Edmonton’s Back…But Can They Match The Aviators?
Edmonton will soon have professional outdoor soccer again, with the announcement today that a new team from the Canadian city, currently known as FC Edmonton, have joined the NASL and will begin play in 2011.
It’s interesting to note that they have no formal announced ties to the Vancouver Whitecaps — as had been presumed for some time, with the Whitecaps set to move to MLS in 2011 and having expressed interest in Edmonton. The team name has also not been announced as the Drillers, as had been expected (this was the name of Edmonton’s team in the original NASL), though that could change.
They will have a youth academy, and a management group with considerable experience in professional outdoor soccer (though it’s not entirely inspiring that the ownership group, the Fath brothers, were behind last year’s friendly between Everton and River Plate at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, a venture that reportedly lost over half a million while drawing an announced 15,800).
But since we’re on a crazy team logo kick lately….It’s worth pointing out the new Edmonton team will have a hell of a job besting the logos of either the Drillers or Edmonton’s most recent professional outdoor team, the Edmonton Aviators, who played one year in 2005 in the A-League, before dissolving when it turned out their business plan to attract five figure attendance numbers was a little over ambitious.
First, the Aviators. One hell of a logo, this.
And the classy Drillers of the original NASL (there have been further indoor incarnations since).
I couldn’t find logos from some of the other failed Edmonton professional outdoor teams, the Brickmen, Black Gold or Eagles. But I do know the burden is on FC Edmonton to come up with something better, at the least, than their peers in the NASL the NSC Minnesota Stars managed.
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- FC Edmonton is the Newest NASL team, and do they have plans! | Inside Minnesota Soccer
- The Sweeper: FC Edmonton Won’t be the Drillers | Pitch Invasion
Drillers logo was awesome, still is awesome.
The Aviators on the other hand, it’s right up there with Western Mass in terms of screaming “small time soccer”.
I don’t know Bobby…I have to respect the chutzpah of the Aviators logo. It’s a freaking aviating soccer ball!
For the record, it is NSC Minnesota.
The Stars are the nickname and is not included in the name. Damn, this is confusing…
SR — their official site probably shouldn’t headline their name announcement release as “NSC MINNESOTA STARS” if they want to avoid such confusion, then….
And the official NASL press release probably shouldn’t say “Minnesota’s new professional soccer team will be named NSC Minnesota Stars.”
Definitely confusing!
The Aviators didn’t last long.
Some bright boy tried to tell us that they were expecting to get 10,000+ for their first game, but the local paper didn’t run a planned front-page story on the team on the morning of the home opener. And THAT cost them 9,000 or so fans. Which was, of course, bollocks.
And I watched the unveiling of Minnesota’s team: they said “NSC Minnesota Stars.” They also then said that they hoped a nickname grew organically from the fans. And I’m thinking, “What? On top of Stars?”
NSC Minnesota Stars Blues? NSC Minnesota Stars on 45?