Makes you wish Nike was the MLS sponsor. They have been criticized as being too simple, but I think most of their kits are lovely. And some of their kits for Japan's league are amazing.
I would never go THAT far! I think adidas has some nice stuff. I think Nike has done a horrendous job recently, honestly. There's a few that are here and there good. I'm not a huge fan of the new Portugal kit. They just went "black for black's sake." Be a little more creative than that. Everyone is going black for no reason. MLS just needs to tell adidas to step their game up. They can do it. It's just easier to stay with a simple design and go. Or...maybe we should go back to not one provider for all teams. I understand the MLS is single-entity, but they could open it up to every team while still being single-entity. I'm sure the adidas deal is easy to top with several different manufacturers in the fold.
MLS' business plan is mapped largely on the NFL's, which means one kit manufacturer. I prefer Adidas far more than Nike mostly because I think Adidas makes better quality kits. It could be worse, we could be an all Warrior league (Liverpool looks AWFUL this year).
Not just NFL. NHL - all uniforms are Reebok (owned by adidas) NBA - all uniforms are adidas MLB - all uniforms are Majestic Athletic Single suppliers are the norm for the major leagues here.
It's amazing that up until this year Adidas had a straggle hold on american sports with suppling jerseys to 4 of the 5 leagues (2 of them being through the Reebok brand). Very impressive form a business stand point.
Before the Reebok deal happened with the NHL, every team was able to negotiate who would manufacture their jerseys. Some were Nike. Some were CCM. Some were Reebok. It wasn't until after the lockout that the NHL aligned every team under the Reebok banner.
Couldn't agree more. I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I am in the USA Where's Waldo jersey with a sash. I am digging the new one though - just wish it wasn't the same plain base template as Brazil:
Unfortunately, I am somewhat of a fan of it. No real reason, but I do like hoops. I simply wish Nike would stick to A SINGLE design for the USMNT though. Enough changing of every single look, every single redesign. I am not against the new one either. But, I am tired of seeing the same template used over and over again. France has the same... adidas needs to get away from the template design too. I don't mind there being templates, it's easy to do. But sheesh, why use the same template for a whole league? Mix it up with several templates at least. And reps...glad we are not Warrior...that's awful.
Getting into the next tier... NLL - all uniforms are Reebok MLL - all uniforms are Warrior AFL - all uniforms are Russell Single suppliers make things much easier for league offices. I've heard that there have been attempts to have single suppliers for entire college conferences too. Obviously the constant movement has hindered this. But I would not be surprised to see it once the Superconferences are firmly established. Add in the leagues I mentioned and it's still 66% of the top two tiers of pro leagues. That's mind blogging, if you think about it. Straight up fugly. I couldn't even watch us play in that monstrosity. To call it a vast improvement would be an understatement.
The American Hockey League (AAA equivalent) is also solely Reebok although some of it is branded CCM which is also owned by adidas.
I know these aren't Nike -- but Nike owns Umbro, and, well, be careful what you wish for re: the J League... That's some MLS '96 caliber design right there.
I am pretty sure Nike sold Umbro, and no longer owns them. A lot of recent Umbro kits were really nice (Manchester City comes to mind), and they now will all be switching to Nike.
That's not really the case. CCM was the first league wide supplier, but there was a time from the mid-90s where Starter, CCM, and Nike shared the league wide deal and were allocated a set number of teams. ProPlayer came into that deal briefly and Nike used the Bauer brand on the Predators shirt before CCM/Koho/Reebok won back the exclusive rights. All of the companies that produced uniforms for a specific set of teams were also free to produce replicas for any team, though it seemed only Starter and CCM did this in any large scale way.
That's not entirely accurate. Prior to the lockout, Koho had the home and third jersey deals, and CCM had the road deals. Both were owned by CCM until 2004 (now part of Reebok). Pretty sure the deal started in 2000-2001, but I can't find a firm answer. EDIT: Looks liek billf beat me to it haha. Yes, but no other North American league lets the uniform supplier dictate as much as MLS does (the NHL at least claims they asked Reebok to design the EDGE system). That's probably the most irksome part of soccer kits. If a team has a solid kit design, keep it. The New York Yankees have had largely the same design since the late teens. The same is true with Nike and the NFL, or adidas in the NBA. Exactly one team got a makeover last year when the NFL deal changed (and Seattle needed on anyway). Aside from a few touches, like the Broncos horns and everyone's collars (both more manufacturing/ cut issues), everything was team-driven. The Broncos wanted a switch to orange home jerseys. The Steelers love throwbacks, even though they've never had success in anything but their current template. The NBA occasionally lets adidas get a little stupid, but they have never let an adidas logo on game jerseys.
I think the adidas logo not being on the NBA uniforms has as much to do with the NBA wanting it's players seen in NBA uniforms when their shoe companies market them and players not wanting thousands of images out there of them playing in adidas products when they have shoe deals with Nike and the like. There was an interview with the adidas manager in charge of the MLS account posted in the Union forum that states teams have as much control over their look and ultimate design as they want to take. Some, like Seattle and Philly have stronger opinions than others, but adidas does not dictate the design, they teams themselves have ultimate approval.
Soccer is definitely different in constantly changing their uniforms. That's not a MLS thing, it happens lots of places. The other U.S. major league are much more conservative on changing. Especially the NFL. I'm a Lions fan, we've barely changed anything in the 30 years that I've been watching them. And according to the stuff that came out of Portland teams can have a lot of say in what adidas gives them. Lots of people seem to think that the MLS teams take whatever adidas gives them but teams can have input into their designs. Not all of them do but it is not automatic. I've talked to FO people with the Dynamo and they have a lot of say in what type of design that we get from adidas.
This is a common misconception among MLS fans. While Adidas definitely has some input, the team owns the identity and branding. They have the final say in how things shake out, even if that means as little as painting by numbers on template A, B, or C. Given some of the unique looks we continue to see in MLS, I have a hard time believing that Adidas is dictating as much as some people believe they are. The Rapids, Chivas, Dallas, LA, Chicago, Houston, Seattle, Vancouver, Montreal, and Portland all have unique designs or effects in their kits. Little things that differentiate their authentic shirts from off the rack jerseys you can pick up for your beer league team. If Adidas was dictating kit design to the level that some here seem to believe, then these little items would be missing. Everybody would be wearing solid color kits with no flair aside from the required patches.
To add more to the MLS teams having more right, Sporting got Adidas to make the Sporting logo placement more uniform so it would be 'off' less than Adidas normally does so the stitch on the light blue would line up more with the state line portion of the logo.
along with that the Union place their crest in the center of the jersey while every other club has theirs on the left side of the shirt which I would assume would be a personal team choice by Philly to fit into their jersey design. FC Edmonton of the NASL also has very custom adidas jerseys with the stripes along the sleeves not going all the way down along with some other unique designs about them that IMO makes for some very nice kits Home Away Retro
The Union aren't the first MLS team to do this. In the late '90's, CBus used to place their crest in the middle of the jersey. But, since the patch is just an iron on, I don't think that is something that Adidas would really care about altering.