NASL Team Branding

I feel like good branding, fun soccer and accessibility (TV, Apps, Web) are what will grow the NASL. The games in NASL are pretty fun to watch. Accessibility is getting better though I do wish they had an App that streamed or told you where games were streamed.

Branding though is one of my favorite things about sports and soccer in general. Colors, logos, names, themes, etc. I spent a little time looking at the NASL teams, websites and gear and I got to say the league ain't bad. As far as I see it here is how I would rank the teams.

1. Cosmos: Admittedly biased, they are the team that got me interested in the league to start with. Love the colors, iconic logo, amazing gear/jerseys. Need a new stadium to reach a point of long term sustainability though.

2. Minnesota United: I'm bummed they are leaving for MLS as they have a clean and unique look. Very classy.

3. Fort Lauderdale Strikers: Simple red and gold, but unique shade and the angled stripes make it a unique pattern. Their website looks great.

4. Jacksonville Armada FC: I don't love the colors, but they've pulled it all together very sharply.

5. Tampa Bay Rowdies: I love the green and yellow. They look great, historical name is a plus. I do wish they would remake the logo to something other than just a weird bent font. They could always keep that for some throwback stuff, but really they need to bring their brand into the modern era. Like it, but they can and should do better.

6. Indy Eleven: Not bad, the nod to the racing is a nice touch, but the Statue of Victory has too much detail and actually reminds me more of the statue of liberty than anything else. I wish they had stuck with the race them and not tried to throw everything into one logo. They would do well to have a secondary logo that is more race focused.

7. Ottawa Fury FC: Simple, black and red is a little bland, but they use it well. the thing I don't like is there is nothing unique about it. The badge is generic, the flame generic, the fonts basic. The name is a little underwhelming, reminds me of a 90s youth group name more than a soccer team.

8. Carolina RailHawks: I really dig a lot about this the Railhawks. Their colors are great, the name is the only team on the planet using it. I put them low because the logo feels minor league, it's a bit like a kid would draw something where they put the image of every word used into the picture. Look a rail, look a hawk, look a soccer ball. Put together a beautiful logo and we'll figure out you're a soccer team. They could be top three with a some changes to that logo.

9. Atlanta Silverbacks: It's a nice logo, but nothing great. It could be any number of generic corporations logo.

10. San Antonio Scorpions: I like San Antonio, I was pumped when they got a team. I thought Alamo or something Tex-Mex. Scorpions was like a choice a little league team would pick. No creativity, nothing to get passionate about. The logo really drives me nuts, it's like the car Homer Simpson designed, just too much going on. This is one team I wish they would just start over with on the branding cause San Antonio deserves a better brand.

11. Puerto Rico: They haven't shown much, but their logo placeholder is better than FC Edmonton.

12. FC Edmonton: It looks like one of those templates someone tried to sell a U15 Team for their jerseys. Even the colors are the typical template colors.

13. Miami FC: Boring, generic. Even the old Miami FC was better, at least they had interesting colors for a team from Miami.

14. Rayo OKC: This might be the worst thing to ever happen to the new NASL. That logo looks like it was made on Microsoft Paint using Windows 3.1. The name has nothing to do with Oklahoma. The team will not exist in 2 years, they fold cause no way anyone in Oklahoma is getting excited about this being their team. Seriously drops the overall professionalism of the entire NASL simply because they are part of the league. This is that rare situation where the powers that be should have told an ownership group, no thank you.


All in all, I like the league. I hope they give the MLS a run for their money. I appreciate the independence each team has to choose their jersey providers and do marketing. But for the love can we rebrand OKC already? They make the New England Revolution look amazing.