MLS Kits 2021

[Digby]

I am much less worried about the designer themselves and more concerned about the process; a common thread in MLS rebrands is seemingly that the supporters are not considered stakeholders and the results show it. This isn’t a bad-vibes trainwreck like the Fire or Columbus SC or CF Montreal by any means but I’m still feeling that absence. Does “patriotic bunting” represent the 26-year-old soccer team Revolution or does it represent a one-page design brief idea of the Revolution?

[RVASportsFan]

10 hours ago, WhitecapsForLife11 said:

 

So I decided to act on my earlier nitpicks and slightly edited the badge to what I think looks better and more interesting. I didn't change the central elements at all, I changed the font of the roundel to better match the central 'R' and the marketing concepts found alongside the leaked badge. It's not a perfect match, as I couldn't find a similar-looking font to the one used by the designer, but it's close enough to what I was envisioning. Alongside changing the font, I also added red to the founding year to distinguish it from the name of the team and to get some better colour balance.  As well, I also changed the roundel (3rd row) to something that I felt was more interesting than just a simple white circle.

 

The 1st row would work best, IMO, on the kits & hats and other merchandise and in situations when the name and year is not needed. The 2nd row would work best on some merchandise and general advertising situations when the full name is needed, and that (or the 3rd row) would probably be considered the official badge.

Didn't like this logo at first.  It's starting to grow on me

[XenonDesigns]

In my first post in two years, I figured I’d give some thoughts as a diehard Revolution and crayon flag fan. 
 

I have to say the timing comes as a complete shock. I will admit the crayon flag is by no means a great logo but the reason it’s loved by a portion of Revs fans is because it’s unchanged and unique. That said, every Revs fan has accepted that it would one day be retired, potentially alongside a stadium development. 
 

I do like the new logo, it has grown on me in the past 12ish hours but the thing I like the most about the rebrand is that they are keeping the name the exact same. That’s big for me especially when teams like Montreal and nearly Columbus have thrown their historic identities in the trash. 

[SFGiants58]

Eh, Montréal took a bottom-five sports name and somehow moved up a spot in the bottom five. Honestly, they should be demoted to the CPL for failing to come up with a better replacement for “Impact.” It’s not that hard to improve upon a name that’s that awful.

[_DietDrPepper_]

18 minutes ago, SFGiants58 said:

Eh, Montréal took a bottom-five sports name and somehow moved up a spot in the bottom five. Honestly, they should be demoted to the CPL for failing to come up with a better replacement for “Impact.” It’s not that hard to improve upon a name that’s that awful.

Is it unpopular to like CF Montreal’s new branding? I think they did quite a good job with it, especially in comparison to Chicago and Columbus. I think they should’ve prioritized blue over black, but that’s not the biggest gripe in the world, it still looks good. The name is a pretty good upgrade over Impact too. It feels more classic without resorting to the more basic FC (even though they basically did just that in french, it still feels different.)

 

This Revs look would be an immediate upgrade by the way. I’m not sold on the white roundel, but the R-bunting insignia is great and would work really nicely on the front of the kit.

[Brian in Boston]

2 hours ago, monkeypower said:

Glad someone else noticed too.

 

Noticed what? Using a design professional's name while critiquing said artist's work? It isnt unprecedented out here, folks. While just referring to Brandiose has become a shorthand that's often used by many when either excoriating  (often) or praising (less common) said firm's work, I've seen Jason Klein and Casey White's names bandied about out here. Tom O'Grady's taken his lumps -expressly  by name - in this community.  Designers have been both lauded and criticized by name in the CCSLC for as long as I can remember.

[Digby]

46 minutes ago, _DietDrPepper_ said:

Is it unpopular to like CF Montreal’s new branding? I think they did quite a good job with it, especially in comparison to Chicago and Columbus. I think they should’ve prioritized blue over black, but that’s not the biggest gripe in the world, it still looks good. The name is a pretty good upgrade over Impact too. It feels more classic without resorting to the more basic FC (even though they basically did just that in french, it still feels different.)

 

This Revs look would be an immediate upgrade by the way. I’m not sold on the white roundel, but the R-bunting insignia is great and would work really nicely on the front of the kit.

I love Montreal’s snowflake logo, but hate the name change and departure from blue. Most mixed of bags for me. (Whereas here I love that the Revs are keeping the name/colors but I’m meh on the brand! But the insignia sans roundel only would make it better, if that’s the shirt logo!)

[WarriorFight]

It's not my favorite rebrand, New England, but I honestly think about anything would be an improvement on Crayola. That's just me. I don't hate it, the "R" works, I just don't get the wavy lines to it.

 

Saw one a few years ago that was drop-dead gorgeous,  it was a roundel with a Revolutionary-era New England flag waving and I thought it was incredible, but I can't find it now. Bummer.

 

Also this one on behance is pretty great imo, though I get why they wouldn't want to play up the "gun" part today.

 

Credit https://www.behance.net/gallery/74933341/New-England-Revolution-Rebranding

[Eastport76]

3 hours ago, WarriorFight said:

 

Also this one on behance is pretty great imo, though I get why they wouldn't want to play up the "gun" part today.

 

Credit https://www.behance.net/gallery/74933341/New-England-Revolution-Rebranding

This feels too empty.  

[Digby]

Also I think pulling a monogram from Revolution instead of New England is bad, especially in a market with iconic B logos, but am wondering if that’s an intentional choice to leave open a hypothetical name change to Boston Revolution if a hypothetical new stadium ever appears. 

[Gothamite]

I would love to see a team embrace “Boston” again.  

[Eastport76]

Finally a Rev rebrand! 

However, the clash and "R" is not good. it's cluttered.  and I'm sick of roundels.

