Colorado Rapids now the Colorado Arsenal?

[Fred T. Jane]

You do know that club was named after the one from London, don't you?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_de_Sarand%C3%AD

Yes, of course. But his statement was...

There's only one Arsenal, and only one side called Gunners, and that's the one from London.

at least 2=1?

[Gothamite]

Maybe what he should have said was "There's only one real Arsenal, only one real side called Gunners, the one from London, and then there are the sides which copy them."

[The Nation]

as a true gunner fan...the English one, this pisses me off.....the mls is losing its credibility, Toronto FC is partly reasonable, considering that the FC title is used in almost every soccer playing country, i.e. Chelsea FC, Barcelona FC, Basel FC, etc. But FC should not fly in the MLS, simply because its the "S" in MLS stands for soccer, so it should technically be Toronto SC.

But this whole Arsenal Colorado thing pisses me off, wow, i mean how bout you start your own tradition, and not hop on others.

[slapshot]

Not a chance would Kraft put the team in Chelsea despite the cute name. No offense to anyone who might be from there, but Chelsea, MA is still in dire need of an urban renewal before it could ever consider hosting a professional soccer stadium.

It was a joke. Nothing more, nothing less.

I wasn't in the least bit serious with my suggestion. First, because the chances of Bob Kraft ever building a soccer-specific stadium - anywhere - for the Revolution are, at best, infinitesimal. He has no incentive to do so. The Revolution are a business entity which allows Mr. Kraft to get more use out of Gillette Stadium... plain and simple.

Further, given that the City of Chelsea has an area of just 2.5 square miles, one would be hard-pressed to find enough developable land available on which to site a stadium.

In any event, I'll simply reiterate my biggest problem with the Real Salt Lake and Arsenal Colorado brands: the combining of familiar elements from the names of a pair of top international club sides - Real Madrid and Arsenal FC - with the colors of rival clubs - namely, Barcelona and Aston Villa/West Ham. It grates on me.

It's feasible. All you have to do is add 38,000 seats to the stadium at Chelsea High School.

Of course, parking at Stop & Shop across the street might be tight. But think of the business at the KFC, when at halftime the pitch in eveneloped by the warm aroma of the Colonel's 13 herbs & spices.

[Lee.]

There are 13 now? I can only count 4, including the flour.

I'd also like to remind the poster who claimed that "the mls is losing its credibility" that the MLS (note capitalization) didn't have a whole lot of credibility in the first place.

Also, I'm sensing a lot of faux-outrage over this latest wave of European-style naming of the teams, it's not quite at the point of the "B*Slug" misplaced bandwagon-haters, but it's well on its way.

[gordie_delini]

As a gooner myself, I have to say I'm not happy that Colorado would use the Arsenal moniker, especially as a nickname. Houston Dynamo sucks (it should be Dynamo Houston) Real Salt Lake sucks as well (but given their ties to Real Madrid, it makes sense at least - sort of) FC Dallas and Toronto FC don't bother me at all. At least if Colorado does adopt the Arsenal nickname it would be in conjunction with the London Gunners. Colorado Arsenal just doesn't sound good though - they should stick with Rapids.

[Lee.]

Colorado's association with NORAD makes it a more than suitable nickname, IMNSFHO.

[gordie_delini]

Colorado's association with NORAD makes it a more than suitable nickname, IMNSFHO.

heh, good point lamicus

[harperdc]

meh. I'm a huge Gooner, but I'm honestly more excited there's finally an MLS team in claret and blue. Of the Americanized names, Rapids always sounded good and worked well, and I don't mind it, but Colorado Arsenal doesn't sound so bad either.

if they have an association with the real Arsenal (which would make sense for the Gunners, as a nice way to make inroads into the American market from a marketing standpoint) then I mind even less.

oh, and it doesn't matter if another team in New York used Chelsea or not, because the *real* Chelsea FC isn't even in Chelsea - Stamford Bridge is in the Fulham district.

I honestly am tired of this stupid, infantile argument. In six months nobody's even going to care. "oh, wah-wah they're going to European names for the league!" GET OVER IT. As has been mentioned, most of the Americanized names teams have either started with or had (but have now folded) are at the WNBA level of badness. I honestly don't care if they're the Rapids or the Arsenal, if they do well people won't care and if they do poorly they sure as hell won't get made fun of for their name, more like their on-field play.

as to the other asinine, permanent, neverending argument: non-soccer fans, stop saying soccer sucks and should be Americanized, fans of international soccer are tired of hearing it. Soccer fans, stop trying to argue. Both sides: soccer will eventually become a major established sport (at the least with a fanbase for the MLS rivaling the NHL) because so many people in their 20s and 30s played soccer growing up, and because of the amount of people from soccer-playing countries living in the United States now - globalization. This doesn't mean the world will come crashing down on your beautiful American football, baseball, or hockey - it'll just meld in and find its spot in the American sports world. RELAX.

jesus, I hate these repetitive, childish arguments. can an MLS thread *not* delve into these arguments for once?

[cubbies06]

As a Man United fan, I dislike but at the same time respect Arsenal. Arsenal Colorado is a cheapening of one of the great football club names in the world...

[gosioux76]

meh. I'm a huge Gooner, but I'm honestly more excited there's finally an MLS team in claret and blue. Of the Americanized names, Rapids always sounded good and worked well, and I don't mind it, but Colorado Arsenal doesn't sound so bad either.

if they have an association with the real Arsenal (which would make sense for the Gunners, as a nice way to make inroads into the American market from a marketing standpoint) then I mind even less.

oh, and it doesn't matter if another team in New York used Chelsea or not, because the *real* Chelsea FC isn't even in Chelsea - Stamford Bridge is in the Fulham district.

