Montreal's MLS Rebrand: My Thoughts

I know this happened a couple of months ago, but the Montreal Impact's rebranding to Club De Foot Montreal had been weighing on my mind periodically between the time of the announcement and now. MLS rebrands are interesting to me. I am not for or against them, and my opinion of each MLS rebrand varies wildly. I think the best MLS rebrand was Kansas City's rebrand (from the Kansas City Wizards to Sporting KC). Kansas City's MLS rebrand felt like a complete attitude change from a club that presented itself so humorously (in my opinion) to a club that feels professional. The worst MLS rebrand was the Chicago Fire's unnecessary logo change in 2019 that ripped the colors from Real Salt Lake's logo.

Therefore, what did I think about Montreal's MLS rebrand to Club De Foot Montreal? I do not think the Montreal Impact needed to rebrand at all, and the whole thing felt unnecessary. The new logo by itself is actually not bad (I like the dark, ominous colors), but two things stick out at me, and they both involve the gray thing in the center. The gray thing either looks like a snowflake (which has now become a common insult for someone who gets offended easily), or if you look even closer, it could look like someone's asshole.

From reading the articles about the rebrand, Montreal ownership talks about making the club feel more reflective of the demographics and culture of Montreal. What I think the Montreal ownership wants from this is to make the club feel European. There is this thing within MLS where clubs will rebrand into something more Euro-centric, whether it is a change in the club name, club logo, or something else. I used to feel more warmly about Euro-centric MLS rebrands, but now MLS has become a much stronger league and brand that I now think that the Americanized MLS names feel unique in a way. Club names like the New England Revolution and the LA Galaxy are uniquely American names that those clubs should own. At this point, I feel that new MLS clubs/rebrands have a more European brand because ownership thinks that they have to, in order for their local communities to take them seriously.

Going back to the Montreal MLS rebrand, I think that the ownership feels like the word 'Impact' feels too North American, and particularly, feels too English. Montreal ownership should know that the French word for 'impact' is 'impact'. In addition, the name 'Montreal Impact' has some standing and history that the supporters identify with, and it does not make sense to me that Montreal ownership want to throw that away. Having the name of the club be the Montreal Impact did not stop Thierry Henry from becoming the head coach, nor did it stop players like Didier Drogba or Marco Di Vaio from playing for the Impact. Therefore, I ask why even do this.

The worst thing about this rebrand is that apparently, there was no consultation with supporters or supporters groups at all. The ownership could have opened communications with the supporters groups, or sent a survey to season-ticket holders if they were going to change something so important to the supporters. For me, this represents a disconnect between the expectations of supporters and the actions of North American sports owners. Supporters want to feel like they are part of the football community, and there are some supporters who feel like sports clubs should cater more to their local communities. On the other side, owners will do whatever it takes to increase revenues and profits for their club by reaching for bigger target markets and audiences around the country and the world, to the dismay of local supporters. To give an example, there were times in Toronto FC's existence where ownership and their marketing department tried to portray the club as "Canada's Club" with the maple leaf on the uniform and other marketing material. I am of the opinion that you have to serve your local community first. Your local supporters are your most dedicated and most important people for your club, and this Montreal MLS rebrand felt like a betrayal of serving your local community.

Anyway, these are my thoughts on Montreal's MLS rebrand. Knowing how attention spans are these days, Montreal supporters may all begrudgingly accept this and we will all get on with our days. It will be interesting to see how the opposition to the rebrand develops as COVID-19 goes away and stadiums can host supporters again.