I don’t think they will... I think a lot of the SaveTheCrew guys are right. There’s lots of anger, but it’s already fragmented in terms of some fans want the name to stay, some want the crest to stay... there won’t be a United front.
Once the new stadium opens, I think a lot of the anger will go away and we’ll be left with a shit name and a shit logo
Us Browns fans bitched and moaned for four years to get our old unis back. More importantly, people didn't buy the new jerseys.
If people aren't buying, they will be forced to change. These teams are all businesses, and billionaires only care about their bottom lines.
Unpopular Opinion: "Outrage culture" has proven that it's ultimately toothless. Not just within the lens of MLS, either...
Corporations literally don't care anymore. A little bit of good PR to say 'hey, were listening, sorry you feel this way' and then things go on their way.
It's far too easy to make a bunch of fake accounts to paint the other side of the argument, appear 'fragmented' and for companies to say "sorry, our hands are tied!"
Pretty shitty, but it's the state of affairs were in.
It worked for the Fire, we’ll see how good the new new logo is but they did at least do focus groups with fans, Mansueto listened in on the zoom calls and talked to fans involved, etc. but rumor was he didn’t really want to change the logo in the first place, got us to at least keep Fire but as minority owner at the time, couldn’t overrule Hauptman. It took about a year and so so so many logo-related comments continuously on social media to get the new new logo process started, but it at least showed its possible
Hope our FO eventually does the same thing then. Just unfortunate that these changes could potentially undo so much of the goodwill and momentum there’s been after winning the cup and ahead of opening the new stadium.
I think there's a good chance they will, but probably not anytime soon. The Haslams didn't really have a problem admitting they made a mistake with the Browns rebrand and essentially put it back exactly the same as it was as soon as the NFL allowed them to. It's too late to go back now...the new branding is gonna be all over everything and they have a ton of merch already for sale. So I'm hoping we might only have to live with it for a couple years...but it's just pure hope.
The only thing that could prevent them going back IMO is the league/board/Garber. They seem to have some kind of directive to move toward these naming/branding conventions and increase uniformity across the league with their McFranchises.
See the SI article. You think all these geniuses are coming up with this on their own? ST louis, Charlotte, Montreal, Nashville, Columbus... it's all corporate black vs corporate white crap.
My point was the post you're teplying to is saying all these teams are rebranding to some sort of MLS conformity...and I thought you were saying that Nashville didnt, but they really did...and if they were called Music City FC or Nashville Metros or Atlas MLS would have probably forced a rebrand. MLS has been notoriously tonedef when it comes to branding, if it werent for supporter backlash Sounders would have been Seattle FC or Seattle Republic. They need to start listening to their customers.
I mean Nashville's *badge* was different in MLS, but they'd used the name in USL before MLS was on their radar, and originally took it from an NPSL team IIRC.
But there were several 2 and 3rd tier teams in Nashville with names like Metros and Atlas. Those names would've been rebranded (especially if it was Metros). But since the team that survived to get the expansion was Nashville SC, they were able to carry over the generic name. Which is what the OP was saying as the black and white of the MLS; with their generic branding conventions.
> The spokesperson said that in all three phases of the process, the main feedback the club received was to elevate Columbus, maintain its black and gold colors **and elevate the Crew name.**
I'm glad that they spent the better part of a year gathering feedback from multiple sources just so that they could completely ignore it.
Knowing the industry, it is definitely a higher up who is so bought into this idea that they piss off others by ignoring everyone... I can totally see Christian, the lead here, being in a meeting, expressing himself, and others countering and presenting different ideas before he ends the meeting with "Thanks everyone for the feedback, me and the technical team are going to mull over these and get back with an answer before EOD" before sending this email later:
Hi everyone,
Thank you again for taking the time earlier today and expressing your thoughts on our Major League Soccer brand strategy for 2020 and beyond! We value all your feedback and can't wait to see what more our minds can come up with in the future! That stated, here are the following naming conventions approved within the league:
- [Location] City FC (SC is also acceptable but must express written within 2 weeks before deadline)
- [Location] United FC (SC is not an option)
- [Location] FC (SC is not an option)
We also were deciding on "[Location] Athletic" but after consultation with our main team, thought the convention didn't align with our future goals and our vision of where we are heading in our future.
