‘Tis the season for some D.C. United News and Notes! Although the club has been quiet the past two weeks on the player movement front (sadly the Re-entry Draft drinking party was cancelled because no one was selected) there has been some movement in other facets of the organization.

So grab some eggnog, turn on the holiday lights (be it of any religious holiday. Everyone likes lights!), and let’s talk some D.C. United.

There is a new logo!

Yes after much conversation and some consternation D.C. United’s new logo is finally revealed. Earlier in the month the club released their brand new logo with Ben’s Chili Bowl half smokes and Heineken beer at Union Market in downtown D.C.

The design, which can be seen below, was created by The Red Peak Group, Element Design, and Peter Horridge. Horridge in particular has an interesting history in badge redesign having worked with Liverpool Football Club, the English Football Association. He also helped re-design Royal Coat of Arms for the Queen of England’s Royal Household which one would think would be a harsher critic to changes than say those on the internet. Oh, how times have changed!

(Image Credit: D.C. United)

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the new logo is also the most subtle change: the reposition of the eagle’s face. Since the club came into existence (there is a wikipedia entry with the original logo pointing to the right but it is Wikipedia)  the eagle’s face has been pointed in the left direction. But the slight shift of the face to the right does reinforce their idea of moving forward. That idea of moving forward is interesting since the club has actually finally secured a stadium deal in the Buzzard Point neighborhood and appears to be fully sold on staying in Washington D.C.

The use of the color red in the shield is also interesting. In the past red was used in the background of the shield which made the eagle leap out of the picture. It makes sense for this logo to use the color for the flag of the District of Columbia since the stars and bars are actually red. Oddly when this intrepid reporter first saw the logo he immediately thought of Juventus which is funny because D.C. United owner Erick Thohir owns Inter Milan.

The one thing that is obviously missing from previous incarnations of their logo is a soccer ball. Both the original logo and the redesign had at least one soccer ball in it (the original actually had three). But the team has ditched the soccer ball and instead opted to carry the D.C. flag on the shield. At this point the team should not need to have soccer balls in their logo for people to understand that this is a soccer team.

One minor quibble: the wings going over the shield. It is nice that the team wants to reinforce the brand value of freedom and perhaps it is a bit of a knock against RFK Stadium, given that the team is shackled to the stadium until 2018. But if a team uses a shield the point is that their logo should stay inside of the shield. No other shield or logo in professional soccer has the logo going over top of the shield. It also poses a problem for MLS and their shield. Does the eagle’s wings also go over the boundaries of that shield too?

But that is just a minor point. In a league where teams have had a great of trouble redesigning logos this one feels like a job well done. Now the big question is: how will the logo look on their 2016 kits?

New TV deal!

On Friday the club announced that they had secured a new television deal with Sinclair Broadcasting Group for the upcoming 2016-2017 season. The deal is a multi-year deal which will see every non-national television match being shown on either ABC-7 or Newschannel 8 in the Washington D.C.-Metro area.

Although clubs and leagues frequently change television stations the situation is a bit different for United. For the past twenty seasons the club’s matches have been shown on COMCAST Sportsnet or its predecessor Home Team Sports. Although the team in recent has found many of their matches not shown on the network or on tape delay there is a certain level of identity in the region that the club has with the network.

The good news is that it appears that the club will be getting a step up in coverage. ABC-7 is one of the largest local news broadcasters in the region and NewsChannel8 presence in the region has steadily increased over the past ten years.

The question now is will Dave Johnson and Santino Quaranta be brought back? Johnson has served as the team’s lead play-by-play announcer since the team’s first match and Quaranta has worked as his partner in the booth since 2014.

To see more about their work in the United check out this great video done by United in 2008:

Clyde Simms finally received a kidney transplant

To end this edition of D.C. United News and Notes the Prost Amerika team would like to congratulate former D.C. United, New England Revolution, and United States Men’s National Team player Clyde Simms for receiving a new kidney. Simms retired after the 2013 due to his battle with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, which is a form of kidney disease. The Washington Post’s Steve Goff wrote an excellent piece on Simms and his donor, who turned out to be an ex-girlfriend.

Also, congratulations to Marco Etcheverry for making the Washington D.C. Sports Hall of Fame!