The USL is coming to Northeast Florida in 2025, and now fans in the area have a name and crest to rally behind.
The ownership group for the league’s newest expansion franchise unveiled the team’s name on Tuesday, December 12: Sporting Club Jacksonville. They also unveiled a crest with “JAX” inside a blue shield, which is inside a blue roundel with orange and yellow bars at the sides. “SPORTING CLUB” is spelled out in white on the top half of the roundel, while “JACKSONVILLE” is spelled out in the bottom half.
The club’s social media handles and posts suggest the team name will be shortened to “Sporting JAX” in most applications.
A graphic posted by Sporting JAX explains several different elements of the crest, including the wave shape at the top of the shield, which is “an ode to Jacksonville’s beaches, rivers and Intracoastal waterways.”
The development of the name and crest included soccer club branding expert Erika Bjork and designer Matthew Wolff, who has worked on crests for the likes of Chicago Fire FC and Los Angeles Football Club.
The club has also adopted the motto “Lift Every Voice,” which comes from the hymn “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” β a song that has become known as the Black National Anthem of the United States. The hymn was adapted to music by two brothers originally from Jacksonville, James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson.
Sporting Club Jacksonville will field a men’s team in the USL Championship and a women’s team in the USL Super League starting in 2025. The team’s ownership group includes former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow β who is also part-owner of a new ECHL franchise in Stateline, Nevada, that unveiled its name and logo on December 1 β and former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor.