USL Rebrand Project: Nike Premier League

[scottysprings]

You're templates are getting pretty repetitive. I don't really like how they all have a separate panel and seam across the front of the jersey touching the bottom of the collar, if that makes sense.

[2mr41h]

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?

By having a regular season that's almost meaningless, since most of the teams make the 'playoffs' (sic). By having a two-conference, "let's copy US sports" system instead of a single-table system like the rest of the world. By not allowing the teams to operate as independent entities in a free market. Those are just a few of the ways MLS fails to appeal to the world soccer fan.

I heard a great suggestion on World Soccer Daily radio: go to a single-table format and, in lieu of relegation, penalize the three teams finishing last with points deductions for the beginning of the next season. It would create a relegation-style battle at the bottom of the table and some urgency for teams to do better than just 'make the playoffs.'

[hartfordwhalers2k8]

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?

But that's the point. Eurosnobs do make up a large part of the soccer fan base in America. MLS is nothing but if you put AFL with soccer. It has corny team names, once-a-week national TV showings (that ESPN forces any promotion on) and B level talent. A system like the "Nike Premier League" would show to outsiders that the league is legitimate and would be able to make the big four into a big five (it still would be 5th, but I think the last 4 would be pretty close after the NFL). It's necessary to have this to attract the big named stars that aren't old men (Beckham).

[fishheatcats]

You're templates are getting pretty repetitive. I don't really like how they all have a separate panel and seam across the front of the jersey touching the bottom of the collar, if that makes sense.

I see what you mean... I'll try to come up with something different for the next one(s).

[-kj]

Eurosnobs will always be Eurosnobs, there's very little hope in reaching out to them, and it's certainly suicide for MLS to restructure their entire organization to pander to them.

[scottysprings]

You're templates are getting pretty repetitive. I don't really like how they all have a separate panel and seam across the front of the jersey touching the bottom of the collar, if that makes sense.

I see what you mean... I'll try to come up with something different for the next one(s).

Cool, I look forward to your next team concept

[fishheatcats]

Okay after a long delay(that graduation, job interviews and MGS4 have caused lol), here are the Miami Strikers, a total rebrand of Miami FC. I've done dozens of Miami soccer concepts, so for this one I decided to bring back the colors and moniker of the old NASL Fort Lauderdale team, with a hurricane theme. The crest utilizes one of the elements from one of my many previous Miami concepts, the ball/storm. Underneath is a simple striped shield with the wordmark on top. The "2006" represents the year the organization(Miami FC) was formed. The secondary is a subtle emulation of the old Strikers logo, where the ball sort of dots the 'i' from the background, using my new ball/wordmark. It was suggested to change up my template for the jerseys, so I did, and I came up with this. The front panel wraps around, sort of like a giant bib. I kept the horizontal stripes from the classic kits as well. If you look closely on the socks, I used the Umbro logo to make a hurricane flag pattern.

C&C as always, and the next team will keep things in Florida, and again throw it back to the NASL, the recently announced Tampa Bay Rowdies!

[scottysprings]

Very cool concept, the colors remind me of Roma but the uni design really separates the two identities. Really like the socks too. One critique is I think it would look nicer with less black on the second kit and an increased emphasis on the red and gold; maybe just some black piping?

[fishheatcats]

Okay here are the Rowdies, which since I started this project, have actually been confirmed to be joining USL in 2010, whatever the league may be called at that point. I went back and tried to make a, well, less goofy primary logo lol. I cleaned up the old wordmark a lot, but I think it still has the overall feel of the original. Inspired by my recent trip to St. Pete to see a Marlins-Rays game, I used the Sunshine Skyway bridge to top the crest. I wanted to somehow make a nice logo and not use the wacky guy from before. That being said, I'm sure Rowdies fans would have a fit if he wasn't there, so I brought him back as a secondary. I did my best to vectorize/ clean it up, and tweaked the face slightly, mostly because the biggest pic of the old logo I could find(it ended up being from CCSL) was so pixelated it was a real guessing game. the kits are pretty much a straight forward modernization of the classic ones, with striped sleeves and socks.

C&C and stick around for the next team, the Austin Aztex(possible name change coming)!

