Lower League US Soccer

[Digby]

10 hours ago, GriffinM6 said:

Stumbled upon the USL League One Final tonight on ESPN2. South Georgia (Statesboro) Tormenta faced Chattanooga Red Wolves. Boy oh boy, does Tormenta have some fantastic home kits. 

 

 

It's one of those stock Adidas template customizable graphics -- really shows how far a good color scheme can take you, when applied the right way.

[MJWalker45]

San Antonio FC beat Colorado Switchbacks, 2-0, and will host the USL Championship game. They really leaned on defense in this game. They had 30% possession in the match. 

[Dilbert]

Nashville SCs MLS Next Pro club joining next season will be playing in Huntsville, Alabama. Huntsville City FC has been unveiled.

 

[YELDARBfield]

58 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

Nashville SCs MLS Next Pro club joining next season will be playing in Huntsville, Alabama. Huntsville City FC has been unveiled.

 

The font NSC uses is still so bad at smaller sizes, and this is further proof. Team name is nearly illegible, and it's not even used for the main (redundant) initials.

 

Plus, the colors and four-pointed star is giving LA Galaxy. Circle and checkers reminds of the last Columbus crest.

 

Still cool that Huntsville is able to repurpose the old Joe, though!

[Brian in Boston]

Rhode Island Pro Soccer will be unveiling the club name and crest for its Pawtucket-based USL Championship side today. The reveal is set to take place at The Guild Brewing  Company in Pawtucket between 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM ET this evening.

[TheGiantsFan]

2 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

Rhode Island Pro Soccer will be unveiling the club name and crest for its Pawtucket-based USL Championship side today. The reveal is set to take place at The Guild Brewing  Company in Pawtucket between 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM ET this evening.

 

They unveiled their look on Twitter this morning!

 

 

 

[Digby]

Like that a lot. Really feels fitting for the market, apart from the shades of blue and yellow being a little dark for Rhode Island (imho). They found a way to be nautical-core and pirate-y, without all the overdone Disney pirate cliches, which is perfect for them. Can see the locals wearing this gear and getting very rowdy on Narragansetts.

[Brian in Boston]

In addition to taking part in one of the early branding focus groups, I have several friends who also participated. Local advertising and design firm Nail Communications did an outstanding job of incorporating the suggestions of a variety of stakeholders. They created a crest that not only speaks to the market’s history and culture, but does so in a style that should stand the test of time.
 

I might tweak a few features of the badge (lose the lighting bolts on the anchor, slide the color band up slightly,  increase the size of the FC a bit). That said, this is a strong offering from the folks at Nail Creative.

Simple. Straightforward. Classic.

 

 

 

[tBBP]

Because it's always good/fun to read these things...

 

 

...Here's your breakdown of the crest's meaning.

 

I'm glad they explained the overall shape, because I was curious before I saw that particular point. I suppose that's a pretty neat way to combine the forms of the ship's bow and (I presume a traditional heraldic) shield--but something about the curvatures at the top of the shape mildly bugs me. Looks just the slightest bit off.

 

I'm curious if they could have enlarged their monogram a little bit, to emphasize RI (Rhode Island) a little more. I get that they wanted to drive home the point of the anchor--but that's really a minor nitpick in the grand scheme of things.

 

Speaking of the anchor...I get the reasoning behind combining the anchor with lightning bolts; I just don't know that I like it in that guise. I get spider vibes from the finished shape.

 

"Rhode Island Amber"...now this makes sense, and now I'm curious how other squada hadn't thought to use this color before. True, they came about it via a different explanation, but doing what I've been doing the past twelve years I'm so used to seeing amber marker lights all over the place I guess it's only a wonder I haven't seen the color pop up on some team's branding yet. (And while I don't recall ever having seen amber lights on a ship, just the fact that they're so commonly used for signaling and warning resonates with me and thus this.

 

Now for my real question: I'm seeing that light blue color they used for the section headers in that graphic, and also this:

 

 

Change kit colorway, perhaps?? I don't see it much anywhere else on their website, a good thing since it allows the nav--sorry, Bay Blue--and Rhode Island Amber to breathe on their own along with the white.

 

All that said, my only gripe with this isn't even with the club or crest, but with the continuing notion that American soccer clubs keep sticking FC after their names--yes its a personal annoyance, but an annoying annoyance nonetheless. Either call it soccer or call it football; whichever it is, use the letters to match. This club straight up spoke to that in that graphic: "we call ourselves a football club...but make no mistake, we play soccer". I'm sorry but that sentiment just seems silly as heck to me (and not just for RIFC but all the other Americsn clubs that pull this mess, too).

 

All that said, from what I see I'll give thus a solid 9/10. Nice work there, NAIL.

[tigers]

I've seen a very similar logo on here, either a Concept or for the Fantasy area.

Ok it may not have had those weird non necessity lightning bolts and Ship shield, but it did have the interlocked RI and most of the other components.

[Digby]

2 hours ago, tBBP said:

Change kit colorway, perhaps?? I don't see it much anywhere else on their website, a good thing since it allows the nav--sorry, Bay Blue--and Rhode Island Amber to breathe on their own along with the white.

