There is a press conference tomorrow at the beginning of the NCSAA when NASL is expected to announce Indianapolis as a new team. We've all heard that this was coming, but it's great to see it happening. Don't know if Bruce and I will make it to the meeting, but it's finally more good news for NASL.

The NASL should focus on getting the Cosmos and Islanders on the pitch first. This is really nothing more than a smoke screen for their failed attempt at a 2013 spring season.

Interesting article about the newest NASL team everyone already knows about.

http://www.ibj.com/well-known-indianapolis-developer-launching-pro-soccer-team/PARAMS/article/38994

.............[sigh]...........

"The contest to name the team will run through mid-March, and the team’s name will be announced during the third week of March."

I can't imagine that the word "Racing" won't appear somewhere in the name.

How about Indianapolis Hooligans FC?

WELCOME TO THE BOARD, LUKE.

Nah, they're not cool enough in Indy to pull that off. I feel like there was a discussion once on naming the new indy team and if I remember right there were a couple of good ones. But the sigh on my part was because, once again, the NASL is allowing the community to choose the name of the team in a vote. But from what I've read about the Brickyard Battalion, I would hope they won't allow any ridiculous cliches.

I take that back...
http://brickyardbattalion.com/history/
"We are the official supporters group of Racing Indy FC and won’t stop until our dream is true"

Am I the only one here who is not bothered by name the team contests? Can someone point to a bunch of counter-examples of new soccer organizations in the US that started up and came up with brilliant names solely based on the brilliant ideas of the ownership and their marketing wiz teams?

I dislike them because, in general, I like simple names. These contests seem to sprout stupid names.

Welcome indeed, after Bruce's negative review of the board I thought you would have avoided signing up.

As for the name, if Indy fans are happy with whatever they will be called and the club are easy points year in and year out, I don't care what they are named. *foggy memories of 7 goal thirsty thursday Blast game travels through matthews head*

I see what you did there.

I'm well and truly sucked into the vortex now, aren't I?

There's not an invitation to a hive of scum and villainy I've turned down yet. Happy to be here.

Well, to start there is the NPSL team CD Aguiluchos USA and their brilliant logo.

Lep, are you not on twitter? Wes had a conniption when team contest was announced.

"Welcome indeed, after Bruce's negative review of the board I thought you would have avoided signing up."

Just out of curiosity, where is this review?

That little old jersey collector

Me

I asked a question for the podcast about how newbies like me can get more involved in supporting Stars and the supporters' community.

As a long-time very casual soccer fan, who is apparently experiencing his mid-life crisis by becoming a much more serious soccer fan (better than abandoning my family and buying a sports car, no?), I will probably be asking a lot of dumb newbie questions.

I don't remember it being so much a negative review. Regardless, welcome and don't worry about dumb questions. we all love to talk about soccer and this team, that's why we're here day in and day out. so no matter how small the question I'm sure we can get 3 pages out of it.

I am not. I'm an anti-social media luddite.

I've also been practicing telling kids to stay off my lawn. Turns out they're my kids though, so they just ignore me.

I don't think it was a negative review, either.

I hope the Northern Virgnia team is called the Stallions.

There is sooooo much to work with on that one.

The NASL press release says that Peter Wilt will be Indy's GM. Does this mean his efforts towards a NASL team in Milwaukee have gone nowhere?

Milwaukee was targetting USL Pro, I believe, but I was wondering the same thing.

Has PW ever had is finger in one pie at a time?

We have that in common. I believe when I got my season tickets a few years ago my wife said "at least it doesn't involve drunk college girls".

We were at the party after the announcement that the Indy owners held. I can tell you this much.
A) They paid for my beer (suckers)
B) There was a great crowd there.
C) Bruce and I talked a lot of [censored] with their owner.
I said, "I'm really looking forward to us kicking your asses."
He said, "Start practicing now."
Touche.

peter wilt reported on twitter this morning that indy already has 500+ season ticket deposits.

Interesting article on the owner of the Indy NASL team: http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2012/03/ibj-glorifies-rise-of-ersal-ozdemir.html

Name the team contest is up:

http://indyprosoccer.com/nametheteam/

Totally tempted to vote for Majestic or Speed.

Athletic or Speed. Majestic and United ring phony to me.

If I were a betting man I'd put my money on Racing. It does actually fit pretty well and isn't lame. Racing Indianapolis or Racing Indy as they will be known. That seems to be the popular choice as the supporters group is named the Brickyard Battalion.

Sounds like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a problem with "Racing".



link

Unless the "IMS" being refered to there is your site BQ. If so, quit being a dick and let Indy have the name.

Hmmm. Yes, copywrite infringement. Hadn't thought of that. We are just plain running out of good names because everyone freaking owns something that is close to some name and threaten a law suit.

Copyright... well, in this case, trademark.

It's a bit of a stretch, but I imagine they have the legal power to cost the owners of the new team far too much money and trouble to be worth it.

How about Hooisers! I actually like "Racing Indy." I just hope they have a buckeyball on their shield.

