playing the United." It wasn't until years later that I realized what they were actually going for. 

That's actually exactly why I think Crew and Rapids are such good names compared to some of the other original MLS squads. They sit on the border between sounding like they could be traditional soccer names like United, Lokomotive, City, Athletic, etc. but also work as American style names. I wish more teams had gone down that path. We don't need a Burn or Mutiny and we don't need any more United's either!

[Digby]

3 hours ago, Sport said:

It's funny thinking back to being a kid when the league started and not knowing anything about soccer naming conventions. I thought calling a team DC United was just the same as the Columbus Crew, Dallas Burn, Tampa Bay Mutiny, Orlando Magic, Colorado Avalanche, Miami Heat etc. I called them "the United" as in, "I'm going to the Crew game tonight. They are playing the United." It wasn't until years later that I realized what they were actually going for. 

Ha, I though the same, mostly — but I assumed that was also why the Manchester team did it, and the MLS team was just understandably ripping off the famous soccer team. The United, putting their teamwork spirit front and center. Made sense to my 90s brand.

 

I didn’t know there were different conventions. The only teams I guess I knew where the Manchester United and the London Arsenal.

[Digby]

On 5/22/2021 at 8:20 AM, Gothamite said:

 

Honest question: Why?

 

Sports develop their own traditions.  That’s part of the charm. 

 

Tradition can be good but can also be a crutch. (There are more Uniteds in MLS than in the Championship right now.) MLS is broadly well designed. But also, starting a team in the modern, megabillions professional sports era, when you've got 1-4 other pro sports teams in your market to fight for attention, is for better or worse a different beast than starting a team for the lads at the factory to blow off steam in a corner of a city park once a week (that becomes a global brand over the course of 120 years or so). And placing the alleged tradition of the sport over whatever tradition your own team has, flawed as it may be and not in alignment with what's considered "global", has been the crux of what, three MLS rebrand debacles in a row.

[Sport]

19 hours ago, JTernup said:

That's actually exactly why I think Crew and Rapids are such good names compared to some of the other original MLS squads. They sit on the border between sounding like they could be traditional soccer names like United, Lokomotive, City, Athletic, etc. but also work as American style names. I wish more teams had gone down that path. We don't need a Burn or Mutiny and we don't need any more United's either!

  

That's why it was such a misstep to try to remove Crew from the official name. For all of those hyper-90's singular nicknames I think "Crew" might be the best of them all. In all sports. "We're gonna go watch the Crew" sounds like it was created in 1995 and simultaneously also 1895. It is so astoundingly Galaxy Brain stupid that they tried to de-officialize that nickname. 

[Digby]

On 5/21/2021 at 11:56 AM, upperV03 said:

If anyone’s wondering how the new Parley kits will look on the field next weekend, Olympiacos and Ipswich Town have you covered:

Such an insult and far from the first time. Adidas has proven they can do a leaguewide initiative that keeps team identities, with NHL and reverse retros. Throwing out teamwear in off colors to everyone and saying it’s to save the whales… come on.

[Gothamite]

5 hours ago, Sport said:

  That's why it was such a misstep to try to remove Crew from the official name. For all of those hyper-90's singular nicknames I think "Crew" might be the best of them all. In all sports. "We're gonna go watch the Crew" sounds like it was created in 1995 and simultaneously also 1895. It is so astoundingly Galaxy Brain stupid that they tried to de-officialize that nickname. 

That’s because “Crew” isn’t a singular nickname.  It’s a collective noun, not a singular one.  And while collective nouns may be treated grammatically as singular in some contexts, they don’t have the same feeling as a truly singular name like “Lightning” or “Wild”. 

[Corvus]

Creating hundreds of jerseys that will only be worn once and then disposed of is certainly some kind of environmental initiative.

[GFB]

I realize that no one else cares and that it’s the  most tedious of differences, but because you’ve mentioned it multiple times, Sporting KC actually use a variant of Agency in their crest, not Bank Gothic. 
 

