Seattle Officially in MLS

[josh_cat_eyes]

I would almost not have a problem with some of the Club names if they were just SC, for soccer club.

You league is called Major League Soccer, not major league football, or futbol or anything with a F, so why not use the American convention.

I agree!! Its stupid having FC in almost all the club team names. If you want FC than call the leage MLF or something...perhaps it has to do with the NFL though...because that is football aswell.

[Sodboy13]

Why not the Metropolitan Seattle Football Club?

(Short form: MSFC)

Better yet, the Metropolitan Seattle Football Team, or MSFT. Then you've got yourself a corporate tie-in.

[kiwi_canadian]

Now that the MLS is coming to Seattle, doesn't anyone think that the USL Sounders will go belly up? The MLS is the top level in the USA and Canada and I don't think that both of those leagues will be able to opperate side by side in one city at the same time. Look at what happened in Toronto. The Toronto Lynx dropped to the USL Development League when Tortonto FC came to town. As everyone says on here, the Sounders name is tradition and I think it would be a great way to carry on a successful tradition in the Seattle sports scene. Otherwise, the Sounders name could be lost. I actually hope that the Sounders name will jump to the MLS for the 2009 season.

[gordie_delini]

For the last and final time, FC or SC, either moniker is appropriate!

Soccer is an old English school boys' nickname for Association Football which is the official term for the sport the world calls football. It comes from taking the 'soc] out of 'association.' There are deviations of the sport that are quite commonly known by their differentiated names. These include Rugby Football (Rugby), Aussie Rules Football, and American Football. All could appropriately be called football, but are differentiated from the first sport in the category, Association Football. So, you could call a team a football club (FC) or a soccer club (SC) and they both would be referring to the same damn sport - Association Football.

[JH42XCC]

Here's a good idea for the name of the Seattle MLS franchise: Puget Sound SC

[cappital92]

Here's a good idea for the name of the Seattle MLS franchise: Puget Sound SC

I just said that a page ago.

[tajmccall]

Paint me a EPL fan, but all of the USL team names sound really weak.

Like NISL weak.

[duma]

if they cant get the rights to the sounders, i say just name the team Seattle FC and have the fans use 'sounders' as the unofficial nickname, just like Arsenal has the 'gunners' as their nickname (nobody refers to Arsenal as the Arsenal Gunners). i like the ambiguity of just leaving the city name because it leaves it up to the fans to decide what to call the team.

btw this reminds me of Liverpools owner Tom Hicks referrng to the team as the "Liverpool Reds" and then subsuquent lambasting he took by the fans and British press.

[gosioux76]

The franchise's website is now online.

http://www.mlsinseattle.com

If the colors used on the website are any indication, it would appear that at least a couple of shades of Green and a Pale Blue are in the running to be included in the team palate. For what it's worth, in the FAQ section it says that the official team name will be announced by Spring of 2008.

I saw this, too, but it's different from what the original story on MLSnet.com said. That story reported the Tuesday news conference would also include the new name, logos, colors, etc. That has led me to believe that they will simply adopt the Sounders identity rather than create something new. But I now notice that the original story has been changed, too. Looks like they're not ready to reveal everything tomorrow.

[myartsaywhat]

If you check out the pictures of Drew Carey and Joe Roth, Carey is wearing a light green and blue scarf through the presentation. It also has a logo on it. I don't know much about soccer, so I'm not sure if this is from the Sounders or not.

[powersurge]

Whatever they do its automatically going to suck. Sounders has TRADITION. Anything else is a major downgrade.

Tradition's overrated.

Especially if the tradition is a crappy sounding one.

You know what...Orioles is a ty name too. It's a little midget bird. Who'd want to name their team that?

Seriously, just because it sounds bad to you doesn't mean it sounds bad to folks there.

Seriously man, if you don't like my opinion then you are free to ignore it. You've said some pretty stupid things in the past that I've conveniently ignored and didn't make it a personal thing.

[Brian in Boston]

If you check out the pictures of Drew Carey and Joe Roth, Carey is wearing a light green and blue scarf through the presentation. It also has a logo on it. I don't know much about soccer, so I'm not sure if this is from the Sounders or not.

Carey is wearing the scarf of the Emerald City Supporters, an independent group of Seattle Sounders fans. The logo on the scarf is that of the ESC.

[Brian in Boston]

Well, it has officially been announced that Seattle has been granted a Major League Soccer expansion franchise that will begin play in 2009. MLS Commissioner Don Garber, team majority owner Joe Roth, team GM Adrian Hanauer, Tod Leiweke of Vulcan Sports and Entertainment (representing Paul Allen) and Governor Christine Gregoire of Washington were on hand for the press conference.

