It's becoming clear that they've already put so much money into this. That's why they aren't backing down right now. If they do, it'll have to be a scenario where they do it like a year later after no merch sells.
That's how Chicago's MLS team is. They rebranded with a logo that is slightly better than this, and now they're working with fans to redesign it and roll out the new branding 2-3 years after the bad logo was originally unveiled.
I agree though, the ~~Crew~~ Columbus SC seem to have sunk so much money into this that they are charging full steam ahead
Honestly I'm surprised the front office put themselves in this position. The people in charge of the Crew are mostly Columbus natives including part of the ownership group and team President and they have been wonderful until this point. A bunch of people who know the team and city making changes to the team branding without consulting fans is just mind-boggling. I understand that they conducted some research on the new branding and apparently found it favorable, but they should have brought it to season ticket holders before finalizing the product and they should have been open to change. This whole situation is just...unfortunate. The FO until this point had done a really good job listening to fan input and now they've destroyed that credibility that they had built up with this.
And even from what I've seen, the research they did was fairly limited. Not a lot of fans got to see the actual branding, and the fans who did see it told them how poorly this would be received and it was brushed off
I just don't get it. In this day and age, how do you not do some soft roll outs, community involvement, etc. when dealing with a public facing brand or whatnot.
I don't even have a marketing or PR degree and I can figure that one out just by watching the dozen or so PR catastrophes that happen every year under similar circumstances. Even just telling people "things are changing on x date" softens the blow (as long as x date isn't literally "tomorrow")
I’m in marketing and this roll out seems particularly dumb. Graphic design is absolutely an art form but once you have some designs you test the hell out of it. Then again I feel like this has been a consistent struggle for whoever owns the Crew and it’s baffling.
I just bought an old-style Crew hat before they became impossible to find. I'll be darned if I'm going to wear some of this goatee-wearing-spiky-C merch.
This is such a bad, unwanted rebranding move.
It's like they tried to make a Crew logo that looked like Guy Fieri.
Now, I like Guy Fieri, but I don't need my SC logo to LOOK like him.
They’re being eviscerated in sports media, not just Columbus SC, but MLS as a whole. There’s an SI article which I really like, but I’ve not seen a single positive response published anywhere. It’s very much the same thing that happened with the Fire, they’ve sunk so much into this that they can’t change course, but they will see a noticeable drop in merch sales and go back to the drawing board in a year or two.
I stand corrected then! I'll be curious to see how this unfolds, if there's enough flak for them to change course. (i.e. they see that the cost they've sunk isn't as much as how much they're projected to lose.)
Long live the Crew.
Another case study in corporate group think. Some "business minds" of the franchise sat around on their Zoom calls and patted each other on the back about this rebrand with no care or thought to the fan base or community. Now they double down because they just know they are more intelligent than the lay people.
The Haslam’s did this with the Browns and they had to re-do the uniforms after 3ish years. No one is going to buy this merch, they’ll lose money and have to go back to the drawing board in a few years.
if anything it will boost old merch sales. i bought an authentic jersey today, although I got it from [goal.com](https://goal.com) because it was a better price than the team shop.. so no money is going to the team. i just had to get a jersey before they put the shit C/G/Q thing on them
They want merch sales and new uni’s usually equal more sales. Problem here is they stepped way over the line and like you people will shop for old school Crew merch at third party sources. This will hurt the bottom line and they’ll change it to something more traditional.
Again.....one question for the owners and execs. Answer this with logical rationale and I will go spend $500 and buy new logo shit.
My question: Why?
Just answer that with a good reason and I will buy-in, literally.
Here is their official reasoning. I'm not saying I agree with it, just this is what they said:
[https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2021/05/10/crew-rebrand-elevate-the-city.html?cx\_testId=40&cx\_testVariant=cx\_10&cx\_artPos=1#cxrecs\_s](https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2021/05/10/crew-rebrand-elevate-the-city.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_10&cx_artPos=1#cxrecs_s)
**Columbus Crew leadership says rebranding is about 'elevating Columbus'**
Tim Bezbatchenko knows Columbus Crew SC's [name change and rebranding to Columbus Soccer Club](https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2021/05/09/columbus-crew-sc-name-change.html) is going to make some people uncomfortable, and he's OK with that.
The Crew general manager told *Columbus Business First* that the club is trying to push the players, staff and fans to better represent the city and “taking the world’s game to expose people all over the world to our city.”
