ESPN did a power ranking of the best uniforms in American Sports but unfortunately neglected to cover MLS teams- which was very disappointing. I thought it would be fun to do it here on bigsoccer. Here's my ranking: 19. New York Red Bull I really hope you like the drink if you are a fan of this team. The white on red is ok but the fact that this team has no shield means that a there are FOUR Red Bull adverts on the kit. 18. Columbus Crew Well, at least a fan poll decided the name of this team (and credit to them for not rebranding). But that shield is a near universal joke- people who don't even follow MLS know about the three guys- who are those guys anyway? The home kit features too much yellow, they should have broken it up with black shorts. I can't even begin to explain what happened with the away kit. 17. New England Revolution The side panels on this year's jersey are really, really bad. Everything about this team screams that they're owned by the same douchebag who owns the Patriots. I still don't understand how UEFA hasn't filed a copyright claim regarding the use of the Champions League logo. 16. Colorado Rapids The Rapids lose points in my book because they haven't been able to establish a clear identity. They wore Green and White, then Green and Black, then Blue and Black, and now they've settled on claret. Their away jersey has the same problem as Columbus's but overall I think they could end up with a much better jersey design next year depending on which template they go with. 15. Real Salt Lake: I don't like the team name- usually Royal monikers are conferred unto you by a King or Queen. The colors are unoriginal a bunch of teams were already playing in red and blue before RSL came into the league and they decided to go with that color scheme- credit to them for jumping on the Spain bandwagon early. 14. Toronto FC Played it too safe when they came into the league. Chose a very prevalent color, a generic name, but got picked a sponsor that carries the name of their archrivals (BMO- Bank of Montreal). Not a fan of the grey accenting.
12. Philadelphia Union (tie) Original and would be ranked a lot higher had they figured out a way to better incorporate their sponsor's logo. 12. FC Dallas (tie) Another case of the sponsor's logo taking away from the jersey. I do admire the hoops though- they stand out in the adidas-clad monotony of the league.
11. SJ Earthquakes Not a fan of the piping on this year's jersey and the cartoony shield leaves a lot to be desired. 10. Chivas USA They've got the best sponsors in the league but the away jersey is unoriginal. 9. Sporting KC Third time's the charm in Kansas City. Would have like to see them go in a different direction with the away kit, though.
8. Seattle Sounders The home jersey screams Seattle and I think is one of the best kits in MLS their away kits (especially the third kit) are absolutely horrendous. 7. LA Galaxy Seem to be consistently peeking at Real Madrid templates and going with that. But they've had really elegant jerseys since the rebrand (even though they are sort of generic). 6. Houston Dynamo The third kit is horrendous. But other than that they really do own their unique color scheme 5. Montreal Impact Great home jersey the detailing with the cross is a nice touch- the away jersey however is too plain (you can't see the cross) and is just the inverse of the blue jersey. Perhaps we'll see pink away shirts next year? 4. Portland Timbers The Home kit is fantastic so is the retro third kit. Wish they had made their retro kit the away one instead of the red. 3. Chicago Fire Iconic home shirt- hasn't changed once in 16 years. Now they just have to reinstate light blue as the away color. 2. DC United They've stuck to their style since coming into the league mostly because they got it right on their first try. Here's hoping they don't mess with it. 1. Vancouver Whitecaps Best shield in all of MLS with really classy and simply jerseys to boot.
Of course these rankings are a matter of opinion... but you're going to lose credibility when you claim a design hasn't changed in 16 years when in fact it has... with the most recent design... and the club has only existed for 14 years. Chicago has always been known to wear home red with a white stripe, and away whites with a red or blue stripe.
Maybe it's just because it is a 1000x improvement over last year's jersey, but I actually like the current Revs kit. Also, I am a big fan of NY's Blue on Yellow kit, TFC's away kit, and Columbus' all yellow kit. Even though they wear basically Red and Blue, I've never really considered RSL a "red and blue" team like CHI, NE, DAL, CHV, NY; Not sure why, I just don't. Some of my least favorite kits are Colorado and KC's away and both MTL home and away for being boring and not "classic." I'm not a huge fan of either of Philly's kits. For me though, the worst by far is Seattle. Seattle's original kits were easily top 3 in the league. Their current one with the random silver piping is awful. Next year can't come soon enough for them, at least kit wise. Top 10 10. Chivas Home Red & White 9. Portland Away Red 8. Columbus Home Yellow 7. SKC Home Lt Blue 6. Portland Alternate White 5. Portland Home Green 4. NYRB Alternate Blue on Yellow 3. TFC away White 2. LA Home White 1. San Jose Alternate Blue Bottom 10 10. SKC Away Blue 9. NY Home White 8. Philadelphia Away Lt Blue 7. Houston Alternate Orange 6. Montreal Away White 5. Colorado Away White 4. Seattle Alternate Cyan 3. Columbus Away White 2. Seattle Home Green 1. Seattle Away Black
FWIW, like the Pac NW heritage with club colors, Houston away kit of white/orange/white is our old NASL team's home look. see avatar 28 years in the wait for guys like me and it is Orange that was meant to be Houston pro soccer. You know when Houston is playing when flipping channels or in quick highlights. DCU still ranks top I must admit.
