I can't wait for the day that the teams get to line up there own uniform providers (i.e. Nike, adidas, puma...) I think it would give alot more variety to the league.
Not to birst your bubble, because I'd like to see that, too. But, I don't see that happening any time soon. Most pro leagues in the US don't do that. NFL is all reebok (i believe), NBA is all adidas, and NHL is all Reebok. I'm not sure about the MLB.
The same variety that brought hardly any revenue to the league. Maybe in 7 years you can have your wish granted. Adidas contract still has a ways to go.
YES!! I was soo looking forward for another thread about uniforms. So I thank you for providing me with some joy.
adidas helped out the league a lot with their contract - 10 years, $150 million. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7305-2004Oct4.html The league might not be where it is today if not for them. Personally, I don't mind having Adidas provide the uniforms for all the teams, though I wouldn't mind seeing some more variety. Adidas supplies River Plate, I wouldn't mind seeing a jersey like that in MLS with the diagonal stripe, the Galaxy had a jersey like that a few years back.
I don't mind it nearly as much this year with the new kits. It might just be me wanting to believe it, but there's a little more variety in the kits than last year. Not much, but a little.
So let me get this straight.... Whatever company that sponsers the kits designs them? I am under the impression that other sports in the US have 100% control on their jerseys. How much imput do soccer teams have?
Your impression is correct. All MLS teams have final say on what they want their jerseys to look like. But, there are some basic adidas templates for jerseys that the teams have basically no control over. Namely, the triple stripe on the sleeves. (and the past few years the side piping on the jerseys which was most apparent in teams with jerseys from FC Dallas, Chivas USA, DC United, and New England). These basic kit templates, I don't think the MLS has any control over (or there may be.... say 4 templates to choose from and the team chooses which one they want). For some reason over the past few years adidas has gained an affinity for random squigly lines/side piping and stripes. Although, I do think that many times the companies can (not that they always do) come up with designs and present them to the team. The team can either shoot them down or can take the idea. For example. Underarmour (not sure if they are over in the UK) has started sonsoring A LOT of college football teams. Under-armour has a pretty heavy design groups that comes up with designs for all of the teams. The team can either choose to except the design, or they can choose to keep it the way it was before Underarmour starting sponsoring them (their traditional look). I'll give two examples Auburn (pictured above) chose to keep the original look. Wheras, South Carolina, chose to go a bit more fancy and go with the striping and everything that Underarmour came up with. In other words, the design of SC's jerseys were thought up by a separate entity. Example 1 Auburn: BEFORE: (couldn't fit in another pic into the post) AFTER: There was absolutely no change in Auburn's jersey after they got sponsored by UA. EXAMPLE 2: South Carolina BEFORE: AFTER: Obviously a bigger difference in jerseys and pants. I guess my point is that ultimately it is the team making the final decision on what their jersey looks like. In MLS's case, I think they usually just take the advice of adidas or whoever the sponsor may be. (although the trip stripes may be mandatory)
under the single entity structure, it is much easier to market the league with a league wide sponsor. there is never any contradiction in advertisement. i am not a fan of the single entity structure, but it is the mls world that we live in. also, adidas is in the 3rd year of a 10 year contract. nothing is going to change anytime soon. majestic there isn't much you can do different with NFL jerseys because of the size of numbering and names, but not all jerseys are the same. they are all made by Reebok, but each team has different designs. There are templates that Reebok designed, just as the above poster mentioned.
When Dallas changed from the Burn to FC, adidas didn't actually have a template with hoops. They had to design one specially for FCD.
So you like bad soccer, huge NFL stadiums, crowds under 15,000, and even less national TV coverage than now? Wow, that's surprising. Who was the jersey provider for Celtic before Nike?
OR Adidas can just allow for more variation to develop more team identity so that they don't all look similar . . .
They all look similar? Really? -Chivas is the only team that wears stripes -Dallas is the only team that wears hoops -Chicago is the only team with a chest stripe -Houston is the only team that wears orange -Colorado is the only team that wears burgundy (Houston and Colorado are the only teams with the swirly kit) -Columbus is the only team that wears a gold kit -RSL wears blue sleeves on a red jersey -TFC has weird gray stripes on its red jersey -NY has their corporate logo plastered everywhere (TFC and NY are the only teams wearing that particular adidas template) -DC wears all black -SJ's new look is black with electric blue trim and shorts -NE wears all navy with a bunch of red trim -KC is all royal blue with navy accents -Seattle is going with green, and who knows about Philly? How much more variety do you need?
When we say templates/more variety, we're talking about main adidas designs like the triple stripes on the sleeves and the side piping from last year (that is no longer in place. they got rid of it. therefore Dallas' and Chivas' jerseys look SOOOOOOOOO much better this season). It's not the uniforms' colors and the team's features on the jersey that he's talking about. It's the requirement to instill the adidas design on the jerseys. BUT, this year adidas has allowed for more variety. So, it's a non issue in my eyes. The jersey templates aren't exactly alike, like they were the past couple of years. I think the jerseys look great this year and I wouldn't change a thing now.
Yeah nobody had the hoops. That is something the team controls. But FCD had the same template as DC and New England. The style template they used was called the Aquila kit. Chivas also used this Aquila kit.
Yeah, and they look great this year. I thought the templates from the past couple of years ruined Chivas's and FC Dallas' stripes. (DC's didn't look very good either).
In 2006-07, Dallas had that horrendous Aquila kit, but in 2005, their shirt was much nicer and more unique:
Me too, man. Having different uniform providers will make the MLS more like every other football league in the world. I'd rather have our league go in a more traditional direction rather than a modern American sports direction.