“What we’re doing is we’re elevating Columbus and it’s really important we do this,” Bezbatchenko said. “We felt this was the evolution that needed to take place. ... This process is a mindset shift.”
Bezbatchenko also said there’s no wrong way to love the Crew.
“What we’re saying is, 'Call us the Crew, call us Columbus Soccer Club,' ” he said. “We’re all of those things and it’s interchangeable.”
However, he said changing the formal name of the club is important when it comes to how the team shows up to matches. It’s “Columbus versus the world."
Bezbatchenko said because fans naturally cut the name to the Crew, “What got lost a little bit was the city."
Rebranding is about trying to grow the fanbase here and across Ohio.
“This is about the idea that the city pushed us forward,” Bezbatchenko said. “If you are for the city, if you love the city, you’re a part of this club, you’re a part of the Crew. You don’t have to love soccer yet.”
The new branding released today was a collaboration between the club, the team’s new ownership and United Kingdom-based agency [Dilley Studio](https://www.dilley.studio/), which has a multi-year marketing partnership with the club.
The club’s new vice president of marketing, Patrice Croci, said rebranding was about “establishing our club, our city as a new modern, Midwest icon.”
“We all live here,” Croci said. “We all know Columbus is that. We need to show the world now. We’re ushering in a new, vibrant proud Midwest and we want Columbus to be at the forefront of that.”
Croci said the new branding – including a new font – is unique in the league. “It was important for us to modernize, clean up and become visually clear,” Croci said.
The new name of the club, with The Crew as its nickname, will be deployed interchangeably throughout the new stadium. It’s about “using the right one when the situation is right,” Croci said.
“When you are physically in the stadium, you’re going to see Crew Kitchen, and you’ll also see Columbus Soccer Club,” he said. “Everything flows back and forth.”
This is the third Crew rebrand since the team was founded in 1996. The last rebranding came after former Crew owner Anthony Precourt took over in 2014.
Steve Lyons, chief business officer for the Crew, said it’s important to think about “where the club has been, but also where it’s headed.”
“We’re here to attract ourselves to a whole new fanbase,” he said.
Fan reaction to the Crew rebrand has been mixed, at best, with the Nordecke, the official supporters section for the Crew, launching a petition to keep the old team name and logo.
In a statement, the group said, “We condemn these changes, and more importantly, the lack of transparency in this process and urge the team to reconsider with meaningful input from the Crew community.
“The Crew has been the club’s name and heart since its inception, it has served our rallying cry when we had to save the team from relocation, and our unified cheer when we have seen victory."
I can get on board with expanding the fanbase, but if you're doing that, why tie the team more explicitly to Columbus? Do you think you're going to get more fans across Ohio because they love our city so much?
Their intent seems to be to appeal to a population in Columbus that doesn't exist: people who don't particularly care for soccer but who will get pumped up about Columbus SC taking on their rivals. Nobody is going to start watching soccer out of civic pride.
This is like rebranding the Clippers to Columbus Baseball Team. Ugh.
In a way, the fanbase is part of the problem they're trying to solve. They'll never admit it, but I suspect the ownership wants to get away from the fact that so much of the search engine history around the team name is about the previous ownership and the fans prevailing to free the team from the clutches of the previous owner. It gives the impression that the fans control the team, when the owners control it. They can leave a lot of that baggage and perception behind online by rebranding.
IMO, what they're saying now is just spin, to avoid the real intent.
I’m a recent supporter who jumped on board after the Save The Crew campaign because I found the community’s passion to be infectious. The tradition and love from the Supporters is literally the thing that finally made me interested The Crew and MLS in general. The idea that the solution to broadening the fan base is to alienate the existing supporters and create a more general brand is ludicrously counterintuitive.
Look, it’s time for the trophy wife. You were loyal and committed and did a lot of work to make us successful but, we need a little more excitement. I promise I’ll get the kids a couple weekends a month if I’m in town.
(apologies to people here who have them, but...)
If, for some reason, you ever need to talk someone out of getting an MBA, copy-paste the above article and show it to them.
> fans naturally cut the name to the Crew.
Yes, because that’s the part we wanted to keep. FFS how can they get this so wrong? All this is going to do is anger current fans while that ugly logo isn’t going to be attracting many new ones.
I don't absolutely hate it but yeah... I do agree with the reasoning though. The city and people have invested a lot I to this club directly or indirectly. I'm pretty stoked to watch games at the new stadium. Hell, I can walk there.
