In case you haven’t heard the news, Atlanta will reportedly be awarded the 22nd Major League Soccer franchise on April 16th. The franchise will begin play once the new Atlanta stadium opens in 2017, and will be co-tenants with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. The stadium set-up for Atlanta’s MLS team will be similar to how BC Place is configured for Vancouver Whitecaps matches, and here’s an image comparing the two stadium situations.
However, the most important thing to think about here isn’t whether or not the city ready for the team. The players who could potentially come play for Atlanta’s MLS team are also of little consequence. If you are here, then you’re wondering one thing: What will the crest and kits look like?
When it comes to trying to figure out what expansion MLS teams could potentially look like before they take the field, it can range from being a complete no-brainer (like the Portland Timbers, Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Orlando City SC, who all kept (or are planning to keep) their identities from the lower leagues and bolstered them for the big time) to being something related to one of the local teams (such as the New England Revolution sharing a color scheme with their co-tenants, the NFL’s New England Patriots), or being completely out of left field (such as Salt Lake City’s team deciding that they wanted to be Royal). So needless to say, there are a lot of potential directions that the Atlanta MLS team could go in for a visual identity.
Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank has played a major role in trying to bring MLS to Atlanta, so one potential path that the MLS team could go would be to just adopt the colors of the Atlanta Falcons. The stadium’s seats are mostly red, and one part of the stadium is designed to emulate the black wings of the Falcon from the team’s logo. The colors are also the same as that of the local NASL team, the Atlanta Silverbacks, so it’d be an easy switch for the fans should they decide to move their allegiances from the NASL team to the MLS team.
Another possibility could be that the team pulls an Atlanta Falcons in 1966 and adds in a bit of gold to the black and red to appease the Georgia Tech fans/alumni who may want to support the team but don’t want to wear the same colors as that of the hated Georgia Bulldogs (and in a city that loves its college football, this is indeed a thing). If this happened, gold would probably play a bigger role in the identity than simply being a gold stripe randomly placed on the uniform, so maybe we’d see the team utilize gold like Italian giants AC Milan did recently.
We’ve also heard rumors that the red, gold/yellow, and white color scheme similar to that of the Atlanta Hawks‘ old color scheme could be utilized as the official color scheme for the MLS club, so this could very well be a very close look to what we’ll be seeing for the team.
With that being said, there’s also a possibility that they could go with the color scheme that the local supporter’s group chose for their group. The Terminus Legion group played a huge role in helping lay the foundation for organized support for a potential MLS team in Atlanta, and they did so utilizing a color scheme of Brown, Gold, Anthracite Gray, and white. Maybe the minds behind the team will decide that with those colors and the imagery that comes with the word Terminus (mainly trains) that’s a strong identity to build an entire club around.
So, there are plenty of possibilities for the newest member of MLS to base their identity on, from the obvious (the sure-to-be-affiliated NFL team) to the not-so-obvious (the colors of the supporter’s group). There should also be plenty of debate surrounding the name as well. Will they go American style in the vein of the Chicago Fire and Colorado Rapids and the rest of the MLS originals, or will they continue to ride the wave of European-inspired names (like Sporting Kansas City for instance)? But, now it’s time for you to tell us your opinion: How do you think Atlanta’s MLS will look once they take the field in 2017? Do you think that they’ll take one of the above approaches, or do you think that they’ll go in a completely different direction and come out with something that’s completely unexpected? There’s plenty to talk about here so we’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject!
Related stories:
Atlanta United Third Kit Celebrates City’s Influence on the World 
Atlanta United to Get New Third Kits in August? 
2023 Football Kit Preview: Major League Soccer 
Along With Black, MLS Refs to Wear Yellow, Blue and Pink Uniforms in ’23, ’24 
Photos of Leaked New Kits for 4 MLS Clubs Pop Up Online 
ATL MLS has a name, colours, and logo. Or, at least someone does. 
Columbus Crew SC Unveil Desperately-Needed New Crest 
Orlando City SC Unveils Crest For 2015 MLS Season