[Swampee]

Okay here are the Rowdies, which since I started this project, have actually been confirmed to be joining USL in 2010, whatever the league may be called at that point. I went back and tried to make a, well, less goofy primary logo lol. I cleaned up the old wordmark a lot, but I think it still has the overall feel of the original. Inspired by my recent trip to St. Pete to see a Marlins-Rays game, I used the Sunshine Skyway bridge to top the crest. I wanted to somehow make a nice logo and not use the wacky guy from before. That being said, I'm sure Rowdies fans would have a fit if he wasn't there, so I brought him back as a secondary. I did my best to vectorize/ clean it up, and tweaked the face slightly, mostly because the biggest pic of the old logo I could find(it ended up being from CCSL) was so pixelated it was a real guessing game. the kits are pretty much a straight forward modernization of the classic ones, with striped sleeves and socks.

C&C and stick around for the next team, the Austin Aztex(possible name change coming)!

Being a former resident of the Tampa Bay area and a Rowdies fan, I am a huge fan on this design.

The only thing is that the socks have to be green and gold with the yellow and the the white jersey and blue and yellow with the blue jersey.

I love that wordmark.

[AJM]

Both Tampa and Miami look great...love the crests and kits.

[Riot!]

what template are you using? and is it possible for you to give me this template?

[Gothamite]

Eurosnobs will always be Eurosnobs, there's very little hope in reaching out to them, and it's certainly suicide for MLS to restructure their entire organization to pander to them.

On the contrary, trying to "improve" soccer and make it more American was certainly suicidal. Talk about kicking your potential fanbase in the teeth.

Fortunately, they recognized their mistake.

[-kj]

Eurosnobs will always be Eurosnobs, there's very little hope in reaching out to them, and it's certainly suicide for MLS to restructure their entire organization to pander to them.

On the contrary, trying to "improve" soccer and make it more American was certainly suicidal. Talk about kicking your potential fanbase in the teeth.

Fortunately, they recognized their mistake.

Completely agreed. However, the complaints about single entity and the salary cap system have nothing to do with the bastardization of the rules they tried. I agree, I'd love to see completely autonomous clubs, etc, but I don't think MLS would have survived this long and doing this well had they not taken the more cautious approach, nor do I believe the time is remotely close to being right to tear the system down.

I stand by my statement about snobs, though--just look at the current threads about helping someone pick a European team to cheer for, when there are perfectly good clubs right in their backyards.

[omnibus]

Probably the best leage Rebrand I have seen on this board. Every uniform is better than the last. Excellent work.

[fishheatcats]

what template are you using? and is it possible for you to give me this template?

As with all the other templates I use, it's one of my own creation. I like to make my own, I have no reason why I can't so it would feel to me like cheating if I used someone else's(no offense to anyone who uses other people's templates, and that's a lot of people here lol. I know not everyone has the capacity or time to make their own). I would like to keep it/them all to myself really, I think it gives my concepts uniqueness right from the start, but if you really want it I could give it to you.

Moving on, here is the next team, Austin FC. The team that will start play in '09 is known as the Austin Aztex, and while that may fly for a PDL team or the XFL, I don't think it's an acceptable name for a top level pro team(my new MLS-equal league or not, it's still USL Division 1), especially one located in an area where there were no actual Aztecs. I went to the opposite end of the spectrum here, with the classic FC. I couldn't really come up with any nickname I though was any good. For the logo, I wanted to keep the native theme, but keep it classy, so I went with a dreamcatcher for the crest. Initially I was going to use a ball woven into the center, but that didn't work out so I did a straight soccer ball. Then I was coming up with the alternate, with a crescent moon and a star(for the Lone Star state) and I put the banner over it and it looked better as the primary, so I switched them. For the kits the idea is to have the piping go right up into the collar, similar to what Chelsea wears(and some other teams I can't think of at the moment). The only thing I'm iffy about is the color scheme, I started out going for a maroon/purple look, then just purple. I keep thinking this looks too feminine, I might add a maroon version as well.

C&C and the next team will be the Rochester (Raging?) Rhinos!

[Brian in Boston]

I cleaned up the old wordmark a lot, but I think it still has the overall feel of the original.

Sorry, but I don't see your wordmark as having "the overall feel of the original". You've simply succeeded in stripping away any ties to the Rowdies' original, iconic wordmark.

I used the Sunshine Skyway bridge to top the crest.

An inspired choice... and very nicely done. Now, if only you had chosen to combine it with the Rowdies' original font.

... the kits are pretty much a straight forward modernization of the classic ones, with striped sleeves and socks.