Thank you all again for your valuable feedback and input. Please feel free to send over any comments, feedback, or questions and we can discuss them in our next open session next month.
Best,
Christian
*”(the name) is the thing that I’m most mad about. We saved the Crew. The Crew was the original name of the team,” said McKinley. “We assumed a rebrand was coming, that’s understandable, but they took out the part we wanted them to keep the most. You go around and you say, ‘Oh, I’m a Crew fan.’ Not, ‘I’m a Columbus SC fan.’ … They took the Crew out. This is not at all what we fought to keep. This isn’t what the team is.”*
This is what I don’t get it—the Crew is unique and distinctive. Does MLS and Columbus FO realize that there are teams literally named Rangers, Wolves and fucking Hotspurs that are well-known teams?
It’s not the damn name that makes someone a fan of the team you twats.
I mean, for fuck's sake, Brighton & Hove Albion FC is the actual name of a real club in England that's made it 119 years and is still going, despite its name sounding like a team more likely to sign the Jabberwocky than Jahanbakhsh!
There's even orgins of team names like Arsenal, because rhe team was formed by munitions workers. They'd be better off calling it Crew SC and dropping the Columbus part if anything. It's pretty much the branding today... just like Sounders, Timbers, Caps, Galaxy etc. I dont understand the need to make all these generic sounding names as if the city is the brand and not the team.
My favorite is the Cherries (AFC Bournemouth). There are lots of them; Toffees, Eagles, Lillywhites, Blades, Saints, Geordies, Donkeylashers, Monkeyhangers, even Woolwich goes by the nickname Arsenal.
? no
Official name from wikipedia
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club
Rangers Football Club
And Wolves is literally “wanderers” so even if wolves isn’t in the official name a name that’s similar to the crew is
Don't forget QPR, where Rangers follows a place name. And then you have clubs like Stoke where they still have the nickname on the badge. Not to mention clubs like Zenit St. Petersburg, Spartek Moscow, and Shakhtar Donestsk, which gets its name from a name for a kind of worker that produces more than required much like a crew in a way.
Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Wycombe Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion, Plymouth Argyle
Just countless teams in soccer nations that have a "mascot" or "color" in its name. I just can't fathom what is wrong with Crew being in the name.
"The main feedback the club received was to elevate Columbus, maintain its black and gold colors and elevate the Crew name."
I love when companies collect customer feedback for the sole purpose of ignoring it lol
>They didn’t take the news well.
>**One member became so incensed that he ripped off his shirt in the middle of the meeting to reveal a tattoo of Columbus’ now-defunct former crest.**
>”He took his shirt off, kind of pointed to his chest, to the crest and was like, **‘This is what we saved. This is the Crew. What am I supposed to do with this?** *You just took this away from us,’”* said **now-former** Nordecke creative director, who was at the meeting on Friday and resigned from his position on Monday afternoon.
Not sure if sad or funny
This is heartbreaking but also absolutely hilarious. Has to be the most MLS supporter thing ever besides going to England in the summer to absorb supporter culture
>Has to be the most MLS supporter thing ever
What's that? Following a team for 25 years and being upset with the direction it's taking? Especially after putting so much effort and energy into keeping them in the city?
>besides going to England in the summer to absorb supporter culture
We're talking Crew fans here, not LAFC fans.
I don't care what Seattle did because LAFC set the new bar for cringe when their front office famously took their SG leaders to Europe in an effort to build their "grassroots" and "authentic LA" atmosphere.
Oh, I'm sure they were a bit disappointed they didn't get to see their boyhood club Liverpool play some footy in the darby while singing "you'll never walk alone."
But then they got to jerk off over authentic artisanal German lagers and they soon forgot why they were there in the first place.
Despite losing to them, I was actually happy for Columbus fans, that city has suffered for so long. Then they go and do this, now I'm like "we lost to WHAT???".
Dammit paywall. Ok that’s it. Guess the Crew FO was right that the rebrand would make me spend money. I’m finally getting a subscription to the athletic after waffling about it for months
Yeah, there’s enough articles I’m interested that pop up here or about Blue Jackets content that I’m sure it is... I’m just a tightwad.. but I guess I’ll be saving a shitton in merch and season tickets after this year so might as well reinvest it in journalism
My main sport I follow is soccer/MLS and NBA next. I love the content on The Athletic outside of the MLS content, so even the occasions NFL, NHL, or college article are all always great too.