Assuming a navy home kit, this was my guess too. And it’s more in line with the traditional Rhode Island shade of blue so it works on a few levels. Overall a strong debut. I hope they make enough noise to absorb some of the attention from the Revs’ Rhode Island contingent and rattle the cage a little bit.

[Dilbert]

To no ones surprise, Austins MLS Next Pro club will be Austin FC II

 

[gosioux76]

11 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

To no ones surprise, Austins MLS Next Pro club will be Austin FC II

 

This reads to me like Roman numerals or, like, the model name for a certain type of Texas Instruments calculator. 

[tigers]

7 hours ago, gosioux76 said:

This reads to me like Roman numerals or, like, the model name for a certain type of Texas Instruments calculator. 

 

Looks terrible.

 

Looks like Attics FC eye eye, who is the paid lacky that comes up with this garbage?

 

Why not Austin FC (whatever league they are in )

[Dilbert]

1 hour ago, tigers said:

 

Looks terrible.

 

Looks like Attics FC eye eye, who is the paid lacky that comes up with this garbage?

 

Why not Austin FC (whatever league they are in )

Because if you are a two team you do one of the following for your identity:

2 (Crew, Cincinnati,  Rapids, Dynamo, Minnesota United, St Louis City, Whitecaps Timbers, Atlanta United)

II (Revolution, NYCFC, Union, Toronto, Fire, Inter Miami, Sporing KC, Earthquakes, Galaxy, Red Bulls, Austin)

 B (Orlando City)

Own Identity (North Texas SC, Real Monarchs, Tacoma Defiance, Huntsville City)

Havent released Identity yet (Charlotte, LAFC)

[tigers]

16 hours ago, Dilbert said:

Because if you are a two team you do one of the following for your identity:

2 (Crew, Cincinnati,  Rapids, Dynamo, Minnesota United, St Louis City, Whitecaps Timbers, Atlanta United)

II (Revolution, NYCFC, Union, Toronto, Fire, Inter Miami, Sporing KC, Earthquakes, Galaxy, Red Bulls, Austin)

 B (Orlando City)

Own Identity (North Texas SC, Real Monarchs, Tacoma Defiance, Huntsville City)

Havent released Identity yet (Charlotte, LAFC)

 

Is this a rule?

 

I understand trying to keep the clubs image similar through it's myriad of teams but some of them look ridiculous.

[Dilbert]

Not a rule. Though the two teams started before MLS Next Pro, the teams and the league were designed primary for the development of MLS teams players. Unlike other leagues this league wasnt created so fans could follow teams or come to games. Although games are open to the public and streamed online for the public to view, the league wasnt designed to be a league promoted to fans or to even make money. It was created so that MLS teams could develop their players who would otherwise warm the MLS benches all season.

[tigers]

On 12/15/2022 at 8:18 AM, Dilbert said:

Not a rule. Though the two teams started before MLS Next Pro, the teams and the league were designed primary for the development of MLS teams players. Unlike other leagues this league wasnt created so fans could follow teams or come to games. Although games are open to the public and streamed online for the public to view, the league wasnt designed to be a league promoted to fans or to even make money. It was created so that MLS teams could develop their players who would otherwise warm the MLS benches all season.

 

Ok, fair enough but you still need to have some sort of cash flow or you'd end up propping it up like the women's.

 

It's not enough to just have TEAMNAME II or TEAMNAME B etc, there should be a reference to the Senior or Major team but something that let's you know it's not the Senior team.

Examples are New York Red Bulls could be NYRB Toros, Los Angeles FC could be LAFC Golden Stars, Sporting KC could have Sporting Wizards etc.

These would be much more appealing to those fans that do like the NXT.

[Dilbert]

32 minutes ago, tigers said:

 

Ok, fair enough but you still need to have some sort of cash flow or you'd end up propping it up like the women's.

 

It's not enough to just have TEAMNAME II or TEAMNAME B etc, there should be a reference to the Senior or Major team but something that let's you know it's not the Senior team.

Examples are New York Red Bulls could be NYRB Toros, Los Angeles FC could be LAFC Golden Stars, Sporting KC could have Sporting Wizards etc.

These would be much more appealing to those fans that do like the NXT.

MLS completely funds the league.  As for giving the team identites Real Monarchs are the only ones who have done that, Some teams have unofficial nicknames like the Baby Bulls (NYRB) and Los Dos (LA Galaxy). Id be for giving the teams their own identities.

 

[AnPheitseog]

3 hours ago, tigers said:

 

Ok, fair enough but you still need to have some sort of cash flow or you'd end up propping it up like the women's.

 

It's not enough to just have TEAMNAME II or TEAMNAME B etc, there should be a reference to the Senior or Major team but something that let's you know it's not the Senior team.

Examples are New York Red Bulls could be NYRB Toros, Los Angeles FC could be LAFC Golden Stars, Sporting KC could have Sporting Wizards etc.

These would be much more appealing to those fans that do like the NXT.

These arent seperate teams though, just a division of the MLS team.

 

Just like a youth organization fields a U23, U18, U16 and a U8 team.