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Thursday, March 09, 2021
Not that MetroStars was such a hot name, but if I were a soccer fan, I’d prefer that to New York Red Bulls. The manufacturer of the supercharged sugar water bought the MLS New York franchise today and shamelessly rebranded the organization “Red Bull New York”.
In light of this, I think we can drop the “Major” from Major League Soccer. If this isn’t the mark of minor-leaguedom, I don’t know what is.
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It’s no worse than Disney buying the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and featuring them in crappy kids flix!!
If someone wants to invest in pro soccer in the US, I’m gonna let em!!
Red Bull also bought the Jaguar Racing F1 team and renamed it Red Bull Racing. Hope you’re settling in in NY
Chuck
Comment by Chuck — 03/10/2021 @ 07:50:31 AM
To use a more pertinent Disney example, there’s the NHL’s Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, which were directly named after a movie that came out before the franchise took the ice. Disney’s sale of the team, and next year’s removal of “Mighty” from the name, represent a disassociation of those product-placement origins.
Despite that, I think there’s a big difference between using team brands for merchandising, as Disney and others do, and having the merchandising essentially supplant the team brand altogether, which is what Red Bull and others have done in MLS. I realize there may not be much true distinction, but to me, it’s distateful. And points to a deficient identity overall for MLS.
Of course, I’m sure we’re only a few years away from some team in the Big Four major leagues adopting a corporate name. The NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies almost did so when they relocated from Vancouver; had the league approved, they’d have become the Memphis Express, complete with FedEx’s company colors.
Comment by CT — 03/10/2021 @ 09:30:33 AM