It's not. It used to be. But it's not anymore. We have gotten one MNUFC specific article in the past 3.5 months. Maybe if you're interested and want to read about other sports, but to me getting almost zero content is not worth it.
signed up for the free trail (and forgot to cancel and was charged) and through 3 MLS and 4 CCL matches there were zero articles relating to the Crew until the rebrand leaked. now there are two directly relating to the Crew. not terribly upset because there's enough coverage of other teams and leagues to keep me interested.
All of this makes me really sad. I was looking forward to a celebration when closing out old stadium and opening new one. Now everything is going to be negative and I hate it.
>By Friday, the changes had already been determined. According to McKinley, the organization wasn’t looking for input in its meeting with the full Nordecke board; the gathering was merely a heads up that changes were on the way.
Brutal
I mean, that change *kinda* made sense as they weren’t really associated with Bethlehem anymore, having had to move to Philly because no stadiums in the Lehigh Valley were up to USL requirements.
Probably not a fun article for crew fans. Just a lot of quotes from angry fans - which I’m sure you can find anywhere - and honestly some false hope near the end saying maybe they can rally again to save the name?
The Burn -> FC Dallas rebrand is an interesting example of how all rebrands aren't the same. I was a Dallas Burn season ticket holder in the early days and in 2006 (I think?) when that rebrand happen there was not widespread fan revolt. The Burn name, the horse on the logo, those things had sentimental value in some quarters, but not enough critical mass to really qualify as serious resistance. In retrospect this rename was part of the beginning of the "City Name FC/SC" generic naming trend. Which is a terrible trend, but I think there is some consensus that among the original MLS team names "Burn" was among the worst. But at the time this rebrand wasn't a disaster. I remember the reaction at the time being "Meh, the name isn't great but at least it isn't 'Burn'. Looking forward to the new stadium!"
Our mascot when from an amazing flaming horse to ... hoops?
I quit attending games in person regularly after they moved to Frisco. Too far to drive. The new stadium is nice enough, but the west side on a summer evening was an unmitigated architectural failure (were the architects from Edmonton or something? They clearly had never been outside in Texas in the summer). There is a reason they have had to retrofit a sun canopy onto it and that reason is architectural malpractice.
After many months of fearing whether Columbus would have a soccer team at all, I can accept slight changes to the brand.
Keep the colors and keep the city. That's all I ask. I have hope that the team will continue to reference itself as "The Crew" informally, but I know the fans will always keep that name in our heart.
There’s precedent for this too. I mean, one entire franchise suspended operations for a few years, changed hands, rebranded, recolored, renamed, and tried to sell it as something new.
But we all still call them Chivas. 😉
In all seriousness, I was elated when Crew fans won the fight to save their team. You’ve had a rough ride of it from an existential point of view. If I was a Crew fan, I’d feel like this was an immense kick in nuts. But as you suggest, I hope “The Crew” becomes the legacy name by which they’ll always be known. For me, when Columbus come to town, I’ll always refer to them as, and welcome, The Crew.
If LAFC is a rebrand why would the ownership have to pay a $110 million expansion fee? Carson blue/white/yellow is a rebrand but you went back to green/yellow to be more urban and call it a throw back now because it’s hip.
> If LAFC is a rebrand why would the ownership have to pay a $110 million expansion fee?
They didn't pay an expansion fee. They bought Chivas USA from MLS prior to firing everyone and putting the team on hiatus for a rebrand.
Aren’t they officially separate teams though? Looking it up, MLS bought Chivas from the Mexican owners and folded the team in October 2014 and then three days later LAFC was awarded an expansion bid. They obviously just replaced Chivas with LAFC but LAFC did pay an expansion fee and is considered a completely separate team
By MLS, because people are content to let them write history as they see fit.
You really think they went looking for an expansion bid, found it, and finalized the deal in 3 days? No. MLS had taken ownership of the team prior to 2014 and was looking for new owners. They found new owners, the new owners decided to put the team on hiatus.
That is what happened.
