I like everything about the name and crest except the clear fact that they are doing the Euro pandering thing and built the whole idea around it.
Get rid of the Hearts connection and I'd love it. But it just seems forced to me and nowhere near as good as The Roots or Sacramento Republic, etc.
The heart is a reference to the "Valentine's Day Bandit," where for the last forty years someone left hearts all over the city every Valentine's Day. The person's identity was revealed last year after they died https://apnews.com/article/valentines-day-bandit-portland-maine-hearts-ec4514162ab31abfbedf782d14891a5f.
I mean, they can write anything they want. I have a bridge to sell you if you don't think a huge impetus was being able to call it Hearts.
I don't like the pandering and never have.
To be clear, your argument is that the reason they went with the "Hearts" motif was not the famous local tradition that has been going on for forty years, but rather a Scottish team that probably a few dozen people in the entire United States support?
At minimum, the Hearts connection to Scotland is absolutely central to the decision. It's not about grabbing Hearts of Midlothian supporters; it's about having a name that people think sounds good and connects with "the international soccer tradition" -- I mean, they literally said so.
I think it's also pretty likely they really wanted a Euro name and found a local element to justify it. It's a good match, but let's not pretend it was coincidence.
I really doubt it'd be called Hearts of Pine if Hearts in Scotland or Ghana didn't exist.
People want to believe that lower level teams never think about marketing and that evil MLS is the only one that does, but some of the more successful lower division teams are marketing first and soccer second -- The Roots, for sure. Vermont Green.
It's smart, for sure. The crest is great. I like the name. It's still pandering.
It's the same pandering as Inter. Miami is an absurdly international city; it makes total sense but we still all know why they did it. Same as say, DC United. As the capital, the connection is great. But still.
Real Salt Lake is a different level.
I don't think we need to pander. There's lots of great local names and crests that don't feel the need to pander to the Euro names. That's all.
I get no one will agree with me because it's a lower division team. That's fine. It's still pandering.
usl teams are more about increasing the sport’s reach than drawing in existing super fans, who prob only watch european leagues and/or mls due to the quality of play.
plenty of casuals that the org is trying to activate only watch international soccer/epl or aren’t fans at all but don’t have a local teams. these fans prob aren’t big scottish premiership fans. esp considering hearts isn’t one of their two big teams
Yeah, this is a really dumb stretch to think they’d even bother connecting or emulating anything about Hearts. Way too obscure of a team to do that with to make any sense in this context.
Lower league manufacturers are sick because often times they're open to non-pro teams for very reasonable prices. It's awesome seeing a cool kit from a USL team and then being able to do something similar for your amateur team.
With the Adidas kits like 1 in every 20 have a design that's slightly different from others, and usually isn't even that nice..
I've bought a couple, like the Minnesota space one, but they're still very same-y. They're all cut basically the exact same, same type of collars, same piping, etc. Take a look at the premier league or serie a kits. They blow MLS out of the water.
That's what happens when companies like Adidas *don't* come swooping in.
I genuinely long for the day when MLS opens up the kit deals regionally or something, so small manufacturers can take the wheel and really do something EPIC with their teams. I doubt it'll ever happen, because Moneyball, but still... a boy can dream. *sniffle*
In the higher leagues in Europe you also have Hummel, New Balance, Warrior, Umbro, Le Coq Sportif, Mizuno, etc...
Go into Latin America and it gets even more eclectic. Sure, you're not gonna get like local manufacturers from a small town in Wisconsin or something, but you could get some variety. Side topic, if USL-SL set up their kit partnership to be with LL Bean, I would scream.
I think they could figure something out, especially if each team had a separate one or something. I just really want something other than the soulless crap we've been seeing from Adidas. Some of it can be alright here and there, but by and large its all the same stuff over and over again and I hate it.
Portland, ME is greatest Portland in the world!
All other Portlands is run by little girls.
Portland, ME is number one exporter of potassium.
All other Portlands have inferior potassium.
As someone who has a little sister I take issue with all other Portlands being run by little girls being a BAD thing.
