Top Stories

Is new look for KC a good change?

SportingKC

The Kansas City Wizards, at least the team formerly known as the Kansas City Wizards, are set to make a major announcement on Wednesday and it appears the news will be a name and brand change.

Kansas City will now be called Sporting KC, with the above logo making the rounds as the new look (though the logo has yet to be officially revealed). The real question is whether the change in team name needed to be made. Switching to the European-influenced name sure does seem like change for change's sake.

What do you think? Do you like the new name, or do you think Kansas City is making a mistake?

Cast your vote here:

 

How did you vote? What do you think of the new name and logo?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I agree. I think teams should try to find something specific to their location. Kansas / Wizard of Oz? that’s a stretch though. LA Galaxy/Hollywood stars? not much better. I do like the logo and name better, but the european stuff does’nt make me think of KC. Spoken from a Real Salt Lake fan, still wish RSL would’ve been named “The Wasatch Front” and Houston would’ve stuck with “1846” or whatever that was?

    Good job KC for finally ditching that name, it was one of the worst. And not that any of you care, but heres my opinion of MLS names.

    BAD LIST-

    Dynamo- european/Kiev thing or not it sounds stupid

    Earthquakes- little league name

    Crapids- a lot of cities have rivers

    Real- UT isn’t royal,or in Spain

    LA & KC (old) see pargraph above

    Toronto FC- all clubs are FC!

    Dallas-see Toronto

    Chivas- don’t care who owner is this isn’t Mexico!

    Red Bull- seriously? What’s next Budweiser LA?

    Whitecaps- waves, or Mountain peaks???

    GOOD LIST-

    N.E.Revolution- American History

    Union- see CREW, and REVs reasons

    Columbus Crew- Blue collar workers/rust belt

    DC United- United States Capital

    Sounders- sounds cool/fits area

    Timbers- see Sounders

    Chicago Fire- the big fire

    Impact- aggressive/forceful

    Sporting is an improvment. Good going KC

    Reply
  2. While I don’t think MLS should feel the need to try to copy the Europeans on everything, they should take a page out of their book with the team names. Example: Toronto FC,the new KC Sporting Club, etc.
    Its not football, or basketball, I’m not hating on having team names like the “Eagles” or the “Vikings”, its just not soccer.

    I wish NY would go with NY FC instead of the freaking Red Bulls, but you know, sponsorships and such…

    Reply
  3. Troy, what do you mean by our version of baseball, what other versions are there? And we, like the rest of the world, all play soccer by the same rules. Also, what exactly do you mean by “modern”. The Brits may have invented the sport, but then countries took the sport and made it their own. The Brits weren’t the ones who came up with the World Cup or international club competitions. The Brits then refused to take part in such things at first, we actually played in a World Cup before they did, and perhaps you’ve heard what happened to England the first time they deigned to attend the event.

    It’s always amazed me how back when the US was emerging into the world soccer scene back in the early 90’s, Americans used to love to make fun of how bad the English were at the game, yet then turn around and tell every other American that we have to copy the English. Other countries seem to think it’s ok to use their own sporting terms and such, but our regular, non-specific terms are somehow inferior, and shameful to use. I’ve just never understood this attitude.

    Reply
  4. How I can live with this: Switch cities, too.

    Sporting Salt Lake sounds pretty good.

    Real Kansas City works in a city with a baseball team called the Royals.

    Boom! Fixed! Done!

    Reply
  5. And when the New York Cosmos takes on EPL teams during their first few years, no one will think they’re playing their bigger brother. That will happen every time Real Salt Lake plays Real Madrid, or Chivas USA vs. Guadalajara.

    At least let me be happy that Arsenal Colorado never materialized

    Reply
  6. Kevin,

    Do you take ANY of those copycat teams seriously? It further emphasizes my point that originality is taken seriously. Why can’t we be like the New York Cosmos which caused a South African club to copy them? Instead we are Jomo Cosmos which copied the Cosmos.

    When the Sounders, Whitecaps, Timbers and New York Cosmos all have the best fans in MLS (which will happen entirely by 2013), you’ll see it has to do with identity over sounding more European. I’m not promoting NASL names, simply stating that those NASL names have connected with their fanbases.

    It’s because I see a day that Real Salt Lake could be compared to Real Madrid (well maybe Atletico) and that’s the reason I want them to be original. No one complains about the Cosmos name, a stupid American named drawn from the Mets (Metropolitans vs. Cosmopolitan). And that’s the point. Those franchise already created a brand. They didn’t steal it.

    I love MLS and that’s why I care.

    Reply
  7. Wizards was the worst name in professional sports! It was a much needed change. Now we just need the New England to change almost everything about their club and Chivas to either go away or become Chivas of LA or LA AZTECS.

    Reply
  8. Honestly, they should’ve just stayed “The Wiz.” Why the need to continually emulate European names is a travesty to American Soccer. This is one of the problems with US Soccer…we’re trying to be something we’re not. We’re not England, we’re not Italy, we’re not Spain…So let’s STOP trying to name our teams like them with the idea that maybe they’ll play up to their namesake. Let’s keep American Soccer American and grow our own version of the sport, our own style of play, our own…OURS, not England’s or Italy’s or whoever else’s, but OURS! Go USA!

    Reply
  9. I hate copying euro-trash traditions. Making sucking up gestures to foreigners rarely elicits a positive response.

    Granted, the Wizards isn’t the best name. I think it was a half-assed response to the initially worse “WIZ”.

    I think the logo is fine but this is really an exercise in futility. At least is isn’t “Real” or “Futbal club”.

