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Indy Eleven announce first signing, release uniform designs

KristianNichtIndyEleven1 (IndyStar)

By DAN KARELL

In an occasion tabbed as “First on the First” on Tuesday evening in downtown Indianapolis, Indy Eleven made a number of exciting announcements about the future of their club.

The expansion North American Soccer League side which is expected to begin play next April introduced German-born goalkeeper Kristian Nicht as the club’s first ever signing. Also, Indy Eleven released the designs for their uniforms, which feature a red, white, or blue colored kit with checkers on it, in reference to the city’s racing tradition.

In addition, the club announced a three-year sponsorship deal with Honda that sees their logo placed on the front of the jerseys.

Nicht, 31, most recently played with the Rochester Rhinos in USL Pro and was named the USL Pro Goalkeeper of the Year in 2012. Prior to his move to America, Nicht was a starter at Alemannia Aachen between 2004-2007, playing one season in the Bundesliga in 2006/2007 before moving back to Norway and then back to Germany.

The Diadora manufactured jerseys will be up for a fan vote on the Indy Eleven website, with fans choosing from the home kit to be either the blue or red uniform, while the white jersey will be the away uniform.

Here’s a look at the Indy Eleven uniforms, courtesy of IndyEleven.com:

IndyElevenjerseys (IndyEleven)

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What do you think of this news? Do you like the Nicht signing? Do you like the uniforms? Excited for what’s to come in Indianapolis?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I haven’t seen a diadora kit in a while. Looks good and all but kinda reminds me of ayso. I do like that each team can get their own deals unlike adidas doing all the mls jerseys.

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  2. Love the checkered design, but think their first signing should have been an American. I dont care how many foreign born players you have ( I assume there is a max number for league teams) but the first announced signing should be American.

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    • The easiest thing to expect from Indy is a checkered design. Frankly, I think the city can pump the breaks (pun intended) on the racing motif.

      If St. Louis gets a team, should they have a baseball motif on their kits?

      I applaud Atlanta for exercising a rare bit of restraint by not naming their team The Peaches, or adopting Peach as the the main color for their team.

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      • because teams should always shy away from connections with civic symbols, right? honestly dont understand that opinion.

      • If you argue from the position of “always” then, yes, you are right: it is wrong for teams to ALWAYS shy away from connections with civic symbols. Congratulations!

        I have spent a considerable amount of time in and around Indy over many years and know allusions to racing are used everywhere. Friends from there have said many times over the years how over played.

        Even their former minor-league hockey team was named the Checkers. Fortunately the new soccer club found something else in Indy’s history of which to be proud when naming this the team. Or do you think they were wrong not calling them the Left Turns? Derek Zoolander could have been their mascot.

        I do think it was wise for the Pittsburgh Penguins to change their colors to be in align with Steelers and the Pirates. I think the Columbus team would be better served adopting Ohio State colors; an idea first suggested to me by people from Columbus.

        So there are people who consider the pros and cons according the situation, often good-spirited, over beers.

        Then there are those who honestly can’t understand an opinion not their own on the topic.

      • “Then there are those who honestly can’t understand an opinion not their own on the topic.”

        er ..what? my opinion is I dont understand you. there.

      • Oh, i thought you wrote “honestly dont understand that opinion.” Never imagined it would be personal. Hope the rest of your day goes better.

      • As was college football! And Bob Bradley! St. Louis would have to reference the Arch somehow. And actually I like the peach reference. Peach colored kit? Sweet. Too bad Indy 11 didn’t think to put tire tracks across the back of the shirt.

    • It could be a matter of not getting a good enough offer. Those teams may have received multiple offers, but if the offers are coming in below MLS sponsorship “market value” they may decide it is better to wait it out than get locked into a subpar deal.

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      • I know. Makes sense to some degree. But in case of Colorado, it probably would have made sense to have accepted let’s say $1mm 2 years ago than holding out hope for $2mm. Not sure if those are the right numbers, but I htink you get the point.

  3. Kristian Nicht sounds way too much like Kristallnacht to not frighten away the city’s possibly tiny Jewish community. On a more serious note, I have faith in any soccer enterprise with Peter Wilt involved. Good luck! I hope it serves Indy soccer fans well.

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  4. Kits look great! I would be proud to wear them around town. Really cool to see them use their racing history as inspiration on the design.

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  5. Really like the jerseys, the checkered design looks great. And props on getting a jersey sponsorship in the NASL too. Indy Eleven getting started off right.

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  6. The jersey’s actually look good. First U.S. kit that has Honda as a sponsor. I think the last team with a Japanese sponsor was the USL Portland Timbers with Toyota as the sponsor.

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    • San Antonio Scorpions also have been wearing Toyota as a sponsor, and play at Toyota Field, not to be confused with Toyota Park or Toyota Stadium, Chicago and FC Dallas’ stadiums. Toyota has been pretty big in US soccer, I’m surprised it took this long for Honda to get involved.

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    • There is a major Honda plant just outside of Indy, and a lot of part manufacturers in the state as a result of an ongoing dependency on the automotive industry. Glad to see that Honda is participating in the community.

      Does anyone else think the jerseys look like the early 80’s Man Utd? Particularly the red.

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    • You would think that an Indiana-based team would try to get a sponsor that has an actual factory in the state. Honda has a factory in Ohio, but Subaru has a factory in Lafayette, IN. Business is doing well because they just added close to a 1000 jobs in May.

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