I saw this earlier this morning, some Portland Timbers fans love their team and their corn. Why not combine the two huh? Workers at the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island have carved the Portland Timbers logo into their corn field. Not bad at all.

One thing I really appreciate about this logo is that everything has a meaning and a reason behind it. Its not just some cheap photoshop logo that we’ve seen in the past. From the four stars, to the stripes at the bottom, everything has meaning.

What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/v/qb0s2jpVvcM?version=3

Down the Byline (wonder KC blog) were able to get their hands on this new logo. While it isn’t a horrible logo on first look but the more you look at it the more it looks like the Eastern Conference shield.

To me it seems like whoever designed this logo didn’t try too hard or if they did they just tried enough not to piss anyone off or offend anyone with it new name. The colors are ok, the blue is what it should be and the gray tones aren’t too shocking. Blue and gray seem to go hand in hand with some designers.

The new “look” may be a decent thing for this club but the new name still lacks something. To me I have a bad taste in my mouth when I even try to say the words “Sporting Kansas City”. I just doesn’t roll off the tongue. Then again the Nike-made name Wizards (or Wiz) wasn’t a great thing either. But there did come a point when I think we all got used to the name and it was connected to the local community. Never under estimate what even a 15-year old name can do with the locals and how that has built up some form of consistency with them over the years.

I get both sides of the story here though. With a new stadium next year it is the perfect time to rebrand a bit. Also based on prior attendance most probably won’t mind a rebranding.

Still most in the MLS community won’t care for this rebranding. Personally I don’t care for it, I really believe they could have done better than “Sporting” if they wanted to go European so badly. I’ll put it to you all here on what you think about it. Think Sporting Kansas City will be a winner or just a dud?

And for good reason too.

Well the main supporter’s group in Portland got together with the front office to work on the logo and make it less cartoon-like as some have put it.

Here is what the club unveiled a couple weeks ago:

Here is the updated version that seems to have folks a little happier.

Again it comes to show that new clubs, and even old ones for that matter need to consult their die-hard fan groups before they do drastic things to their brand images. As you see the updated version has a little less shading on the axe.

Will it make everyone happy? Doubt it but its good to see the club take a page out of their arch-rival’s book in getting their fans involved more here. I bet they wished they had done it earlier.

The club is hyping the new logo with some “hints”.

Maybe I’m wrong and the new logo which will debut on June 12 will surprise me.

I guess in a way they figure to start a new era in MLS they need to have a new(ish) look and feel to them. I just hope they don’t mess with this current look too much.

Maybe it will end up looking like this logo that was talked about a while back:

What do ya think? Simple and not too flashy I think.

You know the more I say the name the better I like it. I know its kind of a cheap attempt to call them United but Union works for me for some reason. Plus lets be honest we have far worse names in the league already so this one isn’t that bad. Also, it probably has more to do with the bad ass crest that was leaked yesterday. The colors are great and really it may be the best logo in the league.

What do you make of it? Sad to not see a better name? Would you take a better name even if it meant the logo wasn’t as good?