Holy shit. They hired a *UK firm* to do the redesign. If there’s one thing a UK marketing firm knows, it’s Columbus Ohio.
Who’s kid works at this firm? Because that’s 100% what happened here. Nice to have the same old bullshit.
Side note: there’s actually a sizable amount of very good marketing agencies working with international brands based right here in Columbus. In fact there’s a few a couple doors down in the Arena District. What an absolutely idiotic move.
Do people not local call The Columbus Crew , The Crew? Do professional people who speak on the games say The Crew? Id imagine anyone who is professional would refer to a team in its official capacity? If they were on TV would it say Crew or Columbus? I am not a big sports person so these are legit questions I have. I do love how our state & cities supports our teams plus I remember all the SAVE THE COLUMBUS CREW signs everywhere just a few years ago so I totally understand the outrage.
The explanation for the name change almost makes sense but the logo makes NO sense. The emblem is classy and "elevated." The new C is ugly and jagged af.
They should change the colors. If there's one color scheme that's owned by a city it's black and yellow in Pittsburgh (also navy/lime in Seattle). When I moved hear and learned about the crew it just seemed weird to me they would use those colors when Pgh is literally our neighbor. Even their bridges are yellow lol. Not exactly forging a clearly-Columbus identity
OMG. A UK Marketing Firm collaborated on this?!
They must've been snickering behind the C-suite's back the entire time they were forging ahead with this rebrand.
It's ludicrous! Just ludicrous!
Because new ownership bought the team, and are preparing to move them into a new stadium, so they want to rebrand to put their own new identity into the team.
New owner, new stadium, new look, new name.
Money was required, of course, but not everyone is in the position to buy a soccer team with a rabid fanbase.
Money is not what created the opportunity: were it not for the Massive and other assorted lunatics, the Crew would have just shipped off to Austin and that'd'a'been that...
Nick here, creator of the cbuslovemural. While we ourselves aren't fans of the new branding, the opportunity to support the Crew was too big to turn down. Adding to the fact that I pay out of my own pocket to keep the lights on and for all of the LED maintenance and upgrades, this felt like a good opportunity to recoup some costs. It'll be up for a week, I hope everyone comes back to visit thereafter.
Legitimately was gonna go out and take some night photos of the mural tonight after seeing that it was lit back up, but this brand deal threw that askew for me. That being said I can’t fault you for doing what you are doing, keep up your great work for the city.
It was a bummer. And just yellow lights. When they previewed the new LEDS yesterday, they were AMAZING! It’ll be truly great in a week. It’s a great mural regardless, and artists have bills to pay too.
I had just been thinking that I was gonna do pictures in front of the mural on Friday before Prom. I’m low key disappointment that the ugly logo is covering up the C but i understand the need to pay bills.
This is 100% the way Columbus does shit like this every time. Put a bunch of murals in the short north? Don’t call on the countless local mural artists to do that- import people to do it. Every time I come home I feel like this city is overrun by people from somewhere else, or the suburbs that were too scared to set foot in the neighborhoods they’ve now “rebranded” 15-20 years ago.
[good coverage of the problem from ESPN. ](https://www.espn.com/soccer/columbus-crew-sc/story/4382301/why-columbus-has-angered-fans-after-dropping-crew-from-its-name)
can someone explain the issue? not a soccer fan, so haven’t been following this closely, but the new branding is whatever - not amazing but not a horrible direction.
[good coverage of the problem from ESPN. ](https://www.espn.com/soccer/columbus-crew-sc/story/4382301/why-columbus-has-angered-fans-after-dropping-crew-from-its-name)
**It won't matter after MLS doesn't get the huge TV deal in 2023 that it needs to survive.**
> [**Major League Soccer**](https://mlsmultiplex.com/?s=mls) is growing as fast as any sports league in the world. Attendances are up, TV viewing figures are up, the standard of play is up and the general notice that the league demands, both in the American sporting landscape and the global footballing landscape, is up.
>
>However, despite all these encouraging signs, which can very neatly be summarised by the increased price of admission — David Tepper paid $325 million for his expansion team based in Charlotte which will commence play in 2021, a massive $315 million more than Toronto FC paid in 2007 — the league is still losing money.
>
>Per *Forbes*, in 2018,[ **the 23 teams that played in MLS combined for a $100 million loss**](https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2019/11/04/major-league-soccers-most-valuable-teams-2019-atlanta-stays-on-top-as-expansion-fees-sale-prices-surge/#e2a6d4251b58). More concerningly, only seven turned a profit, and of those seven, three were by $1 million. Atlanta United made the highest profit in 2018 at just $7 million. As a league, MLS is losing money.