Who cares what they name the club? We're just going to call it Indy for the Short Round tifos.

Really liked this article written by our friend Tom Dunmore.

http://indyprosoccer.com/soccer-in-the-crossroads-of-america/

Indy already has 1000 reserved season tickets. If it wasn't already obvious, Peter Wilt is a friggin' pro. Missed their press conference, but lots of MLS people said they were jealous of it and their party was spectacular. Wall to wall.
And they're going to start work on their stadium ASAP.

Anyone have any idea the number of season ticket holders for the Stars. I know they have increased their numbers every year--especially since the NSC had that rock star ticket guy running things-the guy with the idea of having the Internet print tickets!

id guess our season ticket numbers are around the 250-350 range.

theres a pfutz lookin dude in a green shirt and tan hat behind the podium. little more slack jawed than ben, but its kinda creepy.

Indy season tickets announced at more than 1,250

I don't like to be a nit-picker cuz 1250 is an awesome number, but that is $25 deposits on season tickets, not season tickets sold.

Nit-picker!!!!!

That's good information, however. It's fairly easy to throw down $25 bucks for most people. Hopefully they will follow through.

Actually,

I have some inside information from my source "Swerveball" who says that the figure is 12.50, meaning that one person put down exactly one half of a deposit on a season ticket.

"Of course, I could be wrong" admits

That little old jersey collector

Me

Over 1,700 season ticket pre-orders now.

Also:

http://www.nasl.com/index.php?id=3&newsid=3696

Sounds like the [censored] we've been doing day in day out for years.

I am really happy to read that Derek and Brett are involved and so active in working to make Indy a success.

I wouldn't discount what they have going. The launch party we were at was full of the same kind of demographic that soccer in the US is targeting: lots of young, overly excited people (mostly dudes). It makes for a bit of an AO crowd, but that crowd is also what helps build numbers and buzz.
What they've done is taken the hunger for soccer that creates AO fans (and eurofooty fans) and given them a new outlet. The tough part for markets like MPLS is that soccer has been here their whole lives, so when the 20 yr old finally goes craycray for soccer, they turn to something that seems fresh and exciting.
This is where I think Bill Peterson is right, most of those fans, if you get them in the thick of the crazy action of a live game, will start to realize that NASL can give them something Chelsea or Liverpool can't.

So Indy's putting up a vote for the fans to choose their colors.

Team colors

For some reason I'm not as annoyed at choosing the colors of a team like I am with crest/name voting. I never knew the backstory about Brazil and found it kind of interesting. Tho i hope they're not comparing themselves to the Brazilians already. But the connection of choosing a teams color and 'why it shouldn't be taken lightly' was alright. So with the past four days having no news of significance on the boards: (aside from KJ on kicktv)

What should Indy choose as their colors? Obviously with the potential to be 'close to home' rivals, I would suggest a sort of Harlequin design on that awesome Cameroonian leotard/kit, but could a team actually pull off a attractive kit inspired by a checkered flag? discuss...

GOD.
Seriously. Why would you want to do all these things separately? Why would you choose a name via vote and then the colors? I thought these were professional businesses?
WHY?!?!?

Because business owners love arbitrarily polarizing their customer base and creating a false sense of disappointment as opposed to keeping consumer attitudes at the lukewarm to ecstatic range.

I would guess it's just an attempt to have more things to talk about and keep people interested and engaged. It's another whole year until they're going to start play, and probably a while before they hire a coach or sign players, etc. So they have to try and do something to keep getting their name out there, keeping the idea of the new team in the front of people's minds, etc.

As for the colors, I think they should go with something unique and distinct - maybe a nice solid beige kit. Not enough beige in sports, I say.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Congratulations to our friend Tom Dunmore, editor of The IX Quarterly and former president of the Chicago Fire's Section 8. It was announced today that Tom will be VP of Marketing and Operations for Indianapolis.

http://www.nasl.com/index.php?id=3&newsid=4205

Exciting hire. Very curious to see what they do.

Tom is a great person for the role. I see they have over 3,000 season ticket deposits. Not bad for a team that will not play for another season.

I hope Indy does better than Dunmore and Wilt's Riot of the MISL.

Actually, if I recall correctly, they didn't do all that bad for their first year. But there never was a second year when the MISL was purchased by USL and the owner for unknown reasons (probably costs) chose not to go that route.

I am fairly certain that Peter was the owner of the team.

I read that they were around 3000 deposits on season tickets too. If they convert even half of those it will be impressive. Anything beyond that will be fantastic.

Yes Bruce, I would agree.

I don't think I'm going to actually get mine.

Indy's name, colors and crest to be announced on Thursday.

http://indyprosoccer.com/name-colors-crest-to-be-announced-thursday/

Straight Red Card guys ask what if Indy followed the rest of NASL.

Link

BusOtters! BusOtters! BusOtters!

Dude. Honey Badgers.

Indy Eleven?

Huh.

i kinda like it.