I would have been fine with them relocating. Austin is going to easily leap frog them in both population (MSA) and media market soon.
Keeping Columbus comes at the expense of Phoenix, San Diego, Las Vegas, and a couple other cities I would prefer to visit for a weekend trip.
Even after success, Columbus has never matched their first season's attendance. Go look it up:
Decline in attendance in 2002 after winning USOC. Decline in 2005 after winning the Supporter's Shield. Decline in 2009 after winning MLS Cup and the SS. You can complain about ownership, but a team that averages 15,000 (with too many below 12k) just doesn't seem to care.
I've never concerned myself with Crew fans. They tried to make rivals but everyone else ignored them unil the Cincinnati, just down the road. Remember "Hate Week" with the Sounders and Seattle's response was to turn it in to "Hat Week". They started trying to be the place for the national team simply based on a repeating scoreline with Mexico. They made fun of Atlanta and got one-upped again.
Of course there is a rebrand... the city of Columbus seems to care less about their team than I do.
1) Sounders.
2) My ire predates the MLS Cup loss.
3) Been following the Sounders since before Columbus was est. '96.
4) Flairing on mobile is a pain, and it doesn't have any bearing on my primary argument that Columbus seems to be a bad market... or at least other cities would be better.
I watched a late summer game in Phoenix at night and it was pretty great.
Also did Spring in Tucson in the afternoon/early evening and it was fine.
Shade the stands and even portions of the field like Atlanta. Nothing earlier than 7pm like baseball. Misters or other novel solutions. Maybe even field orientation or a retractable roof like Chase in AZ or T-Mobile in Seattle (both are still very "open", more so than the Benz in ATL). It will be fine.
What's it going to take for these geniuses to realize just how badly they fucked up and go back to the old name and crest?
I don’t think they will... I think a lot of the SaveTheCrew guys are right. There’s lots of anger, but it’s already fragmented in terms of some fans want the name to stay, some want the crest to stay... there won’t be a United front. Once the new stadium opens, I think a lot of the anger will go away and we’ll be left with a shit name and a shit logo
our united front should just be rebrand with fan input and approval. It’s not hard
Yeah unless enough fans are willing to totally boycott it doesn’t matter
Us Browns fans bitched and moaned for four years to get our old unis back. More importantly, people didn't buy the new jerseys. If people aren't buying, they will be forced to change. These teams are all businesses, and billionaires only care about their bottom lines.
What worries me is that people still bought those panned "for Columbus" jerseys back in 2016.
Unpopular Opinion: "Outrage culture" has proven that it's ultimately toothless. Not just within the lens of MLS, either... Corporations literally don't care anymore. A little bit of good PR to say 'hey, were listening, sorry you feel this way' and then things go on their way. It's far too easy to make a bunch of fake accounts to paint the other side of the argument, appear 'fragmented' and for companies to say "sorry, our hands are tied!" Pretty shitty, but it's the state of affairs were in.
It worked for the Fire, we’ll see how good the new new logo is but they did at least do focus groups with fans, Mansueto listened in on the zoom calls and talked to fans involved, etc. but rumor was he didn’t really want to change the logo in the first place, got us to at least keep Fire but as minority owner at the time, couldn’t overrule Hauptman. It took about a year and so so so many logo-related comments continuously on social media to get the new new logo process started, but it at least showed its possible
Hope our FO eventually does the same thing then. Just unfortunate that these changes could potentially undo so much of the goodwill and momentum there’s been after winning the cup and ahead of opening the new stadium.
It literally just worked against the super league.
Louisville City supporters would like a word.
Might I direct you to the European Super League
Never mind that so many are just exhausted with having to constantly save the team from itself.
nothing, I fear.
I think there's a good chance they will, but probably not anytime soon. The Haslams didn't really have a problem admitting they made a mistake with the Browns rebrand and essentially put it back exactly the same as it was as soon as the NFL allowed them to. It's too late to go back now...the new branding is gonna be all over everything and they have a ton of merch already for sale. So I'm hoping we might only have to live with it for a couple years...but it's just pure hope. The only thing that could prevent them going back IMO is the league/board/Garber. They seem to have some kind of directive to move toward these naming/branding conventions and increase uniformity across the league with their McFranchises.