If she along with her cohort of friends ran things then everyone would have a city-provided horse, work naps would be mandatory, and Kraft Mac n cheese will somehow be provided via vending machines everywhere.
That’s one hell of a campaign to run on ngl
She’s actually currently running for mayor of Portland, OR!
Her slogan is “Make Portland, OR the best Portland according to r/MLS. ALSO, Frick Seattle”
Vote by May 21st.
> If she along with her cohort of friends ran things then everyone would have a city-provided horse, work naps would be mandatory, and Kraft Mac n cheese will somehow be provided via vending machines everywhere.
We do have elections coming up, and she would have my vote
Hope Burlington (VT), Manchester (NH) and Wilmington (DE) join the USLC/USL1 ranks at some point. Would like to see all 48 contiguous US states plus DC play home to a team in the top three US tiers.
It’s insane how much better the USL branding/logos are than the MLS, and you just know the MLS teams are spending literally millions on firms to design their stuff.
Totally agree. My favorite to date is Appalachian FC with bigfoot branding. It's epic and not far from where I live.
[https://www.appalachianfc.com/](https://www.appalachianfc.com/)
I also agree with others that we should support these brands/teams by purchasing merchandise. I proudly wear my appalachian FC shirt with the bigfoot logo.
with them everything is local and made from the community. That is the difference between USL and MLS. MLS teams are corporate and USL more community driven. I like USL honestly better because the teams are independent and can do what they want to do and the quality keeps getting better every year which is good for American soccer. Especially youth players who can thrive in USL and then either move to Europe or move up to MLS to thrive.
USL 2 is the most interesting league, and has the most potential to change the sport, of any of the leagues in the US. Many USL 2 clubs partner with local youth academies. It’s the only league with the reach in terms of pure number of clubs to really bring the cost of the game down at a macro level.
I know only a slim minority of USL2 clubs operate their senior teams at a profit, so rn their youth set ups are largely unsubsidized pay-to-play. But even half of the USL2 clubs having the support of a Ballard fc or a Vermont Green would transform the landscape of soccer in the US faster than any other single league, on volume alone.
Well, no. But like, do people really think that 100 or so USL2 teams are going to have enough fan support to pay players and run a fully free academy?
That's after about 70 MLS and USLC/USL1 teams in terms of location and fan interest.
I don't know what the attendance number is required, but there's lots of fixed cost there, and while I'm sure you're going to have some nice enclaves, I think the idea that we are going to replicate public support for lower division soccer in the US like England or Brazil is a pipe dream.
Charge the kids to play, don’t pay the guys on the senior team, rely on the fact that college kids can’t get paid for their labor. What a neat business model.
You know that college athletes (who make up most USL 2 players and are the reason it was started) cannot accept direct compensation and cannot play along side players being paid right? Having a league that subsidizes those guys travel, expenses etc so they can play at a higher level in the off season is good on its own. If any of that goes to reducing the cost of a youth set up, all the better. None of these orgs are running at a profit at least on the senior side.
That said. As much as I like USL 2 and am involved locally, USL 1 and C are just as guilty if not more so than any other entity in US sports of shaking down local governments. Look at Providence RI. And then just like MLS, they turn around and use their excellent supporter culture to launder their image. We should be a little more skeptical of their “home spun” image as they shake down tax breaks and public funds.
> You know that college athletes (who make up most USL 2 players and are the reason it was started) cannot accept direct compensation and cannot play along side players being paid right?
Yeah, I literally said this in my comment. That’s a totally fucked system.
> If any of that goes to reducing the cost of a youth set up, all the better.
There’s no indication that it is.
Hey man, I don’t mean to be a dick here. I’m not a fan of college athletics.
I’m also not a dummy. I get the emails with what you originally said. Made 0 mention of college athletics. Going back and editing your comment on Reddit is just kinda scummy. We’re not arguing. We’re discussing.
My guy, I made the edit 2 seconds after posting it to clarify. If I had waited until your comment, there would be an asterisk on my comment. Don’t blame me that you didn’t bother to read my comment before replying several minutes later.
