USL Rebrand Project: Nike Premier League

[fishheatcats]

Okay folks this is something I've been kicking around for a few weeks now, it's another one of my league idea concepts(some of you may remember my NCAA football idea... if you do odds are you didn't like it lol). Ever since Nike purchased Umbro, who owns USL, rumors have been coming out about how they want to improve the quality of play, up the salaries, etc., and maybe someday compete with MLS. At first I thought that was absurd but after thinking about it, that might not be a bad thing. What they could really do is make a league that complements MLS, not competes with it. If England, a country roughly the size of Florida, can have 20 teams at the top level plus many more lower level teams, why should the entire US and Canada have to limit itself to 18-20? I think 2 leagues that coexist could work here. It would give many more markets the chance to compete at the highest level. Here's the bulk of my idea:

USL would add 7 teams to make the total 18(not counting Seattle and counting Austin, who replaces them next season), while MLS adds two more, lets say St. Louis and Milwaukee. The 18 teams in each league would play a 34 game, single table season within the confines of their respective leagues. At the end of the year each league would have it's own playoffs however they want to do set that up. The next year, like the Champions League, the top 8 teams from each league would play in a similar style tournament, 4 4 team groups and a knockout stage. Call it the North American Champions Cup or something of that sort. It would like expanding the US Open Cup and making it a bigger deal. Right now a lot of the teams are amateur clubs and semi-pro teams, and the MLS teams almost always win. Then both leagues compete against each other yearly so it's like having a 36 team league of sorts. Instead of 7-8 cities scrambling to grab the precious few MLS expansion slots left, Miami, Atlanta, Portland, Vancouver, and Montréal are already in and places like Las Vegas, Tampa, and Orlando can get in on the action as well. EDIT: based on suggestion, my NACC would be expanded to include 8 teams from Mexico, making a total of 24 clubs, broken into 4 6 team groups for group play, where the top 4 in each group advance to a 16 team knockout stage. This setup could replace SuperLiga.

So, enough talking, let me get down to business. First is the new league name and image. People hear USL, and if they even know what it is, they think minor leagues. So to upgrade the league's image, a name change is in order. I'm borrowing this from the president of the Miami Ultras who suggested it in the last podcast over at www.miamisoccerfan.com: the Nike Premier League. It has a nice ring to it I think, and it's better than reviving the NASL name or anything else I could think of.

Next are the teams. For my purposes, I've kept the 2009 USL list intact and added Tampa Bay, Orlando, Long Island, San Diego, Phoenix, New Orleans and Las Vegas. Some I chose to make good rivalries with either current USL or MLS teams. I will be making my way through the whole league with new logos and kits, except MAYBE the Carolina RailHawks and Montréal Impact. Those are the only two teams in USL I think have good logos. To start I've chosen the Puerto Rico Islanders.

For the crest I used the fort in San Juan and the flag to form shield shape. I'm pretty happy with it, but I wanted to somehow show the impression of the stone blocks on the wall and turret, but nothing I did looked right. The kits are pretty standard, I wanted to switch to the red/white/blue colors as opposed to the current white and bright orange they wear now for some reason. C&C and any suggestions for the crest welcome, and stay tuned for the next team, the Portland Timbers!

[-kj]

The first thing I noticed is the lack of orange, and I was very disappointed by it. I think they've developed a decent identity around the orange, despite it not being prominent in their crest.

[AJM]

Clean concept...the kits look great. Top notch work on this!

[Epiphanic]

Not much to say here. The kits look good and simple. I like the subtle shadow stripes. The only potential problem I see is the flag. Because of the fort, the triangle point of the blue in the flag is completely cut off. It gives off a Texas vibe. Outside of that, excellent work.

[gosioux76]

First off, I love the idea. I see potential in it. You could add the Mexican league into your North American Champions Cup to be more reminiscent of the Champions League.

It'll never happen, but it's a fun concept.

That said, I would advocate for keeping the Portland Timbers logo as-is. I'm indifferent to the uniform style. It can always be upgraded. But the logo is a classic that has carried forward from the NASL days to the present without a hitch.

I'm sure Mockba disagrees with me on this, but I wouldn't be disappointed if the old Minnesota Kicks came back from the dead. But that's just coming from someone with a strong taste for nostalgia.

[Krona]

That said, I would advocate for keeping the Portland Timbers logo as-is. I'm indifferent to the uniform style. It can always be upgraded. But the logo is a classic that has carried forward from the NASL days to the present without a hitch.

for the most part yes. dont forget about these:

[-kj]

That's a highly superior logo for the Timbers, except for the point of the M. And they should have worn green and white stripes (not hoops, like they actually did) with it.