    Reply
  10. Actually, the late Gordon Bradley started a fund drive before MLS to start a professional soccer team in Washington. Everyone who contributed money would be a share-holder. He said the team would be called Washington United. When MLS came around, Kevin Payne decided (correctly) that no native of the area refers to it as “Washington”–that’s what outsiders and politicians call this place. So the name became “DC United”.

    So no, no attempt to emulate Euro glitz (which is kind of funny you’d even assume that since DC United as really been more of a latin/hispanic franchise from the git-go: from the barra brava, to requesting Etcheverry as an allocated player vs. Donadoni or some other euro star).

    Reply
  11. I mean the logo is alright … but so is the current one. Actually, no, I don’t really like it. I was just trying to be nice in case KC fans get stuck with that. Is the name ‘Wizards’ going to receive any nominations for The Most Badazz Team Name Award? Probably not. However, as a new supporter this season, and as someone trying to help promote the MLS in the US and Canada, I am not a fan of “Sporting” … not at all. Not one bit. I would have gone for “FC” because I see the league’s inevitable push to connect Our game with that of the Euros, but not Sporting … please. Pretty please? Visit http://www.teamrisingsun.com for MLS, AHL, UFL, CFL, and NCAAF news and follow us on twitter at @TeamRisingSun – would love the feedback on the #bignewsforKC, this rebranding, our opinion here, or that of yours/others. ~ Go KC Whatevers!

    Reply
  12. Kansas City…
    1. “Bleeding Kansans”
    2. “Abolitionists”
    3. “Buffalo”
    4. “Jayhawks” and get players from the college system
    5. “Squatters”
    6. “Cyclone”
    7. “Grasshoppers”

    Reply
  13. Wow. You’d think they were going to make the supporters sing in Portuguese with all the over-the-top whining going on here.

    Sporting KC is better than Wizards. Too Euro? Who cares.

    How about focusing on issues that matter?

    Reply
  14. actually there is a huge push to ditch their universally regarded as terrible logo and name and go back to being the Bullets. even the owner has recently stated that it is something he is very much considering.

    Reply
  15. Don’t the intertwined letters on the crest say “SC”? I’m not seeing a K in there. MLS team logos are usually designed better than that. Guess we’ll find out.

    Reply
  16. let’s face it, Wiz/ards was a very bad marketing snafu from the early days of MLS. the only thing it had going for it was that it had been around 15 years. not a very high bar.

    i completely understand OnGoal wanting to rebrand in a direction that would be more serious (ie not related to the occult or harry potter) and allow for a better visual palette (the branding iconography associated with wizardry is pretty limiting).

    but Sporting KC Soccer Club? that is almost worse for trying too hard. look around the league. there are literally TONS of teams that managed to pick a name that adheres to the more American Tradition of City/Region + Nickname but did so in a way that sought and succesfully captured some local flavour/history/culture. Union, Fire, Crew (working class city, working class team), Sounders, Timbers, Whitecaps, etc. even those teams that went basic FC or United aren’t that bad. it is only the complete poser names Chivas, Real, Sporting that really fall flat.

    what would be wrong with Kansas City Pioneers? Kansas City Blues? Kansas City Scouts? Locomotive Kansas City (a nod to the importance of the Railroad thru the entire development of KC and something that could make Europosers proud)?

    i mean literally anything is almost better and more meaningful than Sporting. even just Kansas City FC would have been better.

    and that logo is probably the worst piece of design work i have ever seen. if they paid somebody for that they should demand a refund. the font’s are terrible, the forced perspective is terrible and off putting, the emphasis on SC is baffling, the relegation of Kansas City to irrelevance is just stupid, containing no homage or nod to the history of the club by not including 1996/96 somewhere is idiotic, and the amount of drop shadowing is frankly sickening plus the whole thing screams WE DESIGNED THIS ON A COMPUTER, NO ARTIST WAS USED IN THE RENDERING OF THIS CREST.

    when will MLS teams learn. if you want a new logo or redesigned logo don’t go hire some inbreds from Mississippi that specialize in fantasy basketball team logos (hello Timbers) or get your college intern with a basic understanding of Powerpoint (hello Sporting KC Soccer Club) to do it. call the Philadelphia Union, ask them for the number of the design firm that did their crest and F**KING HIRE THEM!

    Reply
  17. This debate is getting silly. Next thing people will start suggesting that we should rename New York, New Orleans, New Jersey, New Mexico, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, San Jose, El Paso, Phoenix, San Francisco, and hundreds of other places in this country because their names are not patriotic enough due to their foreign origins.

    Reply
  18. Dustyn, there is a big difference between the nickname and official name of the team. Do Sheffield Wednesday players wear Wizards name on their jerseys when they take the field?

    Reply
  19. LetBeUS, I am not against originality or picking uniquely American names for MLS teams – my point is that mls teams have not been very successful at coming up with good original names and, therefore, using time tested names from other countries is not a bad thing. I don’t think that DC United lost many fans by using “United” in its name. By the way, the lack of originality did not hurt EPL, which currently has three teams with United in their respective names, Manchester, Newcastle and West Ham. La Liga has two Reals. Sporting is a name of teams that play in the top divisions in Portugal and Spain. Dynamo is used by teams in Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Belarus, Georgia, the United States and probably several other countries that I missed. Using a name that is also used by another team in another country does not alienate the majority of fans. In fact, European soccer brands are quite marketable here in the US. The stadiums fill up when Real, Manchester United, Barcelona come here for friendlies. I work with several die-hard fans of Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid and all were born and raised here in the US by American parents.

    Reply

Leave a Comment