During an event at Union Market on Thursday night, D.C. United unveiled a new team crest, marking a significant stage in a rebranding and modernization project that will culminate with the opening of the club’s new stadium in Buzzard Point.
United players, coaches, staff, and fans were on hand for the official reveal of the new logo (the design leaked online a couple of days earlier), which has been updated for the first time since 1997.
The result of two years of planning, market research, and dialogue with the United community, the black, red, and white badge features a revised shield shape based on George Washington’s family crest and incorporates the “Stars and Bars” motif also used on the D.C. flag.
“As we developed our new logo, we wanted to reinforce our sense of place right here in the District,” United Chief Operating Officer Tom Hunt said during the presentation.
Enlarged and with its head turned to the right, the iconic eagle remains the crest’s most prominent feature, now “more powerful, unrestricted and free,” according to Hunt. Crowning the design, the team’s name is rendered in a sleek, minimalist handlettered font. Gone are the somewhat cartoonish soccer ball and gold star—the most dated-looking elements of the previous logo.
After the crest was unveiled via a large video projection, United Head Coach Ben Olsen took the stage to briefly address the crowd, flanked by a phalanx of players and staff. “First impressions, kind of first impressions for some of you, what do you think?” he asked to warm, though moderate, applause. “I love it, I love it, I love it!” Olsen gushed.
As he mingled with fans and media after the presentation, star goalkeeper Bill Hamid had a more measured response. “I like it, it’s nice,” he told DCist. “It’s a fresh idea. It’s got the Washington, D.C. flag in it, and so it looks good.”
The Annandale, VA native admitted that he would have liked the crest to include a more explicit acknowledgement of United’s rich (though increasingly distant) championship tradition as four-time winners of MLS Cup. “It just needs the four stars. It needs the championship stars,” Hamid said, “But you know, you can’t always look in the past, right? You gotta look forward.”
D.C. United fan Jake Didinsky, a member of the District Ultras supporter group, offered a mixed review that seemed to echo the sentiments of many fans in attendance.
“It’s a step in the right direction, it’s a rebrand, it makes us look like we’re changing with the times,” he said. “I don’t like the corset-type thing on the body there. I like the D.C. flag incorporation. I think it really emphasizes that we’re in the District, that we are the heart of the District. It will grow on me, I’m sure, but right now, it’s just a lot to take in. I don’t like that they got rid of the gold star, which signifies the first MLS Cup. I’m a traditionalist, I don’t like change, but for me, it’s gonna come down to what it looks like on the uniform.”
The Black and Red’s 2016 jerseys won’t be unveiled until February 6, but plenty of new merchandise bearing the redesigned crest was introduced at Thursday’s event, and loyal fans eagerly snapped it up.
