When the Chicago Fire announced Quaker Oats as their new jersey sponsor earlier this week (I swear that one is growing on me by the day), the news left four clubs without a sponsor.

The Colorado Rapids, the Columbus Crew, FC Dallas and Sporting Kansas City all have holes in their jerseys – well metaphorically speaking.

Right now there are no real updates on any of these four clubs in where they stand at getting a kit sponsor. That isn’t the type of post I am writing up for you all today. Locally for me in Dallas, I know the Hoops have been working for a couple seasons at finding the right brand to be on their jersey. They came super close last year only to have the company that they were working with back out at the last minute thanks to a CEO change.

Kit sponsors are big deals for MLS clubs. They help with paying salaries for one. I’ve had a couple teams tell me in the past that the jersey sponsor deals go a long way in keeping costs down for a season. It doesn’t put teams in the green on the financial books but it does help.

We know those four have struggled at finding a sponsor. The brand has to match what the club feels as the right feel for the team. It’s possible that Chicago has hit a home run with Quaker. It’s a local brand that is well known. That’s what clubs like to go for – well known brands – that have strong local ties. Chicago is doing it with Quaker, Philadelphia did it with Bimbo.

Now, not all clubs go for the local brand. VW sponsoring D.C. United isn’t a local company but one that works on a global scale.

But where does Colorado, Columbus, Dallas and KC go? We know they are all losing out on money as we speak. So who could step in and help them out? Below are some companies worth exploring for each club, along with other current sponsors that could step up. More than likely all are long-shots for each side but you never know.

Colorado Rapids: Finding a strong brand for the Rapids isn’t easy. Many folks have been pining over getting someone like Coors as a kit sponsor. Big time brand like Coors would be a big fish to land for the Rapids and MLS. But having Budwiser as a league sponsor has probably always hurt the chances of  Rapids landing them.

Other possible companies for the Rapids: Western Union (located in Eaglewood), DISH Network (Eaglewood), and MapQuest (large offices in Denver)

Columbus Crew: The Crew were one of the first in the league to have a sponsor with Glidden Paint. Ohio is home to many large corporations that would work perfectly for MLS and the Crew. I’d personally love to see someone like Kroger’s (grocery store), Nationwide/Progressive (insurance), or FifthThird Bank. Two of those three are current sponsors for the club as it is while Nationwide or Progressive probably would have problems seeing how Allstate is a big USSF backer.

Other possible companies for the Crew: Goodyear Tire (located in Akron), Sherwin-Williams (Cleveland), or Value City Furniture.

FC Dallas: FCD already has a bunch of sponsors but two that could step up and be huge for the club would be Dr. Pepper or Subaru. I’ve always thought though that if Southwest Airlines could step up and be a bigger partner for the club that it could transition well into a jersey sponsor. But again, its all long-shot talk here. FCD has been extremely picky over which company to put on their jersey and that has probably caused a few of these bigger companies in the DFW area to back out.

Other possible companies for FCD: AT&T (located in Dallas), Baylor Health Care System (Dallas), or Gamestop (Grapevine – a Dallas suburb)

Sporting KC: This is one club I’m still shocked to not see a brand on their kits. But I do believe they are next in line to do so. Question is who though? Two companies come to mind, Sprint and Pepsi. Both are current club sponsors and both would be big brands that would look good on those SKC unis.

Other possible companies for SKC: AMC Entertainment (located in KC), H&R Block (KC), or Dairy Farmers of America (KC).

(Naturally this post was meant to suggest some companies and is in no way saying any of these companies are great fits for the four clubs. I thought it would be a fun debate, feel free to leave your suggestions for each side below)

My pal Daniel over at BigDSoccer.com just posted this photo on his twitter feed. Valencia of La Liga in Spain did this clever jersey sponsor idea of promoting their brand online instead of having a big time sponsor. I’d say for clubs like FC Dallas, the Colorado Rapids, the Columbus Crew, Sporting Kansas City and the Chicago Fire that this wouldn’t be a bad route for a year while they finalize any deals with a big company.