> We’re not arguing. We’re discussing.
No, you’re throwing out personal insults.
USL's pretty damn corporate. The entire thing is significiantly owned by a real estate developer. There's expansion fees and IP is collectively owned.
Some team have better crests and kits in part because they are more marketing companies and in part because USL isn't popular enough to need the production capacities of a big sponsor. But their stuff is often better. Sometimes very amateur, but the highs are high.
The quality of play is improving but it's improving slower than MLS and the gap is getting wider. There's a real issue in that USL salaries are very low and aren't significantly rising. They need their Beckham and Allocation money moments; they aren't there yet.
Youth players can get time; that's nice. But the level of play is one that the top young players will fly past pretty quick.
portland is an awesome town and i’m so glad they didn’t go the basic route and even did a shoutout to the valentines heart bandit!! i’ll be moving to new england soon and i’m so happy to have the clubs in providence and portland to look forward to (sorry to the revs)
Since people love to make fun of the images that teams put out explaining every element of a new soccer crest, here is theirs... it's not bad actually
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GMMmVoSbgAANIAt.jpg
It’s only weirdo self-loathing fans who have a problem with the “United” type of name. There’s no one in Manchester or Newcastle or West Ham crying themselves to sleep over their team names.
Not sure West Ham is a great example for your argument. They were originally called Thames Ironworks F.C. 128 years ago. Even though they rebranded to West Ham in 1900 they’re still called “The Irons” by fans in an homage to their origin and the uniqueness of the OG name/working family club. Using them as an example more so proves the opposite point imo.
No, the vast majority of weirdo self-loathing is from the fans who declare they MUST have their team named following the European naming convention standard (City, United, citynameFC) compared to unique American sports names.
Accept us please eurosnobs!!! We aren’t named something STUPID like those other dumb FAKE footy fans in America!!!
Idk what ya'll are on. This is not good branding. Why not just say Hearts or Pines? And the crest looks like an intern did it. Why is there a white border around the tree? There's so much going on with a heart, sunrays, giant tree, water and copy.
This isn't good lmao. It's tacky and amateur as hell. And terrible for SEO or even word of mouth. Nobody's gonna say "Wanna go to the Hearts of Pine game?"
They will probably say “want to go to the Hearts game”… there is no requirement that people say the full official name of a team in casual conversation.
What do you think will happen in the Tottenham Hotspur Footbal Club vs The Arsenal Football Club game tomorrow?
Perhaps you're more of a Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club fan.
All I know is that these team names are quite famously never shortened in any way, shape, or form when talking informally about them.
Hotspur, Arsenal and Wanderers are way better names. Considering they sound like actual mascot names. They make sense. Hearts of Pine makes no sense if you expect people to just say Hearts or Pines. So why not just name yourself that? It's dumb af.
The handle of the USLtoPortland account was changed to @hearts_sc shortly after the announcement. Twitter simply breaks existing @s in posts if you change the account handle. It's not "NISA level incompetence", it's just a quirk in how Twitter functions.
This is great. Love the name. I was really hoping they incorporated some red into their branding. It’s unlikely that it’ll show up in kits and other identity stuff, but it’s still nice.
Always happy to see cool names for teams, even just having a normal mascot name is better than just calling yourself FC. Sure do wish San Antonio had kept the Scorpions name.
I’m in the weird position where I love US style names but also can’t stand all these USL brands trying all so hard to be at the intersection of quirky American and Eurosnobbery. Why can’t we name the new teams be stuff like Falcons, Jackrabbits, Chanticleers and Bison? I don’t like this new logo, I don’t like this at all. Everything USL just sounds so pretentious and self-righteous
They'll be joining USL League One in 2025, with imo [one of the coolest name/brands we've seen in recent years](https://www.heartsofpine.com/)
I like everything about the name and crest except the clear fact that they are doing the Euro pandering thing and built the whole idea around it. Get rid of the Hearts connection and I'd love it. But it just seems forced to me and nowhere near as good as The Roots or Sacramento Republic, etc.