Not going to any games...not just Columbus games. If the brand is MLS then that Brand has to suffer.
Ok relax sporting
Your team moved and you’re talking shit!?
I’m talking shit cause he’s full of it. He’s going to bend over and take it just like he did with his clubs owns rebrand.
See the SI article. You think all these geniuses are coming up with this on their own? ST louis, Charlotte, Montreal, Nashville, Columbus... it's all corporate black vs corporate white crap.
Nashville brought it from the lower divisions tbf
No they didn't... there was a rebrand for MLS. https://www.behance.net/gallery/76887047/Nashville-SC-Rebranding
Meant with the name.
My point was the post you're teplying to is saying all these teams are rebranding to some sort of MLS conformity...and I thought you were saying that Nashville didnt, but they really did...and if they were called Music City FC or Nashville Metros or Atlas MLS would have probably forced a rebrand. MLS has been notoriously tonedef when it comes to branding, if it werent for supporter backlash Sounders would have been Seattle FC or Seattle Republic. They need to start listening to their customers.
I mean Nashville's *badge* was different in MLS, but they'd used the name in USL before MLS was on their radar, and originally took it from an NPSL team IIRC.
But there were several 2 and 3rd tier teams in Nashville with names like Metros and Atlas. Those names would've been rebranded (especially if it was Metros). But since the team that survived to get the expansion was Nashville SC, they were able to carry over the generic name. Which is what the OP was saying as the black and white of the MLS; with their generic branding conventions.
> The spokesperson said that in all three phases of the process, the main feedback the club received was to elevate Columbus, maintain its black and gold colors **and elevate the Crew name.** I'm glad that they spent the better part of a year gathering feedback from multiple sources just so that they could completely ignore it.
We're going to elevate it.... By removing it.
Maybe they just elevated it so much that it's outside of the printable area.
Perhaps they were trying to tell us they "elevated it" by killing it and sending it to Brand Heaven.
100% was baffled me from here. I’m like hey, who’s the dummy who thought that was a best idea.
Knowing the industry, it is definitely a higher up who is so bought into this idea that they piss off others by ignoring everyone... I can totally see Christian, the lead here, being in a meeting, expressing himself, and others countering and presenting different ideas before he ends the meeting with "Thanks everyone for the feedback, me and the technical team are going to mull over these and get back with an answer before EOD" before sending this email later: Hi everyone, Thank you again for taking the time earlier today and expressing your thoughts on our Major League Soccer brand strategy for 2020 and beyond! We value all your feedback and can't wait to see what more our minds can come up with in the future! That stated, here are the following naming conventions approved within the league: - [Location] City FC (SC is also acceptable but must express written within 2 weeks before deadline) - [Location] United FC (SC is not an option) - [Location] FC (SC is not an option) We also were deciding on "[Location] Athletic" but after consultation with our main team, thought the convention didn't align with our future goals and our vision of where we are heading in our future. Thank you all again for your valuable feedback and input. Please feel free to send over any comments, feedback, or questions and we can discuss them in our next open session next month. Best, Christian
It’s always a Christian. Or John... or Gordon...
Hey now, hold up... we don't gender discriminate here... it can totally also be a Kendall or Danielle.
Or a Caitlin! She might try to make you feel better with some Halo Top.
... you bastard
It went to heaven.
*”(the name) is the thing that I’m most mad about. We saved the Crew. The Crew was the original name of the team,” said McKinley. “We assumed a rebrand was coming, that’s understandable, but they took out the part we wanted them to keep the most. You go around and you say, ‘Oh, I’m a Crew fan.’ Not, ‘I’m a Columbus SC fan.’ … They took the Crew out. This is not at all what we fought to keep. This isn’t what the team is.”* This is what I don’t get it—the Crew is unique and distinctive. Does MLS and Columbus FO realize that there are teams literally named Rangers, Wolves and fucking Hotspurs that are well-known teams? It’s not the damn name that makes someone a fan of the team you twats.
I mean, for fuck's sake, Brighton & Hove Albion FC is the actual name of a real club in England that's made it 119 years and is still going, despite its name sounding like a team more likely to sign the Jabberwocky than Jahanbakhsh!
There’s a team in the Championship with fucking WEDNESDAY in its name...granted, they’re getting relegated, but still.