Oh, and on the idea of USL being a parallel league.... yeahhh, riiiiight. USL-1 is the second division. There's no shame in that. I say own that, and bring the level of your league up to be a solid second division. There's no need for a US champions league or whatnot--there's the US Open Cup already, plus there's the CONCACAF Champions League, for which the Islanders have qualified and for which the USL teams have an opportunity to qualify via the USOC and the Canadian Champions Cup (or whatever they're calling it). (Oh, and screw Superliga. Screw it right in the ear.)

[scottysprings]

I like this series idea keep it up..

[fishheatcats]

Okay here are the Timbers. First off is the crest. At first I wanted to keep the circle but have a new inner design with a tree line and maybe a mountain, but nothing worked as well as the classic axe does. As a result what I did was keep the axe and lines, added another shade of green and placed it into a shield design. I think it came out alright. Sponsor is Nike, based in Oregon and since they own the league, why not. For the uniforms I wanted to incorporate the diagonal stripes from the logo while added a touch of the lighter green on the away/alts.

The next team up will be a new one, New York, to rival Red Bull NY in MLS. I'll be keeping the name a secret for my expansion teams until the full concept is unveiled. Stay Tuned!!

[AJM]

Timber crest and kits are really nice...I like the color scheme too. This is a quality design. I'd like to see some small element added to the socks. Otherwise excellent job and keep the designs coming.

[chestnutz]

Crest is nice, I don't know how I feel about the two toned green though. I like how you incorporated the crest elements into the kits, but the only thing is the placement of the swoosh on the shirts, a bit odd. Agree I'd like to see something other than boring plain socks.

[-kj]

Adding a fictional new team to a set of concepts for a league before you've done even a third of the existing teams? Oy.

[fishheatcats]

I'm finally finished getting my portfolio ready for graduation, so my time has been significantly freed up and it's time for the next team, FCNY. As you no doubt already see, it is a play on "FDNY", the fire department. I remember suggesting this for someone else's Red Bulls rebrand concept, can't remember who it was, but anyway they had NYFC, so I thought to flip it around. With the Chicago Fire already using a firefighter look, that wouldn't really work in MLS. Here however, it would fly. They would be based in Brooklyn to please the NYC2 MLS supporters. I personally don't like having two teams in the same city but since it would be two separate league I could live with it.

The crest is heavily based off the FDNY shield, with a soccer ball in place of the flame. The kits are meant to represent the stripes on firefighters' suits, the 3rd using the dark gray color they actually are. I used Umbro just to change it up, Citibank is just a random NY company I picked off a list. Note the overly optimistic future players on this and the forthcoming expansion team concepts lol.

To please Mockba, I'll do a current team and since it's in your sig, how about the Minnesota Thunder next?

[edwardgr]

I'm finally finished getting my portfolio ready for graduation, so my time has been significantly freed up and it's time for the next team, FCNY. As you no doubt already see, it is a play on "FDNY", the fire department. I remember suggesting this for someone else's Red Bulls rebrand concept, can't remember who it was, but anyway they had NYFC, so I thought to flip it around. With the Chicago Fire already using a firefighter look, that wouldn't really work in MLS. Here however, it would fly. They would be based in Brooklyn to please the NYC2 MLS supporters. I personally don't like having two teams in the same city but since it would be two separate league I could live with it.

The crest is heavily based off the FDNY shield, with a soccer ball in place of the flame. The kits are meant to represent the stripes on firefighters' suits, the 3rd using the dark gray color they actually are. I used Umbro just to change it up, Citibank is just a random NY company I picked off a list. Note the overly optimistic future players on this and the forthcoming expansion team concepts lol.

To please Mockba, I'll do a current team and since it's in your sig, how about the Minnesota Thunder next?

These aren't terrible, but at the same time I am just not really feeling this. It really is too close to the Fire for me to think of it as original. As for the team playing in Brooklyn, well Flushing is where MLS NYC is most likely going to be if Wilpon is involved. So I would say if you are going with the expansion fantasy have the team purchase the Polo Grounds development tear down the towers there and build a Poplar Point esque community on the site, complete with 30k SSS, since this is relatively close to Yankees stadium infrastructure becomes less of an issue than just randomly throwing out Brooklyn based.

I always thought Empire FC or Imperial NY would be good brands for a New York FC.