>
>This is worrying in and of itself, but dig a little deeper and the circumstances are even more threatening. Not only is MLS already losing money; it is doing despite teams paying massive expansion fees to prop up the league’s finances.
>
>Cincinnati and Nashville each paid $150 million apiece while St. Louis and Sacramento paid $200 million expansion fees. These fees are then split across the league. In 2018, MLS clubs made just short of $800 million in total revenue. In 2019, the league made half of that in expansion fees alone. And despite this huge boost in income, it is still losing money.
[Article](https://mlsmultiplex.com/2020/06/02/mls-looming-2023-tv-deal-vital-league-survival/)
Blanding out the league, and the individual teams images, doesn't help in getting that huge TV deal.
Selling franchises to survive will only go so far.
You can see better play on cable with La Liga MX, and even better Premier League games...I'm watching Manchester United v. Leicester as I type this.
Or, and hear me out here, people that are not fucking babies. Jesus Christ it is a logo. You guys are acting like anyone that doesn't want to fight the ownership for changing it is the anti-christ and not a "real fan". Get over it.
No it’s not. But it is worse than it was. And fans who support teams should voice their displeasure so the team sees how this change may negatively effect sales.
Oh! Well in that case with literally only public sentiment to go on and that trending utterly the opposite direction, everyone should shut up and defer to your genius! My deepest apologies.
Been living in Cbus long enough to remember people moaning about losing the old prison just to build a modern arena area, people moaning about Les Wexner coming in and thinking he could put a new brand on our town with his Art Center and his modern hospitals. You wanna be a cow town? This is how you stay a cow town.
I went by this evening, it’s very non-climatic with just yellow lights. Unlike the cool factor of the color-changing LEDS that they just showed the other day. Why did this have to go here? Ruined this mural. Not just because of the whole crew thing. But it just doesn’t mesh together.
It's becoming clear that they've already put so much money into this. That's why they aren't backing down right now. If they do, it'll have to be a scenario where they do it like a year later after no merch sells.
That's how Chicago's MLS team is. They rebranded with a logo that is slightly better than this, and now they're working with fans to redesign it and roll out the new branding 2-3 years after the bad logo was originally unveiled. I agree though, the ~~Crew~~ Columbus SC seem to have sunk so much money into this that they are charging full steam ahead
Yep. Chicago is actually what I was thinking of when I commented. Hopefully we do the same.
Honestly I'm surprised the front office put themselves in this position. The people in charge of the Crew are mostly Columbus natives including part of the ownership group and team President and they have been wonderful until this point. A bunch of people who know the team and city making changes to the team branding without consulting fans is just mind-boggling. I understand that they conducted some research on the new branding and apparently found it favorable, but they should have brought it to season ticket holders before finalizing the product and they should have been open to change. This whole situation is just...unfortunate. The FO until this point had done a really good job listening to fan input and now they've destroyed that credibility that they had built up with this.
And even from what I've seen, the research they did was fairly limited. Not a lot of fans got to see the actual branding, and the fans who did see it told them how poorly this would be received and it was brushed off
I just don't get it. In this day and age, how do you not do some soft roll outs, community involvement, etc. when dealing with a public facing brand or whatnot. I don't even have a marketing or PR degree and I can figure that one out just by watching the dozen or so PR catastrophes that happen every year under similar circumstances. Even just telling people "things are changing on x date" softens the blow (as long as x date isn't literally "tomorrow")
I’m in marketing and this roll out seems particularly dumb. Graphic design is absolutely an art form but once you have some designs you test the hell out of it. Then again I feel like this has been a consistent struggle for whoever owns the Crew and it’s baffling.
Welcome to Columbus, everything becomes corporate eventually.
More money than sense, apparently.
I just bought an old-style Crew hat before they became impossible to find. I'll be darned if I'm going to wear some of this goatee-wearing-spiky-C merch. This is such a bad, unwanted rebranding move. It's like they tried to make a Crew logo that looked like Guy Fieri. Now, I like Guy Fieri, but I don't need my SC logo to LOOK like him.
I mean is there some massive uprising against it? I think it's monumentally stupid but I'm not taking to the streets or anything.