Red White and Blue w/ a pretty bland crest (but it's a city icon!). The name is at least unique. I can think of a few national teams that use a variation of it.
Someone did point out on twitter that it's funny that the team shares a name with Tom Dunmore's magazine...

I was disappointed.

That's what she said.
Say more though. Is it worse that Cavalry or Fury? Better?

They could have done better, all around.

I don't like it much. Indy 11... I recall from somewhere in my childhood reading a quote from someone (Dr. Seuss?) about how words in a title should not share vowel sounds because it's awkward for a person to say: "IN-DEE EE-LEVEN" lots of EEEEE in there. I'll wind up mumbling it into one burst of sound "INDYLEVEN." That's a weird thing to complain about, but that's me.

And the crest?! Oh man, it's pretty bad. The shield is trying to be a shield but different from other shields, the font is stretched out and awkward, the little dude with the sword doesn't even make sense (unless it's a statue in Indianapolis?)... Give it a 1800s style military sword, not a bastard sword, geez. And why is it wearing a moo moo? The weird, two-tone shading makes it look too busy, to me. Is that an eagle on its head? Why? For me, when I think of places that should be associated with eagles, somehow Indiana never makes the list.

Love the blue/red checkers and the star off the flag, though.

Basically the statue part is the only thing done right.

Didn't catch it in NASL's release right away, but the 11 is a reference to Indiana's 11th Regiment who fought in the Civil War.

"At the same time, Indy Eleven pays homage to the state’s history as a reference to Indiana’s 11th Regiment in the Civil War, which was founded on today’s date, April 25th, in 1861. The 11th Indiana Regiment posted a significant contribution under the Command of Colonel Lew Wallace, who later became the Adjutant General for Indiana and authored the literary masterpiece “Ben Hur.”

someone also posted this on NASM
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_Regiment_Indiana_Infantry

Thought it was dumb when I first read it. Crest was ok. But I will give it more credit than something of no relevance like REAL salt lake or Sporting KC. With some background knowledge tho about the infantry it is kind of cool. Plus the supporter groups are going to have great names and tifo built right in. I'm looking forward to this rivalry.

A zillion times better than a stupid loon that looks like a possesed hummingbird on steriods. On on BQ, no buckeyball is a winner with you any day of the week!

A chick I know from Indiana was outraged, the figured out it was tied in with the Indiana 11th, then was slightly better with it.

If that's the progression - they become okay with it and we hate it - it might be the best name in the league.

Still, stupid, right?

I dig the crest, name seems a bit sterile but it is unique. Definitely leaves room for the fans to have fun with their name and identity.

Really hoping their home opener will be against the Loons and we can organize a good road trip crew.

The story behind the name helps. A little. The crest isn't bad, except the font. I like the history behind it - as someone above said, it's better than Real Salt Lake or any of the names MLS suggested for the Sounders.

http://www.wthr.com/story/22081155/new-indiana-soccer-team-to-honor-states-civil-war-heritage

"Indy Eleven pays homage to Indiana's 11th Regiment in the Civil War, which was founded on this date in 1861. The 11th Indiana Regiment served under the command of Colonel Lew Wallace, who later became the Adjutant General for Indiana and wrote the classic novel "Ben Hur".

The team colors are red, white and navy blue, same as Indianapolis' municipal flag. The team crest features Lady Victory from atop the Soldiers & Sailors Monument, and the star also seen on the city flag. Indianapolis-based graphic designer Patrick Cummings, a soccer supporter, designed the Indy Eleven crest."

Another article with photos and a video of Wilt telling an interesting story about how they came up with the idea for the team name.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20130425...ame-Indy-Eleven

All the articles address the fact that they had a staging malfunction as a gust of wind blew over the team crest with the black veil, revealing the logo before they were ready.

Neal will lead the Dark Clouds in a rousing rendition of "Take Their Colors" when we play them.

Except for they were also in the Union...

Having driven around Indiana, apparently the residents did not get this memo.

I like the name. I like the statue on the crest, but wish for a little more polish.

Overall, well done. Second to the Loons for team branding in the NASL.

Now they have a shield all they need is players. They have a lot of pre-sales on their season tickets!

I know Pat, he's a good guy. A bit disappointed in this effort, though, as I've seen far better from him.

http://www.recklesschallenge.net/eleven-reasons-to-hate-indy-eleven/

I actually thought of #4 yesterday while reading the press release and #3 makes me laugh a little. Whatever, its a new team and I'll looking forward to seeing them lose to us.

This is completely over the top and idiotic. Is this name REALLY worse than the Clash? Or the Toronto Raptors?

Yes.

before I defend my points I want to make sure we're talking about the same thing, you're saying the article is over the top and idiotic?

I like Eleven more than Fury for what it's worth.

Or the Wild.

Or the Stars.

Heretic I know, but seriously.

Where are they going to play their home matches?

I was saying that post is crazy and silly.

A quick look at their website yields this:

http://indyeleven.com/carroll-stadium/