On 5/19/2021 at 9:41 AM, Digby said:

Every time I’m forced to consider the Sporting Kansas City brand, I hate it more. I don’t even know why there’s an SC or what it stands for. And I don’t think it fits in with the rest of the crest at all. Then again, do you even want to fit in with Bank Gothic? IDK.

 

The NWSL placeholder looks as 2021 as it gets, but I kind of love it.

 

On 5/19/2021 at 10:43 PM, Digby said:

Still the bad bank font for the wordmark but that works so much better as a logo, lettering for a monogram and not Harry Potter fan art.

 

Did I miss where “Sporting Club” is in their name all these years? 

 

[Digby]

Second one was more lower-case bank as an aesthetic. Nonetheless we regret the error, but stand by the point that the SKC brand is dull and lifeless.

[Sport]

14 hours ago, Corvus said:

Creating hundreds of jerseys that will only be worn once and then disposed of is certainly some kind of environmental initiative.

 

*Tens of Thousands because people will buy jerseys as a result of this initiative that they otherwise wouldn't have. 

[andrewharrington]

1 hour ago, Sport said:

 

*Tens of Thousands because people will buy jerseys as a result of this initiative that they otherwise wouldn't have. 

Also, they’re not technically “disposed of” after use. The gameworns are being given away to fans nominated for their positive impact on their communities.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

19 minutes ago, andrewharrington said:

Also, they’re not technically “disposed of” after use. The gameworns are being given away to fans nominated for their positive impact on their communities.

 

That's cool. I would have assumed that or auctioned for charity (which may happen anyway).

 

This is one of those cases where I think the awareness is a good thing in and of itself. "You can make jerseys out of plastic? Wow!" is good for all of us. We've got a lot of plastic to go around!

[Digby]

Only if it’s a very specific shade of blue though!

[andrewharrington]

22 hours ago, Digby said:

Only if it’s a very specific shade of blue though!

Those are actually Parley’s guidelines. They have very specific requirements for co-branded ocean plastic product.

[MJWalker45]

37 minutes ago, andrewharrington said:

Those are actually Parley’s guidelines. They have very specific requirements for co-branded ocean plastic product.

I think if they keep rolling with this, an ad patch in the appropriate colors would be a better way to go. I also find it ironic that I got a MLS advert talking about the battle of the greens between Seattle and Austin, but neither team will play in green. 

[Digby]

5 hours ago, andrewharrington said:

Those are actually Parley’s guidelines. They have very specific requirements for co-branded ocean plastic product.

Strange to me that the league will jettison team brand guidelines completely to make room for it. Stranger still that a social/environmental initiative like this prioritizes aesthetic over impact.

[andrewharrington]

1 hour ago, Digby said:

Strange to me that the league will jettison team brand guidelines completely to make room for it. Stranger still that a social/environmental initiative like this prioritizes aesthetic over impact.

To Parley, though, the aesthetic *is* the impact, because what they do is so predicated on awareness, which facilitates their ability to help. make recycled ocean plastic a permanent part of the global textile supply chain. In my opinion, a simple ad or patch doesn’t effectively help them accomplish their goal.

 

I’m generally against on-field uniform promotions, but certain ones feel well-intentioned enough that I accept them. Barça wearing a UNICEF ad was always one. MLS/NHL/NCAA teams using Parley-branded recycled uniforms as a catalyst to improve one of the more wasteful industries on the planet fits the bill for me, regardless of how I personally feel about the aesthetics or the idea of two teams looking rather “intra-squad” for a whole weekend.

 

I will say, though, I think the All-Star game would be an even better place for this collab. I think the NHL version nailed that part of the strategy.

[Digby]

That part of it all makes sense (though ~awareness~ is always a bit with these things) — maybe the MLS equivalent is like, a week or two of keeper kits since those are just always templates anyway. The overall modern sense of team brands being disposable is not something I much like anywhere but it seems worst for MLS, where those brands are least established to begin with.

[upperV03]

Here’s a gif showing all of this week’s matchups. Gonna have to refer back to this every time I watch a game this weekend since a majority of teams will be completely unrecognizable.

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Will the refs be in navy?

 

Also, interesting that everyone went with orange or navy graphics with one exception: Minnesota. What makes them special?