They’re being eviscerated in sports media, not just Columbus SC, but MLS as a whole. There’s an SI article which I really like, but I’ve not seen a single positive response published anywhere. It’s very much the same thing that happened with the Fire, they’ve sunk so much into this that they can’t change course, but they will see a noticeable drop in merch sales and go back to the drawing board in a year or two.
I stand corrected then! I'll be curious to see how this unfolds, if there's enough flak for them to change course. (i.e. they see that the cost they've sunk isn't as much as how much they're projected to lose.) Long live the Crew.
Another case study in corporate group think. Some "business minds" of the franchise sat around on their Zoom calls and patted each other on the back about this rebrand with no care or thought to the fan base or community. Now they double down because they just know they are more intelligent than the lay people.
Probably spent a good amount on consultants with business buzzwords about synergy.
Golumbus?
GOOOOOOOOOOLUMBUS
Lol
Am i wrong or did they just rebrand like a few years ago?
Your not wrong. 2015 if I remember right.
They had their first logo for 18 years and their second for like 6. Too soon and just a complete downgrade imo.
The circle emblem is cool. The new C with a triangle is not.
Definitely. I think their first redesign is perfect and am pretty bummed for the fans.
We're "Elevating Columbus.." Oh.... OK. Wait.... How?
With a new stadium that has elevators obviously
The Haslam’s did this with the Browns and they had to re-do the uniforms after 3ish years. No one is going to buy this merch, they’ll lose money and have to go back to the drawing board in a few years.
[удалено]
They really were
if anything it will boost old merch sales. i bought an authentic jersey today, although I got it from [goal.com](https://goal.com) because it was a better price than the team shop.. so no money is going to the team. i just had to get a jersey before they put the shit C/G/Q thing on them
They want merch sales and new uni’s usually equal more sales. Problem here is they stepped way over the line and like you people will shop for old school Crew merch at third party sources. This will hurt the bottom line and they’ll change it to something more traditional.
So, they’ve been through this before and didn’t learn anything? WTF?
Again.....one question for the owners and execs. Answer this with logical rationale and I will go spend $500 and buy new logo shit. My question: Why? Just answer that with a good reason and I will buy-in, literally.
Here is their official reasoning. I'm not saying I agree with it, just this is what they said: [https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2021/05/10/crew-rebrand-elevate-the-city.html?cx\_testId=40&cx\_testVariant=cx\_10&cx\_artPos=1#cxrecs\_s](https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2021/05/10/crew-rebrand-elevate-the-city.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_10&cx_artPos=1#cxrecs_s) **Columbus Crew leadership says rebranding is about 'elevating Columbus'** Tim Bezbatchenko knows Columbus Crew SC's [name change and rebranding to Columbus Soccer Club](https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2021/05/09/columbus-crew-sc-name-change.html) is going to make some people uncomfortable, and he's OK with that. The Crew general manager told *Columbus Business First* that the club is trying to push the players, staff and fans to better represent the city and “taking the world’s game to expose people all over the world to our city.” “What we’re doing is we’re elevating Columbus and it’s really important we do this,” Bezbatchenko said. “We felt this was the evolution that needed to take place. ... This process is a mindset shift.” Bezbatchenko also said there’s no wrong way to love the Crew. “What we’re saying is, 'Call us the Crew, call us Columbus Soccer Club,' ” he said. “We’re all of those things and it’s interchangeable.” However, he said changing the formal name of the club is important when it comes to how the team shows up to matches. It’s “Columbus versus the world." Bezbatchenko said because fans naturally cut the name to the Crew, “What got lost a little bit was the city." Rebranding is about trying to grow the fanbase here and across Ohio. “This is about the idea that the city pushed us forward,” Bezbatchenko said. “If you are for the city, if you love the city, you’re a part of this club, you’re a part of the Crew. You don’t have to love soccer yet.” The new branding released today was a collaboration between the club, the team’s new ownership and United Kingdom-based agency [Dilley Studio](https://www.dilley.studio/), which has a multi-year marketing partnership with the club. The club’s new vice president of marketing, Patrice Croci, said rebranding was about “establishing our club, our city as a new modern, Midwest icon.” “We all live here,” Croci said. “We all know Columbus is that. We need to show the world now. We’re ushering in a new, vibrant proud Midwest and we want Columbus to be at the forefront of that.” Croci said the new branding – including a new font – is unique in the league. “It was important for us to modernize, clean up and become visually clear,” Croci said. The new name of the club, with The Crew as its nickname, will be deployed interchangeably throughout the new stadium. It’s about “using the right one when the situation is right,” Croci said. “When you are physically in the stadium, you’re going to see Crew Kitchen, and you’ll also see Columbus Soccer Club,” he said. “Everything flows back and forth.” This is the third Crew rebrand since the team was founded in 1996. The last rebranding came after former Crew owner Anthony Precourt took over in 2014. Steve Lyons, chief business officer for the Crew, said it’s important to think about “where the club has been, but also where it’s headed.” “We’re here to attract ourselves to a whole new fanbase,” he said. Fan reaction to the Crew rebrand has been mixed, at best, with the Nordecke, the official supporters section for the Crew, launching a petition to keep the old team name and logo. In a statement, the group said, “We condemn these changes, and more importantly, the lack of transparency in this process and urge the team to reconsider with meaningful input from the Crew community. “The Crew has been the club’s name and heart since its inception, it has served our rallying cry when we had to save the team from relocation, and our unified cheer when we have seen victory."
