What if the Crew's colors were Scarlet and Grey? I'm bored, and I was thinking of different possibilites for our club. False retrospect, in a way... "What ifs", mostly. I've always wondered if our team would be supported even more if out colors were striped like celtic, but in scarlet and grey colors. Personally, I think that would make a killer jersey. I always wondered why MLS or any other soccer league before it didn't try to make their pro teams extensions of huge collegiate teams in the area? Would casual fans find it easier to cross over if the team was in some way affiliated with a name/color scheme they are familiar with? For example, the Miami Fusion F.C. would have been green and orange, and perhaps the Chicago club could have been purple and black. If they stuck a team in Cleveland, make them Brown and Orange or white....Detroit...definitely a blue color of some sort. At least the color schemes would have been varying...
I'm not rallying support for a change of color, just wondering what it would have done for the sport had MLS or NASL, etc. done that from the start. There are some Chilean teams that do this, I believe. Also, would it not be cool to have a grey and scarlet away kit. Or special one, for tourneys such as the USOC. Or is this all a dumb idea?
Rarely do I agree with you, Chris, but I just happened across this thread and I think it would be a great idea if they did something like that for USOC or a special game (like baseball has with nostalgia/throwback games). I think it would definitely be a way to increase attendance for USOC games. Maybe raffle or auction off the jerseys after the game for charity. I know the Dayton Bombers hockey team does this with their jerseys when they have special ones for Christmas, Valentines or St. Patricks Day.
after reading the above post, i'll say that hell, the fire had their throwback "sting" kits, which they auctioned off for charity or whatever. perhaps the crew could do something like that. promote the hell out of it, then see what happens.
Actually MLS is actually trying to avoid color schemes that are currently used in the team's market. They want to form an identity, they want people to say "what is all that Gold & Black I keep seeing?" It creates a marketable brand, and it serves as advertising for the league. If it were a local teams' colors then it would be way too easy for the potential fan to overlook. In Columbus the local team is a collegiate team, but in most markets it is a professional team. Also, whenever there is more than one local team, affiliating a color scheme with one of them may or may not add fans, but it will definitely alienate fans of the other team. I.e., if LA were to go with UCLA's colors, then a lot of USC fans would be very uninclined to support them. In the case of LA and Chicago, the colors have been chosen at least in part because they mirror the national team of a huge section of the expected soccer-audience. LA's green duplicates no other sport, but is also similar to Mexico's green and therefore was hoped to help bring some fans from that group. Chicago's red and white mirrors Poland's colors, and the red also was one of the Mexican flag colors. Also, crossover fans of multiple sports want separate color schemes so it gives them fashion options in their wardrobes. It sounds kinda hokey, but it's true. For instance, in New York where your colors were competing with the Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, Knicks, Nets, Islanders and Rangers, it's tough to find a good color scheme that hasn't been claimed. They originally went with the vertical stripes to brand themselves. Then they added the signature red. Branding is difficult, and it's not a predicable science. IMHO, the Crew has done a great job of branding. Their gold/yellow (I prefer the 2002 yellow personally) is a great uniform and color scheme. The logo/badge/crest is also well done IMHO, and it is classy while separating itself from the myriad of lions, tigers, bears, eagles, etc. in the US sports landscape. Not all MLS brands have been successful, but I do think that the Columbus Crew and DC United are two that have. -Tron
Most people prefer the yellow...it's just too bad the Crew don't stick with it as its preferred color whereever it plays.
funny, usually a lot of people forget that the Crew are a professional taem, and cite the Blue Jackets as the only pro sport in Columbus, not the other way around...