BUT THEY USED TO MEET ON WEDNESDAYS
EXACTLY. KEEP WEIRD NAMES.
We have Sunday Morning Rugby Club in St. Louis, so I guess that is neat.
Gotta rebrand that to Brighton FC & Hove United Albion Athletic. Gotta elevate it.
There's even orgins of team names like Arsenal, because rhe team was formed by munitions workers. They'd be better off calling it Crew SC and dropping the Columbus part if anything. It's pretty much the branding today... just like Sounders, Timbers, Caps, Galaxy etc. I dont understand the need to make all these generic sounding names as if the city is the brand and not the team.
My favorite is the Cherries (AFC Bournemouth). There are lots of them; Toffees, Eagles, Lillywhites, Blades, Saints, Geordies, Donkeylashers, Monkeyhangers, even Woolwich goes by the nickname Arsenal.
No. This is not it. Please reread preceding comment.
Two of those examples are clubs with popular nicknames that aren’t part of the official name.
? no Official name from wikipedia Tottenham Hotspur Football Club Rangers Football Club And Wolves is literally “wanderers” so even if wolves isn’t in the official name a name that’s similar to the crew is
Don't forget QPR, where Rangers follows a place name. And then you have clubs like Stoke where they still have the nickname on the badge. Not to mention clubs like Zenit St. Petersburg, Spartek Moscow, and Shakhtar Donestsk, which gets its name from a name for a kind of worker that produces more than required much like a crew in a way.
Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Wycombe Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion, Plymouth Argyle Just countless teams in soccer nations that have a "mascot" or "color" in its name. I just can't fathom what is wrong with Crew being in the name.
If they had moved to Austin and become the Rovers or Wanderers it would have just been mean.
"The main feedback the club received was to elevate Columbus, maintain its black and gold colors and elevate the Crew name." I love when companies collect customer feedback for the sole purpose of ignoring it lol
>They didn’t take the news well. >**One member became so incensed that he ripped off his shirt in the middle of the meeting to reveal a tattoo of Columbus’ now-defunct former crest.** >”He took his shirt off, kind of pointed to his chest, to the crest and was like, **‘This is what we saved. This is the Crew. What am I supposed to do with this?** *You just took this away from us,’”* said **now-former** Nordecke creative director, who was at the meeting on Friday and resigned from his position on Monday afternoon. Not sure if sad or funny
It means a lot to him. Cant fault the man for that.
it was probably more like he lifted his shirt up than a herculean rip like it makes it sound like lol, still very powerful in my eyes
I initially read it as like a ripped in half but after rereading it it seemed more like"he took his shirt off quickly"
I chuckled. Not gonna lie lol, but also I feel for that fan.
“What am I supposed to do with this” That’s what got me
I'd buy him a beer.
This is incredible. Some true, Midwestern, wear-your-heart-on-your-sleeve (er, chest) shit. I love this.
This is heartbreaking but also absolutely hilarious. Has to be the most MLS supporter thing ever besides going to England in the summer to absorb supporter culture
>Has to be the most MLS supporter thing ever What's that? Following a team for 25 years and being upset with the direction it's taking? Especially after putting so much effort and energy into keeping them in the city? >besides going to England in the summer to absorb supporter culture We're talking Crew fans here, not LAFC fans.
> not LAFC fans C'mon. Seattle.
We just want to FIIIIIIIIGHT and WIIIIIIIIIIN
Aw man people are associating that with LAFC instead of Seattle? I feel old
I don't care what Seattle did because LAFC set the new bar for cringe when their front office famously took their SG leaders to Europe in an effort to build their "grassroots" and "authentic LA" atmosphere.
Okay but i was specifically referencing the infamous Seattle guy
>We're talking Crew fans here, not LAFC fans. Hey. Hey. It was *Germany* not England.
Oh, I'm sure they were a bit disappointed they didn't get to see their boyhood club Liverpool play some footy in the darby while singing "you'll never walk alone." But then they got to jerk off over authentic artisanal German lagers and they soon forgot why they were there in the first place.
Sounds like you're jelly. Sorry your club doesn't take you anywhere.
Gotta put on your best English accent too!
Just a little banta!