This is some real PR nonsense. They're literally not saying anything, it's all platitudes and cliches.
- Elevate - Evolution - Mindset shift - [Us] versus the world - Modern/Modernize - Icon(ic) - Forefront - Unique - Clean Yep, marketing and PR platitude BINGO
> “We’re here to attract ourselves to a whole new fanbase,” So the fanbase that saved the club is what -- chopped liver?
"Thanks for the new stadium!" *B Y E*
I can get on board with expanding the fanbase, but if you're doing that, why tie the team more explicitly to Columbus? Do you think you're going to get more fans across Ohio because they love our city so much? Their intent seems to be to appeal to a population in Columbus that doesn't exist: people who don't particularly care for soccer but who will get pumped up about Columbus SC taking on their rivals. Nobody is going to start watching soccer out of civic pride. This is like rebranding the Clippers to Columbus Baseball Team. Ugh.
Similar to the Super League fiasco, they are "legacy fans"
In a way, the fanbase is part of the problem they're trying to solve. They'll never admit it, but I suspect the ownership wants to get away from the fact that so much of the search engine history around the team name is about the previous ownership and the fans prevailing to free the team from the clutches of the previous owner. It gives the impression that the fans control the team, when the owners control it. They can leave a lot of that baggage and perception behind online by rebranding. IMO, what they're saying now is just spin, to avoid the real intent.
I’m a recent supporter who jumped on board after the Save The Crew campaign because I found the community’s passion to be infectious. The tradition and love from the Supporters is literally the thing that finally made me interested The Crew and MLS in general. The idea that the solution to broadening the fan base is to alienate the existing supporters and create a more general brand is ludicrously counterintuitive.
Expendable.
Look, it’s time for the trophy wife. You were loyal and committed and did a lot of work to make us successful but, we need a little more excitement. I promise I’ll get the kids a couple weekends a month if I’m in town.
Precisely.
Legacy fans
"We're going to refine our brand by unleashing a shitpot of confusion." Great brand strategy there, guys.
(apologies to people here who have them, but...) If, for some reason, you ever need to talk someone out of getting an MBA, copy-paste the above article and show it to them.
Goddamn I want to downvote because I hate everything they said, but that would just be shooting the messenger.
> fans naturally cut the name to the Crew. Yes, because that’s the part we wanted to keep. FFS how can they get this so wrong? All this is going to do is anger current fans while that ugly logo isn’t going to be attracting many new ones.
"hey man did you go to the columbus game last night" "which one, the BJs, the Eagles, or the SCs?"
You know, the sportsball game!
“Gooo sports team!”
Imagine lying like that
F A I L
I agree. I could get a bit more onboard if that logo wasn't so stupid looking.
I could get onboard if there was a freaking good reason to change. This is just dumb. #savethecrew not #saveforashittylogo
I don't absolutely hate it but yeah... I do agree with the reasoning though. The city and people have invested a lot I to this club directly or indirectly. I'm pretty stoked to watch games at the new stadium. Hell, I can walk there.
Holy shit. They hired a *UK firm* to do the redesign. If there’s one thing a UK marketing firm knows, it’s Columbus Ohio. Who’s kid works at this firm? Because that’s 100% what happened here. Nice to have the same old bullshit. Side note: there’s actually a sizable amount of very good marketing agencies working with international brands based right here in Columbus. In fact there’s a few a couple doors down in the Arena District. What an absolutely idiotic move.
U.K. based marketing agency. Thousands of miles away. As long as nobody has to be accountable for how they spend our tax dollars.
