San Diego FC: MLS’ 30th team reveals name, crest and branding

SAN DIEGO — San Diego Football Club formally revealed its identify, crest and branding throughout an occasion at Snapdragon Stadium on Friday.

The team’s model unveil follows an announcement in May that the group behind the newly named San Diego FC can be handed an enlargement franchise as MLS’ 30th membership

Since being given the franchise rights, the membership has labored with design company Pupila, San Diego-based company The House Of and native soccer supporters with creating the model id.

“Our big challenge was to make sure that we created something that reflected and represented this unique community,” membership CEO Tom Penn advised ESPN earlier than Friday’s occasion. “We wanted to really engage with the community at a deep level over a long period of time to hear from them what this club needs to mean.”

As for the team’s identify, Penn famous that the membership selected both San Diego FC or FC San Diego, with extra suggestions pushing towards the previous.

“Should we put San Diego and the community first or should we put the football first? The feedback we received was about 85/15 in favor of the community, put San Diego first is the loud and clear answer,” he mentioned.

San Diego FC is owned by Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour, the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and San Diego Padres infielder Manny Machado.

The voice of the native Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation — the primary Native American tribe to be a part of an possession group of knowledgeable soccer team within the U.S. — was “very, very important” in creating the model id,” Penn noted. Part of that was guided by Cody Martinez, Sycuan’s tribal chairman.

“[Martinez’s] directive to me was: ‘Let’s put collectively a membership and a model that represents all the area, not simply what outsiders would suppose, not simply the coast, not simply the downtown space, not simply the floor degree of how folks take into consideration San Diego,'” Penn said.

“He needed one thing that went deep into the material of all the neighborhood, East County, North County, the South Bay. The results of that’s the movement, that image that sits on the coronary heart of our crest.”

Along with chrome and azul as the team’s primary colors, the branding for San Diego FC features yellow, orange, red and blue.

“Chrome is a colour, [but] it is also an impact,” Penn said. “It’s reflective in nature and as a result of chrome is reflective, it permits us to usher in what we name the colours of the neighborhood. The colours of San Diego, we heard, is that gradient of blue to pink to orange to yellow.

“The sun, the sea, the foliage. The beauty of this place is represented in the colors of the community. Chrome is also cutting edge, innovative, and this city and this region is full of innovation.”

On Thursday, The Athletic shared particulars of San Diego FC’s branding, which led to widespread criticism on social media of each the identify and crest. When requested concerning the preliminary response, Penn expressed confidence that perceptions would change sooner or later.

“We think we’re telling a bit of a complex story here, one that has many layers and one that is deeply rooted in San Diego. So we expect that it will take some time for us to explain the nuance and the reason behind our marks,” he mentioned.

The subsequent essential step within the membership’s course of forward of its 2025 debut can be hiring its first supervisor and technical director.

Penn said that “the timeline for our key football decisions is gonna come after the first of the year, sometime in 2024,” which is after they’ll start to signal gamers.

As for the primary large signing, Penn prompt he would not use the identical gameplan as when he was president of LAFC throughout its entry into the league in 2018. The Los Angeles membership signed Mexico worldwide Carlos Vela as its first Designated Player.

“We don’t have that specific kind of goal, no,” Penn mentioned when requested if his goal was to usher in a high-profile Mexican star as the primary main signing.

“We want to find foundational players that are gonna be with us for the formative years of a club. We’re gonna work with the key leaders in football operations that will be identified to make those key decisions.”

Additional buyers within the team embrace the Zephyr Partners’ Brad Termini and the Right to Dream’s Tom Vernon and Dan Dickinson.

The Right to Dream, which is managed by Mansour’s London-based Man Capital agency, is a Ghana-based academy that additionally owns the Danish prime flight’s FC Nordsjaelland and Egyptian decrease league aspect Tutankhamun Football Club.

Currently operating academies in Ghana, Denmark and Egypt, The Right to Dream will increase to California via an academy that can be housed inside San Diego FC’s yet-to-be-built coaching facility in El Cajon, San Diego County, that can break floor in November.

Vernon advised ESPN in June that the San Diego academy can be a “best in class facility in the United States,” with plans to have the best working price of any academy system in MLS.