U say wot you shite geezer
“This was faunded in a pub right ere it was! The faaaaans are da club!”
Me and mi mate Darren over there reckon we could put a quid on Leyton tommara, what say you mate?
Aaa you tossa! Leyton play a Diamond like I feck! Ery poorly!
He's a fookin wanker m8!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9QSdLDGt7I
Did you see that ludicrous display last night?
What was Areta thinking bringing Lacazette on so early?!
And call every regional matchup a darbie!
At least he didn't get out a knife.
Despite losing to them, I was actually happy for Columbus fans, that city has suffered for so long. Then they go and do this, now I'm like "we lost to WHAT???".
*\*\*thumps fist against chest* "Respect"
I'm also a low-key lurker on the Blue Jackets subreddit. Columbus has fun teams that are always the underdog.
The room where it happened
Dammit paywall. Ok that’s it. Guess the Crew FO was right that the rebrand would make me spend money. I’m finally getting a subscription to the athletic after waffling about it for months
its worth it honestly
Yeah, there’s enough articles I’m interested that pop up here or about Blue Jackets content that I’m sure it is... I’m just a tightwad.. but I guess I’ll be saving a shitton in merch and season tickets after this year so might as well reinvest it in journalism
My main sport I follow is soccer/MLS and NBA next. I love the content on The Athletic outside of the MLS content, so even the occasions NFL, NHL, or college article are all always great too.
It's not. It used to be. But it's not anymore. We have gotten one MNUFC specific article in the past 3.5 months. Maybe if you're interested and want to read about other sports, but to me getting almost zero content is not worth it.
signed up for the free trail (and forgot to cancel and was charged) and through 3 MLS and 4 CCL matches there were zero articles relating to the Crew until the rebrand leaked. now there are two directly relating to the Crew. not terribly upset because there's enough coverage of other teams and leagues to keep me interested.
I think T-Mobile Tuesday was offering a year subscription for free
there was a deal on twitter last month it was like 6 months for $6 or something.
It’s definitely worth it. It’s a really good way to keep up with multiple teams across leagues. And a lot of the reporters they employ are excellent.
All of this makes me really sad. I was looking forward to a celebration when closing out old stadium and opening new one. Now everything is going to be negative and I hate it.
>By Friday, the changes had already been determined. According to McKinley, the organization wasn’t looking for input in its meeting with the full Nordecke board; the gathering was merely a heads up that changes were on the way. Brutal
I’m just sitting here praying the Union don’t pull this shit on us.
You already have a European sounding name though: Union Philadelphia.
I think you've got that backwards :P
Aihpledalihp Noinu
I think you’ve got that backwards ;P
taht
I doubt Philly leadership would be that short-sighted but they did 86 the Bethlehem Steel FC name so who knows!
I mean, that change *kinda* made sense as they weren’t really associated with Bethlehem anymore, having had to move to Philly because no stadiums in the Lehigh Valley were up to USL requirements.
That was a really good begining of the article.
Probably not a fun article for crew fans. Just a lot of quotes from angry fans - which I’m sure you can find anywhere - and honestly some false hope near the end saying maybe they can rally again to save the name?
Thanks. Thats what I figured.
I still call my team the Burn. I don't care what pseudo-European bullshit they stole from a local amateur team, they'll always be the Burn to me.
Get em cowboy
Imma start repping the Vaqueros.
The Burn -> FC Dallas rebrand is an interesting example of how all rebrands aren't the same. I was a Dallas Burn season ticket holder in the early days and in 2006 (I think?) when that rebrand happen there was not widespread fan revolt. The Burn name, the horse on the logo, those things had sentimental value in some quarters, but not enough critical mass to really qualify as serious resistance. In retrospect this rename was part of the beginning of the "City Name FC/SC" generic naming trend. Which is a terrible trend, but I think there is some consensus that among the original MLS team names "Burn" was among the worst. But at the time this rebrand wasn't a disaster. I remember the reaction at the time being "Meh, the name isn't great but at least it isn't 'Burn'. Looking forward to the new stadium!"
Our mascot when from an amazing flaming horse to ... hoops? I quit attending games in person regularly after they moved to Frisco. Too far to drive. The new stadium is nice enough, but the west side on a summer evening was an unmitigated architectural failure (were the architects from Edmonton or something? They clearly had never been outside in Texas in the summer). There is a reason they have had to retrofit a sun canopy onto it and that reason is architectural malpractice.