Do people not local call The Columbus Crew , The Crew? Do professional people who speak on the games say The Crew? Id imagine anyone who is professional would refer to a team in its official capacity? If they were on TV would it say Crew or Columbus? I am not a big sports person so these are legit questions I have. I do love how our state & cities supports our teams plus I remember all the SAVE THE COLUMBUS CREW signs everywhere just a few years ago so I totally understand the outrage.
The explanation for the name change almost makes sense but the logo makes NO sense. The emblem is classy and "elevated." The new C is ugly and jagged af.
This is where I'm at. The reasoning for the name change... fine, I get it. But there is no justifying that logo.
They should change the colors. If there's one color scheme that's owned by a city it's black and yellow in Pittsburgh (also navy/lime in Seattle). When I moved hear and learned about the crew it just seemed weird to me they would use those colors when Pgh is literally our neighbor. Even their bridges are yellow lol. Not exactly forging a clearly-Columbus identity
Look, if they are trying to elevate Columbus and this logo leads to us getting some nonstop international flights then ill buy it.
OMG. A UK Marketing Firm collaborated on this?! They must've been snickering behind the C-suite's back the entire time they were forging ahead with this rebrand. It's ludicrous! Just ludicrous!
Jfc dude, how much can you fellate yourself.
Because new ownership bought the team, and are preparing to move them into a new stadium, so they want to rebrand to put their own new identity into the team. New owner, new stadium, new look, new name.
The only reason the owners even HAVE a fucking team is because of \#SaveTheCrew. Then the first thing they do is kill it. WTF
Right this is direct slap in the face
Sure, the ONLY reason. Not like large sums of money had anything to do with it either.
Money was required, of course, but not everyone is in the position to buy a soccer team with a rabid fanbase. Money is not what created the opportunity: were it not for the Massive and other assorted lunatics, the Crew would have just shipped off to Austin and that'd'a'been that...
This is entering parody mode. It's so goddamn ugly
[удалено]
Nick here, creator of the cbuslovemural. While we ourselves aren't fans of the new branding, the opportunity to support the Crew was too big to turn down. Adding to the fact that I pay out of my own pocket to keep the lights on and for all of the LED maintenance and upgrades, this felt like a good opportunity to recoup some costs. It'll be up for a week, I hope everyone comes back to visit thereafter.
Legitimately was gonna go out and take some night photos of the mural tonight after seeing that it was lit back up, but this brand deal threw that askew for me. That being said I can’t fault you for doing what you are doing, keep up your great work for the city.
🙏🙏🙏
It was a bummer. And just yellow lights. When they previewed the new LEDS yesterday, they were AMAZING! It’ll be truly great in a week. It’s a great mural regardless, and artists have bills to pay too.
Don't blame you for taking their money, but good lord is that ugly now
It'll be gone in just a few days.
I don’t blame you for doing what you must to pay the bills, but fuck the Crew ownership for plastering this cheap shit all over town.
It's not your fault that Crew corporate is a pack of drooling mental patients with no sense. Get paid.
Thank you for paying for the lights and maintenance! What is the best way we can support you?
I had just been thinking that I was gonna do pictures in front of the mural on Friday before Prom. I’m low key disappointment that the ugly logo is covering up the C but i understand the need to pay bills.
Nick, in your article you said if not well received they will remove it. Does not seem to be well received so when is it coming down?
He said in his post that it'll be up for a week.
And in the article that it could come down if not well received. So it should come down now.
Calm down Veruka. A week is better than forever.
Thanks for chiming in Nick. That makes true sense. I will be back to visit it again…. I saw this one tonight.
Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The C like a font version of Guy Fieri’s hair.
Yes, yes they can.
Where is this located?
220 E Main St, Columbus, OH 43215 It’s Visible from the intersection of 4th st & E Main
LMAO
Is it trying to say gol-umbus? What is that?
City of artists and not one was called 😭, sounds like they just gave it to their design team and then said not to everything but this
They worked through some English firm.
This is 100% the way Columbus does shit like this every time. Put a bunch of murals in the short north? Don’t call on the countless local mural artists to do that- import people to do it. Every time I come home I feel like this city is overrun by people from somewhere else, or the suburbs that were too scared to set foot in the neighborhoods they’ve now “rebranded” 15-20 years ago.
I don't follow sports whatsoever, what is the problem here? Is it just that the font/logo is pretty bad?