The striping on the kit sleeves is too modernized. It needs to be of a truly "hooped", green-gold-green variety... as on the original kits. As for the socks, they have to feature green and gold hoops... not white and gold.

Bottom line? The Rowdies were visually defined by two prominent elements of their branding package: their wordmark font and the green-gold-green hoops. Those elements should - at all costs - be preserved in their original form.

[leopard88]

Bottom line? The Rowdies were visually defined by two prominent elements of their branding package: their wordmark font and the green-gold-green hoops. Those elements should - at all costs - be preserved in their original form.

I couldn't agree more. Putting two stripes around the top of the sleeves does not come close to preserving the sleeve stripes.

[Brian in Boston]

I'm not really feeling this one.

While you are correct in pointing out that the Austin Aztex name is incredibly contrived, your use of a dreamcatcher as the centerpiece of your logo package doesn't exactly strike me as being an improvement.

Dreamcatchers are - most accurately - a part of the Ojibwa culture. While some indigenous people backed their adoption as a Native American unity symbol during the 1970s, there are those who regard such usage as being nothing more than a misappropriation of Ojibwan culture, particularly given the manner in which the manufacture and sale of dreamcatchers has become a cottage industry for any number of "New Age" craftspeople... many of whom aren't even of Native American descent. In other words, outside of the Ojibwan culture the dreamcatcher has been bastardized.

Further, Central Texas has never been home to the center of Ojibwa culture. Rather, the area around Austin has been home to Native American tribal cultures including those of the Tonkawa, Comanche and Lipan Apache peoples.

In short, while your rendering of the Austin FC primary logo is beautiful, the use of a dreamcatcher as said logo's primary design element is nearly as culturally specious as branding an Austin-based sports franchise the Aztex.

[fishheatcats]

I'm not really feeling this one.

While you are correct in pointing out that the Austin Aztex name is incredibly contrived, your use of a dreamcatcher as the centerpiece of your logo package doesn't exactly strike me as being an improvement.

Dreamcatchers are - most accurately - a part of the Ojibwa culture. While some indigenous people backed their adoption as a Native American unity symbol during the 1970s, there are those who regard such usage as being nothing more than a misappropriation of Ojibwan culture, particularly given the manner in which the manufacture and sale of dreamcatchers has become a cottage industry for any number of "New Age" craftspeople... many of whom aren't even of Native American descent. In other words, outside of the Ojibwan culture the dreamcatcher has been bastardized.

Further, Central Texas has never been home to the center of Ojibwe culture. Rather, the area around Austin has been home to Native American tribal cultures including those of the Tonkawa, Comanche and Lipan Apache peoples.

In short, while your rendering of the Austin FC primary logo is beautiful, the use of a dreamcatcher as said logo's primary design element is nearly as culturally specious as branding an Austin-based sports franchise the Aztex.

Damn man can't get anything past you lol. Remind me not to play you at Native American Jeopardy cause you got me beat. I agree that it's not an exact regional symbol, I was really going for something that would make people think "Native American" in general, without having to say "Austin Apaches" or "Comanches", which I think would be cool but with all the PC-ing around sports teams you probably couldn't get away with that. I think the only reason they get away with Aztex is that there aren't very many, if any at all, true Aztec descendants left, and they are all in Mexico. I think a dreamcatcher, however "bastardized" it may be in our culture, is a nice, non-offensive way to represent Native American/Southwestern culture. Also thanks on the part about the rendering being beautiful, always nice to hear .

In response to the last 2 Rowdies comments, the hoops would be there just like the original, it's just the upper one would blend into the side panel of the same color. As for the wordmark, I think the old one, however iconic it may be, is one of the old NASL logos that was just plain bad in my opinion, including the guy. I kept the guy because it's downright funny, and that I think he may be more recognizable. I threw this one up for discussion over on the BigSoccer.com Rowdies board, and nearly all TB fans there loved the new wordmark, and several suggested sending it in to the owners(so I did for a laugh, with yellow and green hooped socks by previous suggestion). One guy is now actually using it as his avatar. At first I wanted to use the old wordmark but it just looks too dated to me. I think for this new team that is linked to the old in name only, keeping the colors and silly name is enough to satisfy the old fans. Then again, I may be wrong and they might not change anything. I just wanted to try making a new one instead of simply tracing the old.