I honestly am tired of this stupid, infantile argument. In six months nobody's even going to care. "oh, wah-wah they're going to European names for the league!" GET OVER IT. As has been mentioned, most of the Americanized names teams have either started with or had (but have now folded) are at the WNBA level of badness. I honestly don't care if they're the Rapids or the Arsenal, if they do well people won't care and if they do poorly they sure as hell won't get made fun of for their name, more like their on-field play.

as to the other asinine, permanent, neverending argument: non-soccer fans, stop saying soccer sucks and should be Americanized, fans of international soccer are tired of hearing it. Soccer fans, stop trying to argue. Both sides: soccer will eventually become a major established sport (at the least with a fanbase for the MLS rivaling the NHL) because so many people in their 20s and 30s played soccer growing up, and because of the amount of people from soccer-playing countries living in the United States now - globalization. This doesn't mean the world will come crashing down on your beautiful American football, baseball, or hockey - it'll just meld in and find its spot in the American sports world. RELAX.

jesus, I hate these repetitive, childish arguments. can an MLS thread *not* delve into these arguments for once?

As a fellow Gunner, I agree on all counts.

I'm equally bored by this anti-European name sentiment. More than likely, the people honked off by this don't give a toss about MLS and soccer anyway.

I'm not at all bothered by the Arsenal name. Living just south of Colorado, I hope it sparks a pre-season friendly with the big Arsenal.

[jab8281965]

would be the height of irony if things came almost full circle and Major League Soccer's franchises opted to borrow BOTH team brands and rosters from international club sides. If that were the case, I guess New England Revolution fans would be pulling for Bob Kraft to build his club a new soccer-specific stadium in one of Boston's near northern neighbors... oh, let's say Chelsea, Massachusetts. It would present an excellent option when it came to rebranding.

Bob Kraft's new soccer-specific stadium will likely be built in Lower Roxbury, near the new Boston Police Department, on the back edge of Northeastern's campus - if it's built in the city. If it's built in the Suburbs, there are plenty of places with British sounding names.

[speedy]

would be the height of irony if things came almost full circle and Major League Soccer's franchises opted to borrow BOTH team brands and rosters from international club sides. If that were the case, I guess New England Revolution fans would be pulling for Bob Kraft to build his club a new soccer-specific stadium in one of Boston's near northern neighbors... oh, let's say Chelsea, Massachusetts. It would present an excellent option when it came to rebranding.

Bob Kraft's new soccer-specific stadium will likely be built in Lower Roxbury, near the new Boston Police Department, on the back edge of Northeastern's campus - if it's built in the city. If it's built in the Suburbs, there are plenty of places with British sounding names.

Kraft won't be building a soccer-specific stadium. Period.

And as for the "British sounding names" ... that's because they are British. Almost ever city/town in Eastern Mass. got its name from its counterpart in England.

[SDX]

What is wrong with them just been called Colorado. Many football clubs just have a single name and in my opinion its better than trying to Europeanise it which just sounds stupid and wont appeal to the american market

[Captain Poncho]

What is wrong with them just been called Colorado. Many football clubs just have a single name and in my opinion its better than trying to Europeanise it which just sounds stupid and wont appeal to the american market

If you just reference "Colorado" in sports circles out here, everyone thinks you're talking about the Buffs.

[Rocknjosie]

**News Flash**

Apparently there's this new league called the "national football league" if you can believe that and it's teams have been stealing the identities of major league baseball teams in order to try and tap into baseball's already expansive fanbase. I don't know about you, but I think there is only one true New York Giants team, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees it stinks, they're cheapening the real teams. And they don't stop at just blatant copying, some of them try to be clever, like the Chicago Bears (cubs) and the Boston Redskins (braves). It's absolutely shameless. The league should find it's own identity, not glob off on the already established older league.

Oh and what do y'all think of this New Deal? FDR's quite the walkin, talkin hero of our nation huh?

[BB61]

**News Flash**

Apparently there's this new league called the "national football league" if you can believe that and it's teams have been stealing the identities of major league baseball teams in order to try and tap into baseball's already expansive fanbase. I don't know about you, but I think there is only one true New York Giants team, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees it stinks, they're cheapening the real teams. And they don't stop at just blatant copying, some of them try to be clever, like the Chicago Bears (cubs) and the Boston Redskins (braves). It's absolutely shameless. The league should find it's own identity, not glob off on the already established older league.

Oh and what do y'all think of this New Deal? FDR's quite the walkin, talkin hero of our nation huh?

For the win!

Actually, some of it originated from the fact that in the early days, baseball players played for said football teams during the off season. Of course, that stopped right about the time they started using pigs for balls.

But Josie, you definately get a "FTW" on that one.

[lost_limey]

And they don't stop at just blatant copying, some of them try to be clever, like the Chicago Bears (cubs) and the Boston Redskins (braves).

While this is a fantastic and amusing post, I feel the need to point ou tthat the Boston Redskins did, in fact, start out as a blatant copy team, the Boston Braves.

[Gothamite]

True on both counts, but at least they were emulating teams from their own city.

[The Swamp Yankee]

I remember reading somewhere that while Colorado Arsenal was discussed as a new name it was ultimitely rejected. Now maybe that Colorado Arsenal logo was only made when discussions were going on and we have been going on about nothing.