Welcome, Charlotte FC. The city’s MLS expansion team gets a new name and crest
Charlotte soccer fans have to wait an extra year to watch their city’s Major League Soccer club take the field, but they no longer have to wait for a team name.
The expansion club revealed its official name — Charlotte Football Club, which will also be called Charlotte FC or CLT FC — in addition to the team’s new crest and colors Wednesday.
Team president Tom Glick told The Observer the decision on the name was made “a number of weeks” ago in consultation with thousands of soccer and sports fans around Charlotte and the Carolinas. Those discussions began as far back as last fall, before the city was awarded the expansion bid in December, and continued through the pandemic. Glick said Charlotte FC was “a clear leader in the clubhouse.”
“By far, the number one, the favorite name, has been Charlotte Football Club,” Glick said. “Amongst the entire sample, as well as especially amongst soccer fans within that group.”
BRAND REVEAL
The club’s crest, designed by Doubleday & Cartwright and an in-house creative team, is a blue circle with a crown design in the middle, as a nod to Charlotte’s “Queen City” nickname. The crown has four points to signify the four historic wards of Charlotte. The design also includes the team motto — “Minted 2022” — in reference the city’s financial history and is in the shape of a circular coin.
“Instead of being ‘founded’ or ‘established,’ we are ‘minting’ a new club today,” Glick said. “You’ll see that on our crest. So we’ll be ‘minted’ in 2022, which will commemorate the year we begin playing.”
Other finalists for the name included Charlotte Town FC, Charlotte Athletic FC, Charlotte Crown FC and Carolina Gliders FC, which were teased on a list on the team’s social media in the weeks leading up to the brand reveal. Glick said that while names including “Carolina” were always in consideration, the team went with what fans preferred.
“This is a club for all North and South Carolinians,” Glick said. “However, there was a clear preference for a name that included Charlotte. An overwhelming majority said we think the team name should be Charlotte rather than a Carolina name, and so we ultimately listened.”
Some fans voiced their displeasure with the choice on social media, calling the name “boring,” but also expressed their excitement for the launch of the new club.
“Honestly disappointed but not surprised,” one fan tweeted. “Charlotte Town FC would’ve been super dope and actually unique to the MLS. Still excited for pro soccer in NC though.”
SIMILAR COLORS, NEW TEAM
The official colors — blue, black, silver and white — were also chosen with fans in mind, as well as to create synergies with the Carolina Panthers, which the MLS club is sharing its home field with at Bank of America Stadium come 2022. The shade of blue is close, but not exactly the same color as the Panthers blue. Glick said the team wanted “a bold, simple look” that’s popular among all genders.
“We’re also conscious of the environment at Bank of America Stadium and the blue seats,” Glick said. “So there’s some real efficiencies and synergies in having Charlotte Football Club and the Panthers share a similar palette.”
The uniforms — or “kit,” in soccer terms — will likely be revealed next summer beginning with the home uniforms, followed by the away uniforms in the fall of 2021. That timeline is based on the production schedule of Adidas, the official supplier of MLS. The jerseys will feature the name and logo of Charlotte FC’s primary sponsor, Ally Bank, on the front. The financial-services company agreed last year to pay for advertising rights on uniforms as part of a sponsorship deal that helped secure the city and team owner David Tepper with the expansion bid.
“When we were awarded the team in December, I spoke about this club bringing the city together,” Tepper said in a statement. “To reach the point where our fans can actually know our name and see our colors is a significant milestone.”
Fans can already purchase gear with the newly released Charlotte FC name, colors and crest through the team’s new website, where they can also place ticket deposits for the 2022 season. Glick said that in the hours following the announcement, he had already seen “a few hundred more deposits” for season tickets in addition to the more than 25,000 deposits already placed. By comparison, nearby club and burgeoning rival Atlanta United reached 31,000 season ticket deposits in 2016 before the expansion team hired a head coach.
Glick echoed earlier comments from team and league leadership about trending toward high ticket sales.
“We really think that Charlotte, like Seattle and like Atlanta, will be (one of) these three clubs in Major League Soccer who can and do have massive crowds,” Glick said, predicting the future derby between Atlanta and Charlotte would produce a sellout crowd at Bank of America Stadium. “That’d be good for Charlotte. Good for home-field advantage. Good for the league.”
The team’s priority, Glick said, is to fill the lower bowl of the stadium, which he estimated to seat 37,500 fans. The lower bowl, club level and suites account for just over 38,000 seats, according to the stadium website. Fans are currently able to make deposits in one of three sections — Supporters, General and Club Level — with specific seat selection expected to take place this fall.
A LONG WAIT
Charlotte FC fans will have to wait until the 2022 season to see their team in action after MLS announced last Friday that the club’s original 2021 start date would be postponed a year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to Charlotte, two other cities with expansion bids — St. Louis and Sacramento — are delaying the start of their inaugural seasons by a year, and are now expected to begin play in 2023.
Tepper and Glick said that business operations at Charlotte remain on track, however, including the start of the club’s Youth Academy next week as well as the timeline for scouting and signing players. The club recently signed its first player, midfielder Sergio Ruiz, who will be loaned to out to a different club that will pay his wages before Charlotte FC begins training together. Glick said there were six clubs interested in Ruiz two weeks ago, but that number has more than doubled since the Spanish player signed with Charlotte.
“We’re going to have some choices,” Glick said. “Those choices are going to be really important that we get right, because we want to make sure that Sergio gets playing time, he plays in the right system and it’s in a city and within a club where he’s going to personally thrive.”
In addition to Ruiz, fans can expect to see the signing of a center forward, striker or wing player in the near future, Glick said, adding that the team wants to bring on “an exciting goal-scorer for our fans in the near future.” The team’s next priority is signing players during the league’s secondary transfer window, which opens in three weeks. Glick also mentioned tapping into the network of talent from local Carolina universities and clubs.
In terms of a manager selection, Glick said the team is down to a “short list” of candidates, but they will likely wait until next summer to make the deal official so managers are able to continue coaching during the 2021 season, which could change the mix of names.
“I think most important to us is going to be a good coach and developer of talent,” Glick said. “And also someone who is going to have the confidence to play young players. We take it deadly seriously about recruiting, developing young players here in North and South Carolina.”
The updated timeline also provides some benefit to outfitting Bank of America Stadium for soccer matches. Glick said team leadership now has “time to refine” its earlier announced enhancements, which includes a standing-only Supporters Section, MLS locker rooms and a center tunnel for player entrance. Although Charlotte FC is expected to eventually house its headquarters and practice facilities at the former Eastland Mall site, which is undergoing redevelopment, Glick declined to give any updates or timeline for when the club will move in. He also said the team is still determining where it will be housed in the short-term.
Tepper and Glick expressed confidence that operations were moving along despite the delay for the pandemic, beginning with Wednesday’s name and brand reveal.
“It’s socially distanced exciting,” Tepper said. “This is real. This is happening, COVID, no COVID, we’re getting ready.”
The team won’t be idle in the coming months.
“It’s just going to be tons and tons of firsts and milestones that will keep it interesting,” Glick said. “I’m confident that time will fly by and that we’ll be able to make the most of it.”
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 11:09 AM.