I prefer @mcrosby's concept.  

[-kj]

On 6/11/2021 at 5:00 PM, Gothamite said:

I would love to see a team embrace “Boston” again.  

Sure, if they were remotely in Boston.  I mean, New Yorkers complain about teams using New York if they're more than  spitting distance from the city limits, and Foxboro is much farther from Boston than any of the Jersey-based "New York" teams.

[Gothamite]

2 hours ago, -kj said:

Sure, if they were remotely in Boston.  I mean, New Yorkers complain about teams using New York if they're more than  spitting distance from the city limits, and Foxboro is much farther from Boston than any of the Jersey-based "New York" teams.

No, we don’t.  We really don’t. 
 

Nobody minds that the Giants and Jets play across the Hudson River.  That’s because the Giants and Jets market to the city, advertise in the city, hold events in the city, designate official bars and partners in the city, have charitable events benefitting the city, and generally are part of the community in the city. 
 

We don’t like the Red Bulls because they do almost none of that.  Holding the occasional jersey unveil in a rented Hell’s Kitchen ballroom doesn’t come close.  They trade on our name without actually trying to be part of our community.  And that’s why MLS needed a second New York club, one that really was a New York club. 
 

Detroiters didn’t have much of a problem when the Pistons played in Auburn Hills.  And that’s farther away from Detroit than Foxboro is from Boston.    I think Bostonians would probably be just fine. 

[Digby]

Checking in as someone who actually goes to Revolution games every now and then. As it stands, the Revs draw from Rhode Island and from central Mass more than other Boston teams. Obviously those areas mostly root for Boston teams anyway, but I have absolutely no idea what changing the name to “Boston” would accomplish if it doesn’t come with a T-accessible stadium at the same time.

[AgentColon2]

I too never hear complaints. I think that’s sports talk nonsense. I’ve heard two complaints in my life and it came from NJ people wanting the “NY” Giants logo dropped because they were too dumb to understand part of NJ is in the NY Metropolitan region.

[Gothamite]

Oh, they understand it. 

 

They just don’t like it. 
 

 

[Gothamite]

8 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

 

1 hour ago, Digby said:

Checking in as someone who actually goes to Revolution games every now and then. As it stands, the Revs draw from Rhode Island and from central Mass more than other Boston teams. Obviously those areas mostly root for Boston teams anyway, but I have absolutely no idea what changing the name to “Boston” would accomplish if it doesn’t come with a T-accessible stadium at the same time.

 

This is the correct answer. 
 

Having rather ostentatiously marketed themselves as a regional team, they would presumably need a reason to narrow that back down to Boston.  Naming rights are things that cities pay for, and I would expect the Krafts to leverage theirs.  Either in cash towards the stadium or in smoothing the process.   I would not expect them to just give it away. 
 

That’s far more a favor than Bostonians saying “but you don’t play in Boston” or New Englanders saying “you’re no longer our team”. 

[Brian in Boston]

14 hours ago, Gothamite said:

Having rather ostentatiously marketed themselves as a regional team, they would presumably need a reason to narrow that back down to Boston.  Naming rights are things that cities pay for, and I would expect the Krafts to leverage theirs.  Either in cash towards the stadium or in smoothing the process.   I would not expect them to just give it away.

Having worked on the initial effort that helped secure the MLS team that became the New England Revolution, I can tell you that said franchise's place name wasn't selected with an eye towards excessively attracting attention to the side. Rather, the Kraft family's NFL team already utilized "New England" in its branding and they simply wanted their two pro sports entities that shared a stadium to utilize similar nomenclature. That's also why the Krafts jumped at the chance to adopt the Revolution brand once it became clear that Major League Soccer's Washington, DC-based franchise wasn't going to go with Washington Revolution. The Revolution name shared a theme with the NFL's Patriots.

Further, support for a Boston/New England-based Major League Soccer franchise from throughout the region was evident from the earliest stages of the season ticket drive that took place in the market. Deposits flowed in from all six New England states, which - to be frank - was entirely expected. After all, the New York Giants' sojourn at the Yale Bowl, the existence of the NASL's Hartford/Connecticut Bicentennials, the Hartford-based Whalers being absorbed into the NHL, and the long-since-folded Providence Steam Rollers (NFL) and Steamrollers (BAA) notwithstanding, the reality is that - with the exception of far Western Connecticut - by the time of Major League Soccer's launch, the majority of New England residents had long since pledged their fealty to Massachusetts-based major-pro sports teams. There's no ostentatious marketing involved. It's simply highly unlikely that the major-pro leagues - MLS most definitely included - are going to place a team in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, or anyplace northeast of Fairfield County, Connecticut (sorry, Hartford) anytime soon.  As a result, by and large,  sports fans from all six New England states throw in their lot with the Bay State-based major-pro teams.

As for the notion that the Krafts are somehow going to leverage use of "Boston" as the place name for their MLS side into either direct  monetary contributions or a greasing of the political processing skids for construction of a soccer-specific stadium in the future is far-fetched, at best.

 

With regard to public dollars being invested in a pro sports facility, historically there has been no appetite for such investment in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Barring a mammoth shift in the mindset of Bay State politicians and the majority of voters who elect them,  that isn't likely to change simply because the Krafts pledge to rename their MLS team. As for "smoothing the process", it is far more likely that aid in areas such as permitting and licensing would be offered as a result of municipal political officials recognizing the potential tax revenues generated by the operation of such a facility in the city. It will have f*** all to do with the place name on the team's jersey crest.             

[Gothamite]

I think we’re kind of... agreeing on that?

 

I wasn’t suggesting that the Krafts were actually going to do any of that, only that other teams have in fact done it.