The reason Rhythm isn't meaningful is because it never became our clubs name. If we won a championship with that name, it'd be meaningful. Hence your argument is pretty poor in this respect.
Oh, come on, Harry, you can do better than this! MLS is chasing Mexican and South American fans so the teams change their names? So MLS should use "Nueva Chicago" or "Liverpool" or "Juniors" (in all its manifestations) or "Arsenal" or "Newell's Old Boys" or "River Plate" (all Argentine) or "Montevideo Wanderers" or "Boston River" (Uruguay) or "America" or "Tecos" (Mexico) or "Uruguay" (Costa Rica) or "Barcelona SC" (Ecuador) "Sport Boys" or "Sport Cristal" or "Carlos Stein" or "Universidad" [more than one team] (all Peru) ... you get the idea.
I’m not saying MLS is dumb enough to think that a name alone will be enough to draw those fans, but I’m also not counting it out- again, hello Chivas USA. More than anything, I’m just saying that I don’t think the practice itself is rooted in racism, considering a large number of teams in the Mexican league and others use the same naming convention.
They were created and run by Chivas. Pandering? Yes. But the name and colors make sense. More than Nueva Chicago or Arsenal for damned sure.
I’m not sure what part of that doesn’t make sense- the argument was that the change from a Columbus Crew to Columbus SC was racist because it was meant look more European. My counter was that it looks like most soccer teams/clubs names, including those in Mexico and Central/South America whose US-based fans MLS has been trying to appeal to forever. I don’t really care whether Chivas USA made sense as a name or not, it was just to demonstrate that MLS has been trying to get Mexican-American fans to watch for a very long time, so again, it doesn’t seem like these changes to FC/SC/CF are targeted to appeal solely to Anglo fans to me.
Why can't MLS be unique and original? Even if some of the 90's names were garbage at least they were somewhat original.
The names don’t have to make sense or appeal to any particular demographic. MLS just has to leave it alone and the thing will mean soccer wherever it is. Do the Lakers make any sense in LA?! Is Chicago known for Bear attacks? If MLS would just leave well enough alone, whatever the name is will mean soccer.
What difference does it make? I don’t care what they’re called. I just go to watch some soccer. Is everyone so bereft of an identity that they cling to a corporate soccer entity name as what defines them? News flash, the entity that you’re upset at for changing the names is the same entity that came up with the original names in the first place. They have no obligation to listen to outside opinions. They wanted to change it so they did. If you don’t own it; it’s not yours. Take it or leave it. You want us to be an authentically American League? Well that’s how things are done here. Owners do what they please, and if you don’t like it your only option is to take your money elsewhere. I don’t like that this is how it is, but it’s the cold hard truth.
The corny team names is part of American sports charm. We should embrace is rather than get away from it and pose as some European club
Not really, there’s a huge difference between traditional american corniness (Lions, Tigers, Bears, oh my) and the crappy 90 x-games/lacrosse names the league has been moving away from (Clash/Crew/Burn). And the city name FC convention and its derivatives are used globally, not just in Europe. They’re fine.
No, they’re rooted in racism. I know pandering to white people FEELS normal. The status quo. That’s how white supremacy works.
Why go with the rest of the world? Why not be different and unique? Is changing names and brands to be more like the rest of the world the only way that MLS can attract fans? "Come watch MLS we are one of the top leagues in the world. We have FC's, CF's, United's, and even an Inter just like the rest of the world." - probably Don Garber
Or maybe if we wanted to target specific customers, we could emulate different parts of the world where non-city names like River Plate, America, Cruz Azul, Necaxa, Chivas, etc., are common.
The video they released is much, much worse. It is awful. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/columbus-sc-announce-updated-brand-marks
The FC & SC names are awful but pandering with non-English names would be a way bigger joke. Real Salt Lake and Inter Miami CF are the most cringeworthy names in the league.
"hey, we are changing our name and we aren't the crew. but we are the crew! oh, we are still the crew. yup, still the crew. but not the crew. did i mention we are still the crew? but we aren't the crew."
It’s not white supremacy to follow a naming convention used heavily all throughout the world, including Mexico and Central America. I never said we have to, just that it’d be better to pick between the rest of the world and standard US team names. The original MLS team names were largely attempts to seem cool and edgy by marketing dorks that knew nothing about soccer or even sports. “Hey Clash sounds like something the kids will like, let’s call a team that!” “Which one?” “Who cares, it’s so cool the target demographic will buy their merch no matter where they live!” - MLS execs in 1995/96, probably. Most of those team have “Club” as part of their names, and play in leagues with teams named Club Atlético Banfield, Club Atlético Rosario, Futbol Club Juárez, CF Monterrey, CF Pachuca- even Chivas isn’t Chivas, right? It’s CD Guadalajara after the city they play in. The naming convention is used throughout the world, not just in Anglo countries. If MLS weren’t historically trying to attract US-based fans from Mexico and Central American countries since forever, sure, you could absolutely say these name changes are rooted in racism, but these name changes don’t just mimic European clubs, clubs all over the world use the naming convention. And yes, imperialism, colonialism, capitalism, and indeed, racism all can help explain why it came to be why other countries around the world use the same naming convention for many of their clubs, but that’s a different discussion than just saying it’s racist for a team here to swap out a dumb nickname for SC.
Lol. Again, “imperialism, colonialism, capitalism, and indeed, racism all can help explain why it came to be why other countries around the world use the same naming convention for many of their clubs”- I mean, swap out racism for white supremacy or just add it, but still “that’s a different discussion than just saying it’s racist for a team here to swap out a dumb nickname for SC”. You’re assuming teams are doing this to “look more European” and that it somehow communicates “Anglo’s only wanted, ******** off brown people” even though those types of names are heavily used in countries where “brown people” live and MLS has historically tried to attract them. The only team name that I can think of that screamed “Anglo’s only wanted, ******** off brown people” was 1836 Houston, and that didn’t last long at all.
This feels a little like saying, "if white people are doing it, it's racist." I don't agree with that argument. Don't get me wrong, in my experience, white people are the most racist people in the world (exception maybe being the Japanese, but it at least doesn't manifest violently since WW2). All crimes are done by criminals, but not everything a criminal does is a crime...