You're right that the stripe's color changed, but that stripe (and it's location) is what makes it a Fire jersey. No one else in the league uses that design, and the Fire has used it all 14 years of their existence. The color change doesn't really matter much IMO (though if it was any color other than blue or white, it'd be different). I agree with the OP about bringing back the light blue Chicago flag jersey for the away, but I like the one they came up with anyway. I've always liked DC's jerseys (really the one and only MLS original jersey that wasn't horrendous), though I wish they would bring back the 3 white stripes on the home jersey. The VW logo is well used, but the stripes were just a great (and iconic) design. Most of the OP's rankings are pretty good. The one I really disagree with is putting Seattle so high. Their jerseys have been almost universally awful since they entered the league IMO. I'm starting to think there's some sort of conspiracy at work.
I think everyone that doesn't like Real Madrid would agree with you. But being serious, the Galaxy have a decent kit. My personal picks for best kits (also including non MLS teams) 15. San Antonio Scorpions (exact copy of a former US national team kit, but stylish) 14. FC Dallas (not a fan of hoops, but the current design works) 13. FC Edmonton (unique design, but should make a little more sense) 12. New York Red Bulls (like the pinstripes, a good Yankees look to it) 11. Rochester Rhinos (a classic design) 10. Tampa Bay Rowdies (ugly colors, but a iconic design that works) 9. Montreal Impact (has a subtle design that fits perfectly for the area) 8. Bellingham United (has the classic Newcastle United look, but a new take on it that is refreshing) 7. DC United (what hasn't been said about the classic black and white) 6. Sporting Kansas City (the blue works out well, if only they can be sponsored by Wicked the Musical for a connection to the Wizards) 5. Portland Timbers (the 2 shades of green work out well, but wish they still had the Celtic hoops from years ago) 4. Charleston Battery (iconic design, being a bit biased, but the class of the minor leagues) 3. Chicago Fire (love the design, a true classic for a classic team) 2. Vancouver Whitecaps (strays away from tradition, but a great design in itself) 1. Philadelphia Union (the colors of the Continental Army, should be the US national team's first color, at least they got rid of the England white for now)
Not going to rank. Just comment on some themes gaining traction here: COL kit is not bad. It's easily identifiable. They need a sponsor badly MON is not a good kit. Boring at best. They should go with the pink away and paybe black socks or something at home, otherwise you think, they are SJ away at first glance LAG is fine. They need to stop tinkering, but the more slate blue ( not the navy blue) should be the primary away color. Too many other teams use navy blue. SEA is unique and there is nothing wrong with their schemes other than the bra having it's own color. Blend the rest of the shirt's coilor into the bra. There are some real problems with some away kits, such as KC , RSL, NER, VAN, SJ --boring, and CBUS, NYRB, ugly. But those things can be fixed. A few home kits need to go retro--SJ and CBUS But otherwise verything else is fine. Way better than 1997.
They very rarely wear the blue uniforms as it is, I wish they'd just use the "black/dark gray/punjab" third uniform as their secondary, I really like it.
Going a little off-topic I still think that the Galaxy's original badge was better than the current one.
Portland Timbers Authentic Away is probably the best soccer shirt i've seen in any league. The Authentic Whitecaps away Jersey is great too.
I'm obviously biased, but I love the Columbus Crew banana kits. The color is unique to the league, and it's simple. Historically, I think my all time favorite MLS jersey was the Colorado Rapids black and blue vertical stripes. Those were pretty sharp.
I was about to be offended by an earlier comment about the Sounders alternate kits when I remembered those horrible things with the bra straps. The current Sounders away is one of my favorite kits ever - ranks right up there with traditional Arsenal red-with-white-sleeves for me. IMO Other MLS best at this point are Colorado alternates, Houston's third kits with the pinstripes, and I like Portland in Rose City red.
only distinctive looks: Chicago's white stripe (RIP?) Colorado Maroon - White - Maroon Columbus yellow overload NYRB yellow shorts (didn't say it was distinctive in a good way) Dynamo orange overload Seattle's highlighter theme (also, not always a good thing like the blue one this year) Anything else is pretty generic I'd say.