MLS Re-brand Goes Too Far

MLS unveiled a new league logo on Thursday in an effort to answer the question “What’s next?”. The league is adding two new teams next year (New York and Orlando) with Atlanta confirmed for 2017 and Miami just waiting on the city to fund its stadium for David Beckham & Co.

Indeed, now seems to be the right time for something like this but it still rubs me the wrong way. If you’ve read anything I’ve written before you know I’m not a huge fan of the way MLS conducts itself and the launch of this re-brand is really no different. For the one, the new logo (no, I’m not linking to it) just looks awful. This in and of itself wouldn’t be so bad except every team will apparently have it customized in their colors with their own logo attached to it. This is the part that REALLY bugs me. The whole goal of this re-brand is to cement MLS’s status as the end all, be all solution for the needs of American soccer in the US.

A while back I wrote this about how professional soccer is bigger than MLS and fans of the beautiful game don’t have to rely on MLS to give it to them. And because the universe works in mysterious ways, Grantland’s Bill Barnwell this about how professional football (the American variety) is bigger than the NFL and how fans cheer for teams and players, not leagues. MLS doesn’t seem to see things this way though. By attaching its own logo to that of its teams’, they are trying to send a message that they are one with said teams. This is especially asinine when you consider a decent chunk of the current teams use “brands” that existed before and during MLS’s time as the first division of American professional soccer. Portland and Seattle (the league’s marquee teams at the moment) were well supported during the old NASL days and even in their respective “rebirths” in the lower divisions. They were great teams before MLS and they would still be great teams long after any sort of demise of MLS.

While the re-brand does make sense from a business sense, it smacks of desperation in the arena of public opinion. The league’s release of the new logo includes their own feeble attempt at an FAQ that includes questions that almost certainly didn’t come from actual “fans”. My personal favorite was the one from the “fans” who were just dying to know when they could get a jersey of their favorite team with the new league logo. The release also came with highlights of MLS’s “growth” (i.e. expansion and a new TV deal) just in case you’re the kind of fan who wanted to read the release for an MLS re-brand, but knew nothing about the current state of affairs in MLS. It tried to impress you with names like Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Omar Gonzalez, and Graham Zusi; almost as if being on the US world cup roster this summer somehow automatically made you a “world class superstar”.

As a fan of an MLS team (Columbus), I find it harder and harder to tune in to watch them week to week. Some might think that makes me a “disloyal” supporter, but the reality is I have to give money to MLS (in the form of their MLS Live subscription) to see the Crew play every week. I cannot separate the Columbus Crew from MLS. They are one in the same; literally with the release of this new logo concept. I know plenty of supporters back in Columbus who feel the same way. They would support the Crew regardless of the league they played in or even the quality of players being put on the field. Going back to what Barnwell said: fans like the teams and players, not the league. I’ll probably end up cancelling my MLS Live subscription this offseason and grow even more distant from the team I grew up supporting. Columbus is never on national TV so this means I’ll have to resort to illegal streams or just stop watching altogether. It pains me to do it, but what choice do I have when the team is aligning itself with such oblivious, short sighted leadership? How else can I make a statement?

Instead I’ll turn to any one of the three (Liverpool Warriors, Dallas City FC, Fort Worth Vaqueros) professional/semi-professional teams in my area that do not associate themselves with MLS. It’s the only way to show them that they aren’t my only option for professional soccer in America.