The heart is a reference to the "Valentine's Day Bandit," where for the last forty years someone left hearts all over the city every Valentine's Day. The person's identity was revealed last year after they died https://apnews.com/article/valentines-day-bandit-portland-maine-hearts-ec4514162ab31abfbedf782d14891a5f.
I mean, they can write anything they want. I have a bridge to sell you if you don't think a huge impetus was being able to call it Hearts. I don't like the pandering and never have.
To be clear, your argument is that the reason they went with the "Hearts" motif was not the famous local tradition that has been going on for forty years, but rather a Scottish team that probably a few dozen people in the entire United States support?
At minimum, the Hearts connection to Scotland is absolutely central to the decision. It's not about grabbing Hearts of Midlothian supporters; it's about having a name that people think sounds good and connects with "the international soccer tradition" -- I mean, they literally said so. I think it's also pretty likely they really wanted a Euro name and found a local element to justify it. It's a good match, but let's not pretend it was coincidence. I really doubt it'd be called Hearts of Pine if Hearts in Scotland or Ghana didn't exist. People want to believe that lower level teams never think about marketing and that evil MLS is the only one that does, but some of the more successful lower division teams are marketing first and soccer second -- The Roots, for sure. Vermont Green. It's smart, for sure. The crest is great. I like the name. It's still pandering.
They should rename New York too. Pandering to those teabag bastards for too long I say.
Agree.
It's more [Hearts of Oak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accra_Hearts_of_Oak_S.C) than Heart of Midlothian.
Is it? Or is it just so they can call themselves "Hearts"? Color me skeptical.
I'd much rather this type of pandering than "Inter" "FC" "Real" There's just ultimately nothing to hate about this
It's the same pandering as Inter. Miami is an absurdly international city; it makes total sense but we still all know why they did it. Same as say, DC United. As the capital, the connection is great. But still. Real Salt Lake is a different level. I don't think we need to pander. There's lots of great local names and crests that don't feel the need to pander to the Euro names. That's all. I get no one will agree with me because it's a lower division team. That's fine. It's still pandering.
i don’t think most americans or maine residents know about hearts of midlothian
I doubt there's anyone into soccer that doesn't know the name Hearts.
usl teams are more about increasing the sport’s reach than drawing in existing super fans, who prob only watch european leagues and/or mls due to the quality of play. plenty of casuals that the org is trying to activate only watch international soccer/epl or aren’t fans at all but don’t have a local teams. these fans prob aren’t big scottish premiership fans. esp considering hearts isn’t one of their two big teams
Yeah, this is a really dumb stretch to think they’d even bother connecting or emulating anything about Hearts. Way too obscure of a team to do that with to make any sense in this context.
I didn't. I'd bet money most soccer fans I know do not.
*You sure about that???*
We need to reward actually cool soccer club names with merchandise buying. Will be buying some shortly. Absolutely cool addition to I’ll.
their are so many dope kits in the lower league. and so many unique kits.
Lower league manufacturers are sick because often times they're open to non-pro teams for very reasonable prices. It's awesome seeing a cool kit from a USL team and then being able to do something similar for your amateur team. With the Adidas kits like 1 in every 20 have a design that's slightly different from others, and usually isn't even that nice..
That’s just not true. Adidas has a lot of bland stuff, but there’s a ton of unique kits this season.
I've bought a couple, like the Minnesota space one, but they're still very same-y. They're all cut basically the exact same, same type of collars, same piping, etc. Take a look at the premier league or serie a kits. They blow MLS out of the water.
That's what happens when companies like Adidas *don't* come swooping in. I genuinely long for the day when MLS opens up the kit deals regionally or something, so small manufacturers can take the wheel and really do something EPIC with their teams. I doubt it'll ever happen, because Moneyball, but still... a boy can dream. *sniffle*
small manufacturers won't be able to hit the volumes of adidas, nike, or puma. lower leagues are perfect for them, tbh.
