Yankees Trademark Concerns Delay NYCFC Logo Launch New York City F.C. were set to reveal two crests on Monday for fan voting. Instead, the soon-to-be 20th MLS franchise stood conspicuously quiet. As it turns out, plans for their badge reveal hit an unexpected snag. EOS has learned that some in-house legal trouble has delayed the team’s long-awaited campaign. Of the two badges set to be presented to the general public, one failed to get final approval from the Yankee side of the NYCFC ownership due to “infringement of the baseball team’s intellectual property.” The badges have been designed by two separate sources; one, an outside designer, and the second, an in-house team. Interestingly enough, it was the in-house design that sent up red flags at Yankee legal. Sources tell us the badge in question fell too close to the trademark design of the Yankee’s image, but would not give further detail as to the design flaw itself. The other badge, described as a more “classic” offering, has passed the initial consent of both owners. http://www.reddit.com/tb/1zj6ib
Or.. Instead of linking to reddit, you could link to the actual source of the news: http://www.empireofsoccer.com/yankees-trademark-concerns-23773/ But, sheesh. Most stories I hear about the Yankees involvement in the team makes it seem like they are an unwilling partner. It's not that I can truly disagree with the positions they are taking (not wanting to share their branding or home stadium), but their involvement in the team was one of the big news items during the initial launch. It just seems interesting that a lot of the articles involve the Yankees stiff arming NYCFC in some way.
To be honest they are very active in regards to trying to get the stadium deal done.. So they are doing their part all right, as for legal matters copyrights are always tricky and I´m not surprised if there´s a slight delay
Well the branding issue is the Yankees putting a wrench in the works. But by all accounts the Yankees are willing to have NYCFC in the stadium. MLB is not up for it however. Luckily, MLB has no more a voice in the decision than the city does whether NYCFC plays in Yankee Stadium. (i.e. little more than PR moves and behind the scenes pressure).
I was under the impression that the Yankees were hesitant to have NYCFC play in their stadium? That may have been speculation fostered by the lack of announcing the home stadium for 2015 though.
The subject of a temporary stadium must have been agreed to before MCFC/NYY even made a bid for the franchise Im sure..at least as a Plan B Yankees and the Bronx have manoeuvred the whole stadium project to be next to Yankee stadium, the X-factor is the garages that needs to be bailed out..that´s something De Blasio can´t ignore. As I have mentioned already I´d love to see a campaign where NYCFC play at least one game (not any particular competition) per season in all the five boroughs until a permanent stadium is built, even if they have to play in some park!
They should just slightly alter their Man City badge since that is what they really want to do anyway. Also, Yankees insisting no trademark connection to this seems to show they are not really as "on-board" with being linked with the project as the media tries to portray. Perhaps they are involved solely to try and fleece the city again on a stadium deal which they will retain partial control interest in.
oh HAIIII! You did the trolling tri-fecta, that's impressive and you should be commended on your giant e-penis! Short and sweet this time. NYCFC have not said anything about the Man City badge and have only said good things about respecting NYCFC as it's own brand. They are exactly as on-board as the media portray, because they own 20% of the team. They want it to succeed but they want to protect NYY brand, makes sense. They are invested to help fleece the city for a stadium they will partially control...because they are part owners of the team building the stadium. Although, in fairness the parking lots that will be torn down were fleecing of the city by local Bronx officials.
Its a fair question to ask. What is the real reason for the Yankees involvement and what is their end game? Being a part owner here is not in their baseball interests, and clearly MLB is not really thrilled about the Yankees plans to have this soccer team play extended time in Yankee Stadium during the MLB season. Why are they so interested in gaining control over the parking lot land for the sheikh?
Ah you wummer.. You see that parking lot land is where there is a proposed stadium to be built. In NY in particular control of stadiums is the be all and end all. As for other reasons there´s a rumour that they need a partner with big pockets for a bid on MSG Group, but that´s just a rumour.
I wonder if the Yankees are starting to look for a way out of this deal. Their recent actions haven't really been those of an organization excited about being involved in this venture. First they scuttle the badge note over infringement issues on the Yankees brand, then they cool on using Yankee Stadium fulltime and try and blame it on MLB, they have reversed their tone in Bronx publicly about the proposed stadium, now news that the soccer team is looking to build a temp venue in Westchester near a training facility? I wonder if they have determined what a lot of people already know, that this project is not being well received and that it may be damaging to the NY Yankee brand to associate themselves with this further. Wouldn't be surprised that in a few months the Yankees, quietly fade out of the picture.
A bit of a stretch. We know that "inside sources" said Yankees objected to badge, unconfirmed but can you stick any of the other rumors on the Yankees? My take on the MLB article was their league is the problem Yankees said they could handle MLS. I don't think you can jump to them pulling out. Not yet anyway.
A lot of assumptions in this post. I've seen no evidence to support the idea of the Yankees being regretful about this venture. You're sounding more hopeful of their failure than analytical of it. And not well received? It'd be more accurate to say it hasn't been received at all than not well received. People are waiting on definitive stadium news, the crest, and the first roster moves before making a decision, unless of course you're a NYRB fan or a Cosmos fan.
I don't think it is fair to question the Yankees commitment to NYCFC because those questions are based on nothing except your random speculation.
Discussion is fine, coming to conclusions based on little or no facts is just trying push an agenda. I mean more than usual on BS.
Seems an awful long stretch to tie together the Yankees saying no dice on using their NY and wanting to pull out. One is their brand image they've spent over a century creating. The NY logo predates even the name Yankees for them, introduced in 1912. You can't blame them for wanting that NY to represent their brand, and their brand alone... Especially when their MLS team is a shared brand. All this says to me is they want people to see the interlocking NY and have people say "Yankees" and not "soccer team of unknown value at present"...
We must remember that in MLS it´s the league itself that own the logos, so it´s not an internal issue in NYCFC. It´s about NYY trying to avoid a possible future issue with MLS most likely.
The way I see it, the New York Yankees aren't against anything that NYCFC have been doing. I'm sure the logos were run past NYY top brass before the planned unveiling -- but I'm sure their legal team saw the logos a bit later. The legal team was the one that piped up and said no way. I think NYY brass were cool with it. To put a stop to something that important that was that far along must have been quite a howler coming from the Yankee legal team. Its pretty dangerous to go against your legal advisors when dealing with businesses this big, too. Secondly, from the sounds of it, Yankees aren't against hosting NYCFC at Yankee Stadium -- It's MLB that's whining. So its just unfortunate entanglements for the Yankees....
Onionsack is comical with just how wrong he is. I hope his judgment on day to day matters isn't this bad. Guy was so sure a couple of weeks ago that NYCFC was going to look like MCFC and have a badge like MCFC and be ManC USA. The next Chivas. Again proven completely wrong. Now he questions the Yankees involvement in the team because they won't hand over their iconic logo to a club they likely won't always have an ownership share in.