Wow, I haven't heard the Hispanic Population reasoning used to justify expansion or relocation in a long time. Fun fact, in MLS cities there is no correlation between size of the Hispanic population and the attendance.
The answer to this is you use both. Official team name is something like CD Los Angeles. Nickname is Los Angelenos. Trademark both. Use both in all forms of marketing and merchandising. Then when you see LA on a hat or a shirt it can be both or either. Black hat with a white or silver LA on it no longer is just a Dodgers hat in an off color, it's a representation of Los Angelenos.
I don't know the name Angelenos... but That doesn't seem spanish in any way.. or it isn't spanish?.. I don't know It could be Angelinos or Angeleños... but both sound terrible to me.
It's English - it just means a person who lives in LA. It is derived from Angeleños. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/angeleno
I know it may not sound very original but Internacional de Los Angeles, Inter for short obviously, would be a good fit for this club. Seriously that is what LA is all about. The different cultures and languages you find throughout this city is what makes Los Angeles so special...... Also I remember reading someone's suggestion about naming the team California Athletic and that has a nice ring to it as well
I’m putting my 2 cents in. I like the simple Los Angeles Football Club. The onus is on Los Angeles which is a departure from the previous ownership. Considering there are no NFL teams, they do claim to be a *football* club J L.A.F.C. sounds great too. Hopefully a nickname can arise organically. I’ve always thought the “Goats” name was great. I would love for “Greatest of all Teams” become their mantra. Get it? Greatest Of All Teams. My other choice would be Los Angeles Guardians. Guardians is a cool name for a sports teams that hasn’t been used. It plays on Los Angeles or City of Angels – Guardian Angels. Even if LAFC is the name, I would still like to see Guardians adapted as the unofficial nickname.
I think you have to keep the Geographic connection in the name. For most fans that's the primary reason to support a club because they have some connection that area. Look at the biggest clubs in the World almost everyone is named after the city they play in, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Liverpool F.C.. Even teams named after areas of cities like the London Clubs still have a Geographic home. So I like having your home as part of the name. If anything going the other way and only having the name of the city. Too restrictive. Plus from my experience most people in OC associate themselves with LA sports, in terms of sports their really isn't a unique O.C. culture. And appealing to Hispanics I think is a good long term strategy but won't pay dividends for years. It's got to be a generational switch, which we are seeing, but has a ways to go. My opinion of where the team should go is obvious 150 miles south. But unless I win the lottery it isn't happening.
Clubs by UEFA Club Coefficient. 10. Arsenal FC 22. Juventus 26. AFC Ajax 27. Olympiacos 33. Sporting Club de Portugal 38. Athletic Club 50. PAOK FC 54. Celtic FC 58. APOEL FC 60. Levante UD 63. Trabzonspor AS 73. BSC Young Boys 77. Real Sociedad de Futbol 94. Rangers FC In the Premier League Crystal Palace, Aston Villa In Serie A Atalanta BC, UC Sampdoria In the Bundesliga Hertha BSC In La Liga RCD Espanyol, Real Betis, CA Osasuna, Rayo Vallecano
Not going to argue about the others (don't know enough about them) but both Crystal Palace and Arsenal are named after Geographic locations.
They were named after buildings. Your "fans feel a connection to their area" idea doesn't seem to jive with, y'know, naming the clubs after buildings.
Well both are more than buildings they are areas of a city. Arsenal you could argue against because they have actually moved from the area of Woolwhich Arsenal and are now much more associated with North London, but palace continues to play in the area where the Crystal Palace was. There is also an athletics track and tube station all called Crystal Palace. But the bigger thing is yes there are some clubs not directly named after areas but they are still the vast minority and many are referred to colloquially using their city name to identify them.
A lot of names on that list are geographic. Look up what the P in PAOK stands for or the B in Hertha BSC. Portugal is obviously a place, and Trabzonspor plays in the city of Trabzon. "Athletic Club" is actually Athletic Club de Bilbao.
I'll give you PAOK, Hertha, and Trabzonspor, but I'm not giving up on Sporting. Chivas USA used a similar "just throw the country out there" and it seems like we all agree that Chivas should feel more like LA's team.
Someone said Chivas USA needed to rebrand with some geographic moniker (like LA or Orange County or whatever), because "all the best clubs" do that and it will allow fans a little hometown pride. I decided to make a list of the clubs that didn't, and I included Sporting Club de Portugal. ThreeApples was nice enough to fact-check my list, and removed Athletic Club, PAOK, Trabzonspor, and Hertha BSC. I agreed to those, but refused to similarly allow Sporting off the list because, like Chivas USA, just using "de Portugal" isn't enough to instill hometown pride.