As for the Thunder, the new logo for this season is already pretty strong it would be interesting to see what you come up with but I think the current look is better than any other pro team named 'Thunder' that means you Orlando and Berlin

[AJM]

FCNY kits look good...I like the design elements on the socks as well as the chest stripe. I'm sold on the crest or secondary logo though.

[fishheatcats]

Here are the Minnesota Thunder. To preface I must say that the new Thunder logo is one of the better ones in USL, but it has some problems. It lacks any actual visual element relating to thunder and I think color scheme needs some yellow. I went with a very European/South American look for the crest. The star represents the first/only USL title Minnesota has(so far), and is joined by a 'TM' in the design. The lightning bolt cuts the crest in half and traditional stripes are on the bottom. I know their affiliated W-League team, the Lightning, uses a lightning bolt in their crest but any team named "Thunder" needs a lightning bolt in my book. The 'TM' is worked in to the wordmark as well. Color-wise I kept close to the blues they use and added yellow. Now for the uniforms I wanted to try something a little different. The idea is that the stripe starts at a point at the neck and wraps around all the way to the back of the shorts. I'm not so sure on how the back came out but I think it's okay. The spiral stripe is echoed on the socks.

So C&C on this and any of the others so far, and stick around for the next team, my Miami FC(getting it out of the way now lol)!!

[edwardgr]

Here are the Minnesota Thunder. To preface I must say that the new Thunder logo is one of the better ones in USL, but it has some problems. It lacks any actual visual element relating to thunder and I think color scheme needs some yellow. I went with a very European/South American look for the crest. The star represents the first/only USL title Minnesota has(so far), and is joined by a 'TM' in the design. The lightning bolt cuts the crest in half and traditional stripes are on the bottom. I know their affiliated W-League team, the Lightning, uses a lightning bolt in their crest but any team named "Thunder" needs a lightning bolt in my book. The 'TM' is worked in to the wordmark as well. Color-wise I kept close to the blues they use and added yellow. Now for the uniforms I wanted to try something a little different. The idea is that the stripe starts at a point at the neck and wraps around all the way to the back of the shorts. I'm not so sure on how the back came out but I think it's okay. The spiral stripe is echoed on the socks.

So C&C on this and any of the others so far, and stick around for the next team, my Miami FC(getting it out of the way now lol)!!

Wow on this one I love the kit as much as I loathe the crest. First of all in the interlocking TM I do not see a TM, I see a mexican wrestlers mask, second the drop shadow on the lightning bolt itself makes it look more like a 3d bolt, instead of shadowed. I don't disagree with your comments regarding the current Thunder look I just don't like the logo here. If you use Thor's hammer as the T then using a lightning bolt is not necessary. If you think a lightning bolt is necessary I would suggest another color instead of yellow, this looks to much like the Chargers decided to sponsor a local FC. The only suggestion I have in that regard is color scheme as follows: Navy - Ice Blue - Silver.

[chestnutz]

Agree I really like the kits but the badge is meh, especially compared to the great one they have now. I would just take their current one and add a bit of yellow in places if you want yellow.

[hartfordwhalers2k8]

I read your idea. It makes perfect sense. In order for the US to have a legitimate league, there needs to be a clear-cut structure similar to what England, Spain and Italy have. I follow Italy since I'm 1/2 Italian and Switzerland and Australia, who are who I fell in love with during the World Cup in 2006. I also follow Liverpool. I do not follow anything relevant to US soccer, whether it's MLS, USL or in CONCACAF. The US has a horrible system of soccer, despite being a huge country. The system currently in place is the same kind of system you would expect in a middle-level country in international trade and popularity. The MLS system is absolutely appalling and is what is keeping away the people who really want to follow soccer in the US. I want to be a US soccer fan, but with technology and a fairly close time zone difference (no different than following the Red Sox in Hawai'i), I have no problem following Liverpool and Italia. This idea would instantly make the US one of the top 10 soccer leagues in the world, which is not a claim they can make now. However, I feel the powers that be in American soccer have their heads so far up their asses, that they would never agree to this. Also, for your idea, Hartford has to be considered. There are no pro sports teams in Hartford. Rentschler Field is used about 15 times a year and usually one of those times is for an international friendly. There is very little competition in the most underserved market in the USA.

As for the kits, they are all great, and I can picture them all being worn in a real league. Puerto Rico and Minnesota's logos need a bit more work to look like authentic soccer logos. Keep up this series, since it is an excellent idea!

[-kj]

The MLS system is absolutely appalling and is what is keeping away the people who really want to follow soccer in the US.

This makes no sense to me. How is MLS driving people (that aren't Eurosnobs) away?