Based upon comments made at the press conference, it seems as if the team's ownership group is distancing itself from the Seattle Sounders identity.

* Adrian Hanauer said that team management would "... find an authentic soccer brand that the entire city can be proud of" and that the team name will reflect said brand. He then invited people to log-on to www.mlsinseattle.com and submit team name ideas.

* When pressed on the issue, Hanauer said, "We're going to collect names. We're going to make a good decision."

* When asked his opinion on whether the Sounders name would be carried over to MLS, Joe Roth said, "Too early to tell."

* Commissioner Garber touched on the subject by commenting, "We'll support whatever name they (the ownership group) come up with."

Late in this press conference, Roth responded to a question about Seattle's ability to go from supporting an A-League side to a Major League Soccer franchise by saying that he had attended the match of "... a minor-league soccer team" at QWEST Field and had been "... astonished to see 9-or-10,000 people in attendance for minor-league soccer". It was almost as if he was going out of his way to establish that the Sounders had been a minor-league entity... without deigning to even invoke the team by the Sounders name.

Unfortunately, I'd say that a decision to abandon the Seattle Sounders name has already been made. The suggestion that fans can submit team name ideas through the website strikes me as being little more than a "dog-and-pony show".

[powersurge]

Thank God!

They need to start fresh and go with an new identity (As I've said previously in the super long thread about the possible Seattle team names)

Good call on their part. I just hope they stay with the colors of green and blue.

[gosioux76]

I'm not sure that I would jump to any conclusions about them abandoning the Sounders name. All that says to me is they're open to considering new identities.

A name-the-team contest could just be a ploy to generate fan interest. Besides, who's to say that the name Sounders doesn't come out on top of that exercise?

[powersurge]

I'm not sure that I would jump to any conclusions about them abandoning the Sounders name. All that says to me is they're open to considering new identities.

A name-the-team contest could just be a ploy to generate fan interest. Besides, who's to say that the name Sounders doesn't come out on top of that exercise?

I think you kind of answered your own question.

A naming contest would be just a promotional stunt. Even if "Sounders" did come out on top it doesn't mean they would go with it. Not all contest names have necessarily been used as the final name for a team...and to be honest, I don't think it ever should. It should influence the outcome, but never decide it. An organization should make the decision based on factors other than what a few fans who happened to vote think. When the NY Yankees decided to let A-Rod test the free agent market, they didn't first ask the fans if they should offer him $350million....major decisions shouldn't be decided by fans. A team identity is an example of one of those MAJOR decisions

[leedsunited]

Let's go over this again:

Truly, really dumb wanna-be names and other assorted soccer nonsense:

Dallas FC

Toronto FC

New York Red Bulls

Cleveland Stokers (ah, the NPSL - 1968!)

Atlanta Chiefs

Atlanta Apollos

Caribou of Colorado

Memphis Rogues

DC United

Los Angeles Galaxy

Smart Names

New York Cosmos (Cosmopolitan, no?)

Oakland Clippers

Baltimore Bays

Boston Minutemen

New England Revolution

Tampa Bay Rowdies (even the Mutiny works with the right logo)

Miami Toros

Dallas Tornado

St. Louis Stars

Montreal Olympics (Olyimpique du Montreal)

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

PORTLAND TIMBERS

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

(did we say NEW YORK COSMOS!!!)

Chicago Sting

Los Angeles Aztecs

Who died and made you the pope of soccer squad nicknames?

Personally, I like the Caribou name.

[Fred T. Jane]

Unfortunately, I d say that a decision to abandon the Seattle Sounders name has already been made. The suggestion that fans can submit team name ideas through the website strikes me as being little more than a "dog-and-pony show".

It's been MLS policy to do so after Salt Lake folks panned the Real Salt Lake name.* Way to keep supporters in the loop, guys!

*Can't find the link at the moment, but Garber stated after the fiasco that the league wouldn't allow fan balloting for names for expansion clubs, but rather it would stay in-house.

[Mac the Knife]

Just a guess, but I'd say the team might wind up as "Emerald City 09" or some such thing. Isn't there a Bundesliga club "Schalke 04"?

[Puck]

If the colors used on the website are any indication, it would appear that at least a couple of shades of Green and a Pale Blue are in the running to be included in the team palate.

I made the connection, due to the lack of an identity, the website's colors are merely a reflection of the MLS logo color pallet.