No, 'cause none of those teams are trying to be something they are not. Unless Liverpool futbol club used to be called Liverpool Scorpions and then changed it to try & be uber cool, then i don't have a problem with it.
So are the mainstream fans "out of reach", or folks who need to be "lured in"? Which is it? And who are these "average Joe American sport fans" who currently don't follow soccer, but would be willing to, if only the local team were named the "Salt Lake City Highlanders" instead of "Real Salt Lake"? I can't see that ever being a large number. If you are so on the fence about a sport that a "weird" name turns you off, you're never going to be a fan of that sport. As the article says, the young fans coming on board aren't bothered by the Euro-sounding names. Only the "mainstream" fans are. And "mainstream" translates to "older, established sports fans who have already decided on their preferences". You're not going to win these folks over just because the name sounds more familiar. And again, who cares? Today's "young fans" are tomorrow's "mainstream fans". This "problem" will just fade away with time. ------RM
I laugh at some of those names. Giving your team the same name as another club shows a complete lack of vision. I mean, that's what children do when they play pickup games on the playground, rip off their favorite NFL or NBA teams. I've never understood the logic behind the argument that, if someone did something somewhere sometime, that means it's a good idea to try now. During the schedule switch argument, you kept hearing "Well, Russia did it!" To which I replied "So what? It's still a dumb idea!" Like our mothers said, "If Timmy jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?" ------RM
Iv been making this joke with my fantasy team names for years. Dont even have a city in there. Just names like AC Borussia CD Racing Untied Juniors 1864 FC. After 5 years, my league mates are getting tired it.
My bad, are Bethlehem Steel FC in MLS? Though I'm generally less averse to the pointless appendage of "FC" to MLS team names, it makes explicit sense for BSFC for the same reasons it made sense when European clubs did it originally: Bethlehem Steel was actually a football club and it's necessary to differentiate it from Bethlehem Steel the company.
Perfectly put. RSL and the like are such embarrassing names that cripple the credibility of the league. It's like if some Euro kid put out a rap album under the name Kanye East, how seriously would it be taken?
Here's a question of soccer decorum; Since Oklahoma City already has the word "CITY" in it, would it be a total breach of protocol to name a team here "Oklahoma City United"? I mean, the douche factor, not withstanding?
Thing is, I've heard the same thing said about any team name that doesn't sound "traditional" (i.e. European). You can't please everyone. ------RM
Big NAY. The Euro names sound too contrived, like some cheesy PR companies came up with them. Team names should hold some significance to the local area. Also, using FC (or SC) is simply redundant. It's just not needed in a team name. I really don't care of it's some sort of "world convention".
Of course, when we left it to the sports companies in the beginning we got; Burn Clash Wiz Mutiny Are Euro-names really worse?