Portland Timbers to have a new logo for MLS Debut

[max]

again, replace the hatchet with a monkey-wrench and everything will be okay.

[taantumus]

Just a quick mock up, but I would've preferred something like this.

[erikstoll]

much much much better

[caperlogo13]

Just a quick mock up, but I would've preferred something like this.

This would work, no question.

[Gothamite]

I feel sick from that.

Oh, I am talking about how the fans presented themselves. Totally classless. You will lose a lot of respect that way.

So being passionate about your team and angry that a timeless, meaningful badge was cast aside in favour of an over designed downgrade is a bad thing?

True, it was a little on the brash side, but that just says, to me anyway, that the fans are passionate about their team.

It's also important to remember that those fans are the only reason Portland has an MLS team.

Portland isn't a big TV market, it isn't needed to branch out the sport into a new region, it doesn't have some massive corporate base that the league needs to tap for sponsors.

It doesn't have any of those things that you'd expect an expansion city to have. What it does have, however, is crazy passionate soccer fans. In droves. They love the sport, and they love their clubs.

Portland has never merited serious consideration for an expansion/relocated MLB, NHL or NFL franchise, for all the reasons listed above. But they're a great catch for MLS, because of the unique character of the sporting culture.

All fans like to feel that the team is "theirs," that they have some measure of responsibility for its continued success. Fans in Portland (as in Philadelphia) actually have a legitimate claim to make. So yes, I think their opinion should carry some weight.

[Titanole]

For some reason the logo looks better as a badge.

[Brian in Boston]

Well, to be fair, let's also not forget the team's owner completely lost his cool, and had to be restrained from his own team's fans while yelling at those fans, "you can shove your old minor league logo up your @ss!"

Did he really? That's when I would have replied, "Well, Merritt... you can shove your shiny, new Major League Soccer toy - undoubtedly purchased with more than a dollop of Daddy's Goldman Sachs money - up your ass. I'll be calling your ticket sales-reps to cancel my season-ticket deposits and I'll never spend my money on your franchise's merchandise. I can follow soccer in Portland - even root for the MLS incarnation of the Timbers - without putting a single dime in your pockets."

Soccer branded with the Portland Timbers name has taken the pitch for 20 seasons over the past 36 years. In 16 of those 20 seasons, said Timbers teams bore a logo/badge that featured the iconic axe silhouette and inverted Vs that symbolized Mt. Hood and the fir trees of the Pacific Northwest. The last time I checked, Merritt Paulson has been involved with the Portland Timbers for all of four seasons. The history and tradition of Portland Timbers soccer long predates Merritt Paulson... and something tells me it would somehow find a way to do just fine, at some level of soccer competition, without his involvement.

Most fans think the current logo is classic and classy, so the minor league jab coupled with the extreme self-assurance on the new logo design have many fans wondering if he even "gets it" when it comes to football club culture.

Of course Paulson doesn't get it when it comes to football club culture. Pro soccer in Portland is an investment opportunity for Merritt Paulson, nothing more... nothing less. Football club culture in Portland, Oregon is something to be exploited in order to realize a return on said investment. He can pay lip-service to "loving the beautiful game" and "appreciating the passion of Timbers supporters" all he wants, but he showed his true colors with the "shove your old minor-league logo up your ass" comment.

What a jackass.

[hawk36]

For some reason the logo looks better as a badge.

Agreed. I don't like the "now" trendy social media icon button look of the logo but sewn it's much better.

As a Sounders FC fan I have to chuckle at the colors looking very similar to the Sounders yellow kit. That being said, yellow isn't part of the Sounders color scheme and it is part of the Timbers but that has to really burn Timbers fans that Seattle jumped the gun on their colors. Guess it'll only add to the rivalry.

[hawk36]

OK, so I just had to do it.

[Titanole]

Guess it'll only add to the rivalry.

As if the Portland - Seattle (and Vancouver for that matter) rivalry needed another thing.

[Ben7]

If Paulson really said that, what a tool, I hope the Portland Timbers fans can have a revenge in some non violent, but classy form.

Just a quick mock up, but I would've preferred something like this.

I like this mockup, a bit less colors, a bit more and better visible chevrons.

[powersurge]

Is that supposed to be an axe or a hatchet for a midget logger????

wow.

not good.

[Red Wolf]

I hate it less than I did initially (and it's not like I have any nostalgia for the old one), but I'm still not a fan of the new logo. Hopefully it won't be too long before they come up with something better.

[GMW79]

Hopefully it won't be too long before they come up with something better.

Seems like quite a few people posting here think they already did.

[Still MIGHTY]

It kinda does actually look better when it is in patch form on the jersey.

But that said, taantumus's mock-up is 1000x better.

[CreamSoda]

Both Portland and Vancouver came out with better logos than Seattle did a few years back. I hate that Sounders FC logo... so cartoony...

[dabest13]

My initial reaction was negative, but the more I look at it the more I don't mind....

[max]

Portland is already light-years behind Vancouver.

[Krona]

Soccer branded with the Portland Timbers name has taken the pitch for 20 seasons over the past 36 years. In 16 of those 20 seasons, said Timbers teams bore a logo/badge that featured the iconic axe silhouette and inverted Vs that symbolized Mt. Hood and the fir trees of the Pacific Northwest. The last time I checked, Merritt Paulson has been involved with the Portland Timbers for all of four seasons. The history and tradition of Portland Timbers soccer long predates Merritt Paulson... and something tells me it would somehow find a way to do just fine, at some level of soccer competition, without his involvement.

Of course Paulson doesn't get it when it comes to football club culture. Pro soccer in Portland is an investment opportunity for Merritt Paulson, nothing more... nothing less. Football club culture in Portland, Oregon is something to be exploited in order to realize a return on said investment. He can pay lip-service to "loving the beautiful game" and "appreciating the passion of Timbers supporters" all he wants, but he showed his true colors with the "shove your old minor-league logo up your ass" comment.

What a jackass.

They still have an iconic axe and inverted V's. He told the supporters the badge would change, but hold on to key elements. He 100% backed up his words. It was the interpretation of his "promise" that makes most vocal of the Army upset. They had an idea in their head and when it didnt come to be, they flipped. They have to take some blame, too.

If the MLS is Paulsons idea of an investment, he's not much of a business person. When he started this campaign, the MLS wasn't where it is now, which is still not going to make you a ton of money. If anything its a long term investment.

[JQK]

Funny how people say fans should not say "we" when talking about football or hockey or baseball, and that fans have nothing to do with the team, think that when it comes the soccer the fans are somehow entitled to partially run the club and make decisions for the club.

You're fans. Nothing more. Deal with it.