What do you think of someone like FC Dallas having @FCDallas on the front of their shirt for a year or even a few months while they finalize a deal with some local company? To me it is better than having a blank spot on a kit like some of these clubs have right now. It wouldn’t bring in cash right away like most of the deals do but it may drive up some jersey sales though.

After a few weeks of speculating who Philadelphia would get as a jersey sponsor the club announced today that they have signed a $12 million deal with the Mexican food company Bimbo. The deal will last for four years for the sophomore club.

With the sponsorship signing the Union become the thirteenth of 18 MLS teams to have a shirt or jersey sponsor. Bimbo also became an official sponsor of the MLS.

Grupo Bimbo is Mexico’s largest food company and is the world’s largest bakery. The bakery has been making attempts to change its public image in America because of the company name’s connection with a poor connotation in the English language. Despite the spelling of “bimbo” the actual pronunciation is “BEEM-bo”.

Some are saying this is a move to help connect the club with the local Hispanic, something they are saying was lacking in the first year for the club.

I was told about this deal a few weeks ago by a source close to the club. It may not be the best logo to have on a MLS kit, and in a funny way it spurred a couple folks yesterday on Twitter to come up with bad kit sponsors for each MLS club. Kudos to you Jason Davis for doing that, that made my morning better. At the end of it folks its money coming into the league and to one of it’s clubs. You have to like a club getting $3 million a year for this.

Update: the jersey will look like this…boy I wish they could have changed the Bimbo colors to match.

Both expansion clubs for next year have a big day set today. One will be unveiling a sponsor, likely for their jerseys for next year while the other is set to name their head coach.

The hot rumor is that Alaskan Airlines will be the kit sponsor for the Portland Timbers jersey next year (we’ll have that later today hopefully when the announcement hits). The announcement will take place at the Portland International Airport.

The signs that the expansion clubs are making positive noise has to be refreshing to hear for the front offices in Major League Soccer.

Portland is also making headway in their stadium renovation right now too. Dropping Timber posted a photo of the renovation yesterday (at MLS Insider Blog) and there’s also word that PGE Park will be renamed as well.

Up north in Vancouver, the Whitecaps are set to name their first head coach today and it will likely be Icelandic manager and current Whitecaps coach Teitur Thordarson. Thordarson has been with the Whitecaps since 2007, in that time he’s coached them to one USL title and the club is currently leading their conference in points (3rd overall) in the USSF D-2.

Excited about the Timber’s announcement today? Happy that Thordarson is going to remain the coach in Vancouver?

One of two things could happen next year when the Vancouver MLS team joins in the fun (along side Portland of course). Either BMO the main sponsor of Toronto FC drops them to sponsor Vancouver or they decide to sponsor both.

Honestly looking at it the latter of the two will likely happen. Thanks to a WVH reader Ethan for sending in this link earlier (the bit I’m referring to is at the end of the article). Vancouver is already looking for a kit sponsor to go on their new adidas jerseys next year.

Lenarduzzi said BMO -a major Whitecaps sponsor -wants to bid on the team’s MLS jersey sponsorship.

“I think they have really liked the success they’ve had with Toronto FC and to have that exposure in both the east and west would be good for their brand,” he said.

BMO looking to expand their footprint as a sponsor in Canada and in MLS is a good thing though I know some in Vancouver are hoping for an even bigger sponsor to rival Seattle’s jersey sponsor X-Box 360. Seattle gets about $4 million a year from that deal with Microsoft, while Toronto only brings in between $1 and 1.5 million from BMO.

Maybe a bidding war for their jersey sponsorship would be a fun thing to watch for the new club.

ESPNDallas.com’s logo will be on the front of the FC Dallas game jersey for two games starting with tomorrow’s game and then on Wednesday’s game versus the New England Revolution at the Cotton Bowl.