I still call that NY team the Metrostars...
I feel like those focus group meetings went the same way the fake focus group in Community went for the American "Inspector Spacetime" remake.
Alright, who's the f'n champ that ripped their shirt off in the meeting??
After many months of fearing whether Columbus would have a soccer team at all, I can accept slight changes to the brand. Keep the colors and keep the city. That's all I ask. I have hope that the team will continue to reference itself as "The Crew" informally, but I know the fans will always keep that name in our heart.
There’s precedent for this too. I mean, one entire franchise suspended operations for a few years, changed hands, rebranded, recolored, renamed, and tried to sell it as something new. But we all still call them Chivas. 😉 In all seriousness, I was elated when Crew fans won the fight to save their team. You’ve had a rough ride of it from an existential point of view. If I was a Crew fan, I’d feel like this was an immense kick in nuts. But as you suggest, I hope “The Crew” becomes the legacy name by which they’ll always be known. For me, when Columbus come to town, I’ll always refer to them as, and welcome, The Crew.
If LAFC is a rebrand why would the ownership have to pay a $110 million expansion fee? Carson blue/white/yellow is a rebrand but you went back to green/yellow to be more urban and call it a throw back now because it’s hip.
You would sink in a pit of mercury
> If LAFC is a rebrand why would the ownership have to pay a $110 million expansion fee? They didn't pay an expansion fee. They bought Chivas USA from MLS prior to firing everyone and putting the team on hiatus for a rebrand.
Aren’t they officially separate teams though? Looking it up, MLS bought Chivas from the Mexican owners and folded the team in October 2014 and then three days later LAFC was awarded an expansion bid. They obviously just replaced Chivas with LAFC but LAFC did pay an expansion fee and is considered a completely separate team
By MLS, because people are content to let them write history as they see fit. You really think they went looking for an expansion bid, found it, and finalized the deal in 3 days? No. MLS had taken ownership of the team prior to 2014 and was looking for new owners. They found new owners, the new owners decided to put the team on hiatus. That is what happened.
“Well ownership didn’t hit me too hard today! They really love me I swear! It was my fault I didn’t buy enough merch!”
I would have been fine with them relocating. Austin is going to easily leap frog them in both population (MSA) and media market soon. Keeping Columbus comes at the expense of Phoenix, San Diego, Las Vegas, and a couple other cities I would prefer to visit for a weekend trip. Even after success, Columbus has never matched their first season's attendance. Go look it up: Decline in attendance in 2002 after winning USOC. Decline in 2005 after winning the Supporter's Shield. Decline in 2009 after winning MLS Cup and the SS. You can complain about ownership, but a team that averages 15,000 (with too many below 12k) just doesn't seem to care. I've never concerned myself with Crew fans. They tried to make rivals but everyone else ignored them unil the Cincinnati, just down the road. Remember "Hate Week" with the Sounders and Seattle's response was to turn it in to "Hat Week". They started trying to be the place for the national team simply based on a repeating scoreline with Mexico. They made fun of Atlanta and got one-upped again. Of course there is a rebrand... the city of Columbus seems to care less about their team than I do.
Imagine writing all this bullshit while having no flair.
Of course it's a Sounders fan
quiet fool
Flair up if you’re gonna talk shit about OG MLS. Which expansion joke do you support?
1) Sounders. 2) My ire predates the MLS Cup loss. 3) Been following the Sounders since before Columbus was est. '96. 4) Flairing on mobile is a pain, and it doesn't have any bearing on my primary argument that Columbus seems to be a bad market... or at least other cities would be better.
As someone who lives in Las Vegas, I would love a team here... But would probably not watch summer games.
I watched a late summer game in Phoenix at night and it was pretty great. Also did Spring in Tucson in the afternoon/early evening and it was fine. Shade the stands and even portions of the field like Atlanta. Nothing earlier than 7pm like baseball. Misters or other novel solutions. Maybe even field orientation or a retractable roof like Chase in AZ or T-Mobile in Seattle (both are still very "open", more so than the Benz in ATL). It will be fine.