MLS Reveals New League Logo For Upcoming 20th Season

The 2015 season will bring about the 20th year of North America’s top-flight soccer league: Major League Soccer. Yes, the league will have been around for 20 years now (crazy, right? So much for our short-sighted friends who figured this league would die a relatively quick death), and yes, they’ve basically used the same logo throughout its 20-year history (albeit updated from time to time): A silhouette of a shoe kicking a ball in front of a blue and green background.

Now, as you can see in the image above, things have changed big time. As MLS moves into a new era of expansion, they’ve also decided to move forward with a new league logo, and it’s drastically different from what they currently have as a logo.

MLS’s new primary logo

As expected, MLS has plenty of explanation for the meaning behind the simple, almost minimalist logo, and they were nice enough to give us an image that breaks down exactly what all the symbols mean in the logo.

If that isn’t enough for you, they gave further explanation to Brian Straus of Sports Illustrated, who had this to report as well:

The 45-degree line also divides the shield in two – soccer is a game of two 45-minute halves – creating a blank space that can be used as a window or frame for animated elements. And that’s the key. The rebrand is about more than the logo, Handler and Bruce said. It’s part of a more comprehensive system designed to bind together the league’s website, mobile and broadcast platforms, all of which will carry the new look next year. The crest is easier to animate, recolor or deconstruct.

In addition, every team will be wearing the crest on the sleeves of their shirts, but unlike the old MLS logo, the new MLS logo will be recolored to fit the design of each team’s color scheme, as you can see below:

By all accounts, MLS seems extremely pleased with their new direction, but are you a fan as well?