While it is only a two game deal for Dallas and ESPN it is pretty cool to see this sort of thing happen since no one has lined up to be a jersey sponsor for this club just yet. Maybe it is the sort of drive the club needs to get a few more folks interested in them and a few more sponsors interested in putting their logo on the front of the Dallas jersey.

I am glad to say it is Friday. Somehow this week has flown by me here but thankfully we have a weekend full of soccer ahead of us here. Two games tonight, with one just about underway in New York, and plenty more tomorrow and Sunday. Nearly every game has playoff implications surrounding them. I’d say all games do except for the Dallas-KC game, since those two really have no shot at the playoffs despite not being eliminated from contention yet.

Tonight I do have a couple links worth throwing out there with a couple other random thoughts mixed in.

First up a quick note about the progress of the U20 National team, who are on their way to play in the U20 World Cup later this month. Today they took down Trinidad and Tobago 2-0. Bryan Arguez and Brek Shea scored goals in friendly victory that was the final World Cup tune up for the squad. I know a lot was said yesterday about this club thanks to Thomas Rongen’s comments about the lack of depth if you will surrounding this year’s team.

The US is in a tough group with Germany, Cameroon and South Korea. Germany won the European qualifying for this tournament last year and Cameroon placed second in the African qualifying. Needless to say this could be a really difficult group for the US.

I’ve gotten word via email recently that we should see some San Jose stadium renderings very soon to go along with the other stadiums around the league in development in places like Kansas City and Houston. The club is expected to reveal designs for a new stadium this weekend. Also from what I’ve been told and read across these Internets is that this stadium won’t be anything special, so don’t get your hopes up for a super crazy design or something special like a Red Bull Arena or Rio Tinto Stadium.

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Portland Expansion Rooted In Controversy

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A very interesting article on SI.com today about Portland’s expansion process thus far. I love the line that called Portland owner Merritt Paulson Mark Cuban-like to go after what he wanted here. Paulson has done a lot of work to get the city a new stadium for the baseball team that he owns and for the city to give him money to revamp PGE Park so the Timbers could play in it.

There’s still a ways to go with Portland here I feel but we should still see the Timbers Army in MLS in two years time.

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Old Dallas Document Talks Jersey Sponsor

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Buzz Carrick posted this very interesting article today about an old PDF that circulated to potential jersey sponsors and a few others like Carrick. It posts some interesting numbers that are a couple years old now that tell what Dallas was looking for in a jersey sponsor. The numbers seem to be pretty on par with other team’s sponsorship deals right now. I still feel that Dallas is another year or so away from getting a sponsor. When you have a team that plays this poorly for nearly two straight years and your attendance is as terrible as Dallas’ is right now the sponsorship dollars just aren’t there for things like this.

Dallas along with Colorado, New England, and Kansas City still have yet to get kit sponsors. Colorado looks very close to getting one based on their current kits. As for the other two clubs, I don’t have any information at this time where they stand at getting a jersey sponsor. My money would be on KC beating the Revs to the sponsorship punch though.

What’s more interesting to some may be the new look at the jersey the club will sport next season. A couple simple changes to the current one and I have to say the simple changes are pleasing to the eye.

2010 RSL home jersey. (Photo via Behind the Sheild)

You can read more about the deal here.

What do you make of the updated kit for next season? Miss the yellow three stripes down the sleeves or is blue a good update?

Below are a couple shots of the new kits (photos via ColoradoRapids.com)

What do you think? Kind of smells like someone will get a jersey sponsor this year. Remember how DC did this a year ago with removing the middle portion of their kit to be blank? That’s how this verison of the Rapids kits are.

I will say this, I do like’m a little plain like this for some reason. Getting rid of the tacky “COLORADO” in the middle always bothered me. Now if Dallas, Kansas City and New England would follow suit we’d be all set I think.

What do you make of it? Not bad really.

San Jose shows off new kits. (San Jose Earthquakes)

Another view of the new Quakes jerseys. (San Jose Earthquakes)