Arsenal Colorado FC

[Dilbert]

Okay so apparently for a very short time today the Colorado Rapids webpage showed the teams new logo but the team was called Arsenal Colorado FC. Several Message Board sites caught it. Looks like the end of the Rapids is near and another american soccer team will go with a European name. I absolutly hate it when they do this

[rams80]

So much for independent branding.

(Throws out Olympique Chicago for consideration)

[Pounder]

Colorado folks tend to tell you that it's semi-natural given the new stadium is being built on the old Rocky Mountain Arsenal site.

Still, it's more screwy than that... it's a logo all too reminiscent of the Gooners of London, but with West Ham colors. (Yes, I know, same as the Avalanche and Mammoth, both run by Kroenke. Bleep them. Don't mess that much with tradition, please.)

Colorado Rapids is one of the better MLS names IMO. Don't know if the ownership thinks the re-branding is necessary because of the lack of attention otherwise, or if it's kind of a wink-nudge part of the deal with Commerce City... presuming it's not a hoax.

[mvhcpa]

Okay so apparently for a very short time today the Colorado Rapids webpage showed the teams new logo but the team was called Arsenal Colorado FC. Several Message Board sites caught it. Looks like the end of the Rapids is near and another american soccer team will go with a European name. I absolutly hate it when they do this

...outdoor soccer does NOT belong in this country, or at least that soccer is NOT an American sport for Americans (as Americans have been traditionally characterized) to understand, much less enjoy.

It's the same thing with FIFA's whole attitude toward indoor soccer--we Americans invent it, and we name it something sane and understandable like "indoor soccer." It's a fast and cool sport, just like Americans like it, and people go see it (at least enough folks so that some indoor league or another has continually limped along for several decades now). FIFA gets ahold of the concept, takes out the cool dasher-board element, and calls it "futsal" (WTF?), and tries to stuff this down our throats as the ONLY OFFICIAL form of indoor soccer. (I remember there was coverage of a pro futsal league on OSC once, but we see how successful THAT was.)

I hate to sound like Archie Bunker here, but I think funneling kids into soccer instead of baseball/softball is chipping away from our national character (fast, cool, aggressive in defending ourselves, and some other things maybe not so great, but still part of what was thought of as being American).

Let the rest of the world have professional soccer--we can watch it on cable if we want--but don't try to convince me to go out and pay money to watch it.

Michael Val
(who chants---under his breath, of course--"Soccer EVIL; Baseball GOOD" everytime he passes a kid's soccer practice!)

[patmc16]

...outdoor soccer does NOT belong in this country, or at least that soccer is NOT an American sport for Americans (as Americans have been traditionally characterized) to understand, much less enjoy.


Agreed 100%.

Call me an ugly American, but crap like that is what drives me away from this sport. I can live with the one name players although I don't really like it. Actually, I can only live with it in soccer. They will always be Ichiro Suzuki and Yao Ming to me. "Suzuki" and "Ming" should be on the back of the jerseys. I can't accept these crap team names. First, the team name should be in the format of "geographical location" follwed by "nickname". It was never "The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim" to me. They were the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Luckily, they new owners set it right in simply calling them the Anaheim Ducks this season. You don't have to tell me what sport they play in the team name either. If I'm too dumb to figure that out, I probably shouldn't be following the team or the sport. Besides, these are not "football clubs", they are soccer teams! When someone joins a club, shouldn't they expect to pay dues? When the Dallas Burn became FC Dallas was the first time I really had a negative thought towards MLS. If someone told me they were going to see the Dallas football club play, I would assume they are going to see the Cowboys play (and I would wonder why they are playing in the summer). Why strip the team of its individual identity? To me, Colorado Rapids sounds alot better than Arsenal Colorado FC. Last time I looked at a map, Salt Lake was a long way from Madrid. If they want to use "Real" as the nickname, fine. I don't get it but, fine, they can do that. I will always call them the "Salt Lake Real", because I can do that. And while I'm ranting, where the heck is "Chivas"? Things like this and Beckham are not going to bring in the American fan. I guess if you are paid enough, you don't mind being a side show which is what Beckham will be here. More people will probably come to see him at first but that will probably die out fast. How many times can you see the "bearded lady" or "wolf boy" before it grows old?

Sorry for rambling. I guess its because its so freakin cold here!!

[mvhcpa]

Thank you for the support! I was thinking I'd get nothing but flames and a banning movement for my opinion! (Of course the townsfolk may be starting to march with their torches and pitchforks as we speak....)

Michael Val
(who thinks the majority, which probably disagrees with us, is just ignoring us, which is okay too!)

[Pounder]

First off, it appears Colorado decided not to change names... OR it sounds like someone else already owned "Colorado Arsenal" or "Arsenal Colorado" and the two parties couldn't come to an arrangement.

To mvchpa and patmc... you're entitled to your opinion, no matter how wrong it is. :D (Actually, I'd dispute that you're in a minority in America, but lemmings also have majority opinion among themselves... and I know more hooligans than you... and I know another board where pat is a member.) ;)

Besides, I'm sure I can bring over a good chunk of the 62,000 I was with at USA v Mexico last week, and we can discuss this in a calm and rational manner.

[patmc16]

(Actually, I'd dispute that you're in a minority in America, but lemmings also have majority opinion among themselves... and I know more hooligans than you... and I know another board where pat is a member.)

Yikes! And I thought I was rambling! :D

I guess I especially don't get the last part?? I actually have the same id on several different boards. What does that have to do with the thread? I don't get why people have to hide behind multiple id's. I am who I am, here and everywhere else.

Back to the thread. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike soccer. I really like the indoor version but that's another thread. I've never been to an MLS game but would like to go to a Crew game if I can ever get to Columbus when they are playing (I always seem to be there out of season). I have been to see the PDL champs Michigan Bucks many times (and will again now that they are returning to Hurley Field). I just don't like when teams name theirselves like it sounds like Colorado was at least thinking of doing. I purposely used other sports in my examples because it's not just a soccer thing for me. I don't like it in any sport. It just seems like soccer does it more than the others. I don't see how trying to associate a team with it's European counterparts is going to do anything to bring in more fans and/or revenue in the US (maybe I'm being short sited - if I am, I wish someone would tell me why). If it is a marketing thing, why not keep the name and change the logo? People would probably want merchandise with the new logo that they would not necessarily want (or already have) with the old one. Like I said in my original post, why strip a team of its individual identity? Seems to me that that is what they do by taking away a nickname and replacing it with "FC" or tossing aside an original sounding nickname (or never having one as in the case of Salt Lake) in favor of any of the popular European names.

[Pounder]

First and foremost... beware taking me too seriously.

Second... I think MLS pays a lot of money to some marketing firm that leads them around by the nose (possibly induced by a vise grip or somesuch). I'd like to offer at least a dozen solutions to that problem, but Mr. Reeths will almost surely find himself editing those comments. What marketing MLS does is patently irrelevant.

It's funny that they find themselves in the news enough that they get the publicity they need... Becks being the new prime example. After all the crap that's come down, MLS is still in position to evolve to a better place... a lot of that is the new stadia, some of that is allowing the game (not the packaging, but the actual stuff on the field) to take center stage, and some of it is thoroughly beyond my comprehension.

[IronLionZion]

Bring The Mls To Saint Louis . . .

[OneBetter]

Bring The Mls To Saint Louis . . .

.....ok.........

How does that have anything to do with this particular thread?