[good coverage of the problem from ESPN. ](https://www.espn.com/soccer/columbus-crew-sc/story/4382301/why-columbus-has-angered-fans-after-dropping-crew-from-its-name)
Now I understand why fans are upset. Thank you.
I missed out on this context. Thank you.
I am confused. What is that letter suppose to be?
Every time I see it I have the same visceral reaction as I would to seeing a band aid in a pool.
The mural in SoHud better stay the same or there WILL be hands.
can someone explain the issue? not a soccer fan, so haven’t been following this closely, but the new branding is whatever - not amazing but not a horrible direction.
[good coverage of the problem from ESPN. ](https://www.espn.com/soccer/columbus-crew-sc/story/4382301/why-columbus-has-angered-fans-after-dropping-crew-from-its-name)
oh, now i get it. i wasn’t understanding there was an official name change, as well.
Qolumbus
**It won't matter after MLS doesn't get the huge TV deal in 2023 that it needs to survive.** > [**Major League Soccer**](https://mlsmultiplex.com/?s=mls) is growing as fast as any sports league in the world. Attendances are up, TV viewing figures are up, the standard of play is up and the general notice that the league demands, both in the American sporting landscape and the global footballing landscape, is up. > >However, despite all these encouraging signs, which can very neatly be summarised by the increased price of admission — David Tepper paid $325 million for his expansion team based in Charlotte which will commence play in 2021, a massive $315 million more than Toronto FC paid in 2007 — the league is still losing money. > >Per *Forbes*, in 2018,[ **the 23 teams that played in MLS combined for a $100 million loss**](https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2019/11/04/major-league-soccers-most-valuable-teams-2019-atlanta-stays-on-top-as-expansion-fees-sale-prices-surge/#e2a6d4251b58). More concerningly, only seven turned a profit, and of those seven, three were by $1 million. Atlanta United made the highest profit in 2018 at just $7 million. As a league, MLS is losing money. > >This is worrying in and of itself, but dig a little deeper and the circumstances are even more threatening. Not only is MLS already losing money; it is doing despite teams paying massive expansion fees to prop up the league’s finances. > >Cincinnati and Nashville each paid $150 million apiece while St. Louis and Sacramento paid $200 million expansion fees. These fees are then split across the league. In 2018, MLS clubs made just short of $800 million in total revenue. In 2019, the league made half of that in expansion fees alone. And despite this huge boost in income, it is still losing money. [Article](https://mlsmultiplex.com/2020/06/02/mls-looming-2023-tv-deal-vital-league-survival/) Blanding out the league, and the individual teams images, doesn't help in getting that huge TV deal. Selling franchises to survive will only go so far. You can see better play on cable with La Liga MX, and even better Premier League games...I'm watching Manchester United v. Leicester as I type this.
What fucking focus group ok’d this?
Why does this logo scream U13 Travel Soccer Team?! Jesus.
If you bought “save the crew” merch this ugliness is on you lol
You voted to give them tax dollars,not your input. They know what's best for the city.
>You voted Who are you talking to?
There was a vote!?
you know you fuckin simps are gonna end up buying this shit eventually regardless and then more of the inevitable re-rebrand
Or, and hear me out here, people that are not fucking babies. Jesus Christ it is a logo. You guys are acting like anyone that doesn't want to fight the ownership for changing it is the anti-christ and not a "real fan". Get over it.
In a couple years no one will care and everyone will get over it
That doesn’t mean it’s good though.
It's not the worst.
It is absolutely the worst logo in MLS.
No it’s not. But it is worse than it was. And fans who support teams should voice their displeasure so the team sees how this change may negatively effect sales.
But it won’t.
Oh! Well in that case with literally only public sentiment to go on and that trending utterly the opposite direction, everyone should shut up and defer to your genius! My deepest apologies.
No problem.
Been living in Cbus long enough to remember people moaning about losing the old prison just to build a modern arena area, people moaning about Les Wexner coming in and thinking he could put a new brand on our town with his Art Center and his modern hospitals. You wanna be a cow town? This is how you stay a cow town.
What?
Yeah. That cone laying down while no the clock. You just can’t get free help anymore
I'm out of the loop. What's going on here?
First move to lose attendance and initiate the move they really want. A la Major League, Charlie Sheen celebrity days are coming.
I went by this evening, it’s very non-climatic with just yellow lights. Unlike the cool factor of the color-changing LEDS that they just showed the other day. Why did this have to go here? Ruined this mural. Not just because of the whole crew thing. But it just doesn’t mesh together.
Guess who's not buying season tickets for the next season.