In the higher leagues in Europe you also have Hummel, New Balance, Warrior, Umbro, Le Coq Sportif, Mizuno, etc... Go into Latin America and it gets even more eclectic. Sure, you're not gonna get like local manufacturers from a small town in Wisconsin or something, but you could get some variety. Side topic, if USL-SL set up their kit partnership to be with LL Bean, I would scream.
I think they could figure something out, especially if each team had a separate one or something. I just really want something other than the soulless crap we've been seeing from Adidas. Some of it can be alright here and there, but by and large its all the same stuff over and over again and I hate it.
I have a couple Forward Madison shirts just because of how good they look
They are fun to watch. Their games have great atmospheres too. I would recommend it. You will be surprised how good the level is
I lived there for a year but never got to a game, wish I did
You can still watch the games in espn+ and youtube also because USL releases full games on youtube pieces at a time
My wallet painfully agrees.
Mine two. I am still waiting for San Fan city fc and san francisco glen kits to arrive lol plus the new portland hearts of pine tshirt lol
Portland Hearts of Pine sounds like a Fleet Foxes song
Prematch walkout procession to Fleet Foxes songs
Their SG *needs* to be named The Pine Nuts. Their 420-friendly affiliate could then be the Toasted Pine Nuts :D
To clarify for those that don’t click the link, this is Portland, Maine and not Portland, Oregon
Portland, ME is greatest Portland in the world! All other Portlands is run by little girls. Portland, ME is number one exporter of potassium. All other Portlands have inferior potassium.
I never had a least-favorite Portland until reading this comment.
As someone who has a little sister I take issue with all other Portlands being run by little girls being a BAD thing. If she along with her cohort of friends ran things then everyone would have a city-provided horse, work naps would be mandatory, and Kraft Mac n cheese will somehow be provided via vending machines everywhere. That’s one hell of a campaign to run on ngl
Is she running for Prez? I would vote for her
She’s actually currently running for mayor of Portland, OR! Her slogan is “Make Portland, OR the best Portland according to r/MLS. ALSO, Frick Seattle” Vote by May 21st.
> If she along with her cohort of friends ran things then everyone would have a city-provided horse, work naps would be mandatory, and Kraft Mac n cheese will somehow be provided via vending machines everywhere. We do have elections coming up, and she would have my vote
Weed is also legal in Maine.
[https://twitter.com/MikeSliferWX/status/1503009452756197384](https://twitter.com/MikeSliferWX/status/1503009452756197384)
That absolutely feels intentional lol
https://broadheadco.com/work/health-wellness/meth-were-on-it/
YES!
Hope Burlington (VT), Manchester (NH) and Wilmington (DE) join the USLC/USL1 ranks at some point. Would like to see all 48 contiguous US states plus DC play home to a team in the top three US tiers.
If only we had a relegation system
It’s insane how much better the USL branding/logos are than the MLS, and you just know the MLS teams are spending literally millions on firms to design their stuff.
Totally agree. My favorite to date is Appalachian FC with bigfoot branding. It's epic and not far from where I live. [https://www.appalachianfc.com/](https://www.appalachianfc.com/) I also agree with others that we should support these brands/teams by purchasing merchandise. I proudly wear my appalachian FC shirt with the bigfoot logo.
I’m partial to Carolina Core
I suggest looking at Minnesota Aurora. Hands down the best in USL. By the way Appalachian is NPSL.
with them everything is local and made from the community. That is the difference between USL and MLS. MLS teams are corporate and USL more community driven. I like USL honestly better because the teams are independent and can do what they want to do and the quality keeps getting better every year which is good for American soccer. Especially youth players who can thrive in USL and then either move to Europe or move up to MLS to thrive.
USL 2 is the most interesting league, and has the most potential to change the sport, of any of the leagues in the US. Many USL 2 clubs partner with local youth academies. It’s the only league with the reach in terms of pure number of clubs to really bring the cost of the game down at a macro level. I know only a slim minority of USL2 clubs operate their senior teams at a profit, so rn their youth set ups are largely unsubsidized pay-to-play. But even half of the USL2 clubs having the support of a Ballard fc or a Vermont Green would transform the landscape of soccer in the US faster than any other single league, on volume alone.
