Atlanta United FC: The Name of Our New MLS Team

It’s official. According to Club President Darren Eales, our city’s new MLS team that will begin play in Spring 2017 will be known as Atlanta United FC. Eales said that the name came from a detailed survey to the club’s 21,000 registered season ticket holders, expressing what ‘names’ they identified with.

Though Phoenix and Black Harts were popular names among polls set up by support groups like Terminus Legion, the four most common words were “Atlanta”, “ATL”, “United” and “Football Club”. By giving in to what the fans want, we now are supporters of Atlanta United FC.

It’s a solid name, but it does come across a little underwhelming and unoriginal. By 2018, Major League Soccer will have three teams using the United moniker: DC United, Atlanta United FC, and Minnesota United.

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I would have thought that Atlanta would have gone in a more creative route with naming their expansion soccer club, but if Darren Eales and Technical Director Carlos Bocanegra believe that Atlanta United FC unites the City of Atlanta, then I’m all for it.

Eales did say, “This is not the end of it. You don’t look for one name that encapsulates everything about your brand. You build your own identity through your [supporter] customs, the songs they sing, through organic nicknames that develop, the kits and through the style of play on the field.”

To me, that’s comforting as we the supporters of Atlanta United FC can establish our own cultural identity to our football club. Depending on if either a bird or a buck appear in the logo coming on July 7th, perhaps United’s supporters can unofficially adopt another nickname like Phoenix or Black Harts. But we’ll just have to wait and see.

It will take some getting used to as our team’s name is more in line with how European football clubs name their teams. That style of naming clubs has become more frequent in the MLS in recent seasons: Orlando City SC, New York City FC, Sporting KC, etc. But I do think that naming our team in a more traditional way with how professional clubs all across the globe do it, top international players may want to come play for Atlanta United FC in the later stages of their careers as opposed to suiting up for the Atlanta Firebirds.

Knowing that Atlanta United FC’s color scheme will feature red, black, and white with gold accents, I’m extremely excited to see what the team’s official logo looks like on July 7th when the Georgia Dome hosts the semifinals to the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Glad to have a team name that we can all rally behind in Atlanta United FC. I can’t wait for the club’s first match in Spring 2017.

Next: A Bit More Insight Into MLS Atlanta's Name?

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