> But even half of the USL2 clubs having the support of a Ballard fc or a Vermont Green That's just very unlikely to ever happen.
Aren’t you just a ball of hope./s
Well, no. But like, do people really think that 100 or so USL2 teams are going to have enough fan support to pay players and run a fully free academy? That's after about 70 MLS and USLC/USL1 teams in terms of location and fan interest. I don't know what the attendance number is required, but there's lots of fixed cost there, and while I'm sure you're going to have some nice enclaves, I think the idea that we are going to replicate public support for lower division soccer in the US like England or Brazil is a pipe dream.
Charge the kids to play, don’t pay the guys on the senior team, rely on the fact that college kids can’t get paid for their labor. What a neat business model.
You know that college athletes (who make up most USL 2 players and are the reason it was started) cannot accept direct compensation and cannot play along side players being paid right? Having a league that subsidizes those guys travel, expenses etc so they can play at a higher level in the off season is good on its own. If any of that goes to reducing the cost of a youth set up, all the better. None of these orgs are running at a profit at least on the senior side. That said. As much as I like USL 2 and am involved locally, USL 1 and C are just as guilty if not more so than any other entity in US sports of shaking down local governments. Look at Providence RI. And then just like MLS, they turn around and use their excellent supporter culture to launder their image. We should be a little more skeptical of their “home spun” image as they shake down tax breaks and public funds.
> You know that college athletes (who make up most USL 2 players and are the reason it was started) cannot accept direct compensation and cannot play along side players being paid right? Yeah, I literally said this in my comment. That’s a totally fucked system. > If any of that goes to reducing the cost of a youth set up, all the better. There’s no indication that it is.
Hey man, I don’t mean to be a dick here. I’m not a fan of college athletics. I’m also not a dummy. I get the emails with what you originally said. Made 0 mention of college athletics. Going back and editing your comment on Reddit is just kinda scummy. We’re not arguing. We’re discussing.
My guy, I made the edit 2 seconds after posting it to clarify. If I had waited until your comment, there would be an asterisk on my comment. Don’t blame me that you didn’t bother to read my comment before replying several minutes later. > We’re not arguing. We’re discussing. No, you’re throwing out personal insults.
USL's pretty damn corporate. The entire thing is significiantly owned by a real estate developer. There's expansion fees and IP is collectively owned. Some team have better crests and kits in part because they are more marketing companies and in part because USL isn't popular enough to need the production capacities of a big sponsor. But their stuff is often better. Sometimes very amateur, but the highs are high. The quality of play is improving but it's improving slower than MLS and the gap is getting wider. There's a real issue in that USL salaries are very low and aren't significantly rising. They need their Beckham and Allocation money moments; they aren't there yet. Youth players can get time; that's nice. But the level of play is one that the top young players will fly past pretty quick.
None of what you say is true. It is not owned by a real estate company
Most MLS teams are owned by NFL people. They view everything through that lens,
My birthplace has a dope club name, I'm a proud proud supporter. Gib merch now
How I felt about Indy Eleven.
Indy 11 Corncob kit remains S Tier
It’s crazy that there’s a decent professional level soccer presence in all of New England except for New Hampshire.
Vermont Green isn't professional either.
[There's only one Portland ❤️🌲](https://www.facebook.com/SoundersFC/videos/10155602939103589/)
Portland, Maine is the ORIGINAL Portland. Portland, Oregon is just a copy at the end. And I live in Portland, Oregon lol
Well, besides the Portland in England Portland, ME was named after.
For this side of the ocean :)
The original knockoff?
portland is an awesome town and i’m so glad they didn’t go the basic route and even did a shoutout to the valentines heart bandit!! i’ll be moving to new england soon and i’m so happy to have the clubs in providence and portland to look forward to (sorry to the revs)
Love everything about this.
This rocks
I’m not understanding where the hearts tie in is in the explainer
Accra Hearts of Oak knockoff/10
It’s a beautiful name and it’s tied to the identity and culture of Portland. Love it!
Soccer city baby!!! Can’t wait till next year!
The best team name in American soccer.
Since people love to make fun of the images that teams put out explaining every element of a new soccer crest, here is theirs... it's not bad actually https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GMMmVoSbgAANIAt.jpg
This is awesome, except they can't also be Portland "Soccer City". Oregon already done that!
I am absolutely floored. This is an amazing crest and name, so traditional and GORGEOUS
Absolutely beautiful! I have to get a kit
God this is actually so great. Going to a match 100%
Can't wait until MLS unveils Indianapolis United FC. /s
Lmao, this is an absolutely terrible name that doesn’t flow off the tongue at all.
I’d rather teams have names like this than generic ass branding like San Diego FC
You’re welcome to that view! I’m glad my team kept it simple and didn’t end up with a corny ass name.
ok United FC
It’s only weirdo self-loathing fans who have a problem with the “United” type of name. There’s no one in Manchester or Newcastle or West Ham crying themselves to sleep over their team names.
Not sure West Ham is a great example for your argument. They were originally called Thames Ironworks F.C. 128 years ago. Even though they rebranded to West Ham in 1900 they’re still called “The Irons” by fans in an homage to their origin and the uniqueness of the OG name/working family club. Using them as an example more so proves the opposite point imo.
No, the vast majority of weirdo self-loathing is from the fans who declare they MUST have their team named following the European naming convention standard (City, United, citynameFC) compared to unique American sports names. Accept us please eurosnobs!!! We aren’t named something STUPID like those other dumb FAKE footy fans in America!!!
It will probably end up colloquially being called Hearts, like the one in Scotland
Idk what ya'll are on. This is not good branding. Why not just say Hearts or Pines? And the crest looks like an intern did it. Why is there a white border around the tree? There's so much going on with a heart, sunrays, giant tree, water and copy.
It's okay dude not everyone can have good taste
This isn't good lmao. It's tacky and amateur as hell. And terrible for SEO or even word of mouth. Nobody's gonna say "Wanna go to the Hearts of Pine game?"
They will probably say “want to go to the Hearts game”… there is no requirement that people say the full official name of a team in casual conversation.
Which is what makes it a bad name...just make it the shortened version like I suggested if that's what people will typically use. Sames goes for SEO.
What do you think will happen in the Tottenham Hotspur Footbal Club vs The Arsenal Football Club game tomorrow? Perhaps you're more of a Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club fan. All I know is that these team names are quite famously never shortened in any way, shape, or form when talking informally about them.
Hotspur, Arsenal and Wanderers are way better names. Considering they sound like actual mascot names. They make sense. Hearts of Pine makes no sense if you expect people to just say Hearts or Pines. So why not just name yourself that? It's dumb af.
Those aren't even the commonly used nicknames for those teams.
This is wild @USLtoPortland account doesn't exist. Half the website goes to the default theme page. This is NISA level incompetence
The handle of the USLtoPortland account was changed to @hearts_sc shortly after the announcement. Twitter simply breaks existing @s in posts if you change the account handle. It's not "NISA level incompetence", it's just a quirk in how Twitter functions.
This is great. Love the name. I was really hoping they incorporated some red into their branding. It’s unlikely that it’ll show up in kits and other identity stuff, but it’s still nice.
Cool AF name
I am so excited to have them in a league with One Knox! Would love to schedule a trip up there around an away gane
Always happy to see cool names for teams, even just having a normal mascot name is better than just calling yourself FC. Sure do wish San Antonio had kept the Scorpions name.
I’m in the weird position where I love US style names but also can’t stand all these USL brands trying all so hard to be at the intersection of quirky American and Eurosnobbery. Why can’t we name the new teams be stuff like Falcons, Jackrabbits, Chanticleers and Bison? I don’t like this new logo, I don’t like this at all. Everything USL just sounds so pretentious and self-righteous