Linehan: Boston NWSL misses the mark with BOS Nation FC and marketing campaign

The Boston Breakers didn't die for this.

Six years after Breakers, a previous attempt to found an NWSL club in Boston was shut down, its players scattered in a dispersal draft, and a story dating back to the 1999 World Cup and the formation of WUSA came to a sad conclusion. The second attempt at a first-league franchise has a new name and club colors.

15th NWSL team, announced in September 2023 as one of two expansion teams joining the league in 2026, will be called BOS Nation FC . The ownership group announced the club's name and colors through a marketing campaign centered around the idea of ​​”Too Many Balls”.

Tuesday's premiere was the official confirmation Report by Sandry Herrery z CBS which led to an immediate and overwhelmingly negative backlash on Monday, including some calling the “Too Many Balls” campaign transphobic.

But no one could have been prepared for the announcement video.

One day they will analyze this band's premiere as a case study NO to do in marketing class. They will show this video and the student will raise their hand and perhaps ask, “Did they really use the phrase 'goat balls' in the video of the women's soccer team?”

Forks. Yes, they did it. Somehow this isn't the worst element of the music video, just the most surprising.

On Wednesday, the club issued a statement saying it “missed the mark” in its branding campaign and apologized to the LGBTQ+ community, and more specifically to the trans community.

“We are proud to be part of the most inclusive sports league in the world and are committed to upholding the unifying values ​​that define the NWSL and our club,” the club said. “Thank you to everyone who has held us accountable by calling for better work. “We hear you and we will do it together.”

Given the name and campaign, this is the worst NWSL start I've ever seen in league history. This may be the worst brand launch I've ever seen in American soccer, although there are a few other widely hated rebrands that could put up a fight. MLS is particularly suitable for rebranding teams that require immediate rebranding (see: Chicago fire and my favorite, Montreal soccer club ).

But as a Masshole and someone who has a long history directly involved with Boston women's professional soccer in multiple leagues…Boston, you're embarrassing me in front of my friends. Stop. Please .

The most offensive thing is how long it took them to release something this bad. The team was there officially announced in September 2023 . Over a year later and this is the result? Honestly, at this point we should be grateful that they weren't willing to abandon the new crest, because at least there will be less work for them to do all over again.

As explained many times, including its premiere on the CBS morning show, BOS Nation is an anagram of Boston English. This explanation doesn't help justify the name choice – apart from the inherent paradox of one city's team somehow being called a nation (which is further complicated by the fact that the league itself uses the word “national” and the USWNT, but I'm afraid such conversations will never happen not carried out). .

Anagrams isn't exactly groundbreaking in terms of convincing potential fans of the band's new identity, but it was as close to something that could have worked as a core concept to build: the Bostonian.

The club's website explains the concept this way: “It's an origin story. Identity. Badge of honor. And a title worn proudly by millions of people in 23 districts and 48.4 square miles.”

If this is the basis on which your new club identity will remain, why not choose the name Bostonians or Bostonian Football Club? Perhaps it's too simple and would easily get lost in search results, but these problems are easier to solve than the ones the team faces.

“Where sarcasm is the native language. A cup of coffee for three dollars and 48 cents is the preferred product,” continued in this section. Who is this for? Because this type of writing isn't intended for Bostonians, Massholes, or even New Englanders – your target audience and customer base.

There's just so much going on with this launch beyond the name issues. Keep reading this page, there's the Too Many Balls campaign, but there are also plenty of slogans like “WE ARE THE MANY” and “Community, Meet the Nation.” Everything is trying very hard. This all resembles the first stage of creating ideals, during which you throw a million ideas on the board and then reduce them to one that works. (And “there are many of us” becomes ” be many ” when it comes to goods for no apparent reason.)

The season ticket deposit page informs potential buyers that they should not miss rivalry games against Gotham or Angel City. How can a team that won't take the field until 2026 have rivals? There are certainly historic rivalries in men's sports between Boston and New York or Boston and Los Angeles, but to pretend that these will automatically transfer to the NWSL league once again demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of BOS NATION FC and its approach to the culture of women's soccer. It should be said that this culture already exists in Boston thanks to a long history of three professional leagues that dates back to 2001.

In my opinion, the tone of the Too Many Balls campaign is a far cry from the slap in the face they were expecting, but there is a more problematic element to it. Seattle Reign's Quinn commented on an NWSL post featuring a campaign launch video, after which the original comment was hidden.

“Calls to transphobia should not be hidden!” they wrote . “It does not represent the league and is a poor message.”

And at Tuesday's launch party, one fan brought a sign saying that transphobia has no place in the league.

“The brand was intended to be inclusive, so we take it very seriously. “I look forward to talking to this player and figuring out why he felt this way,” controlling owner Jennifer Epstein told reporters.

I understand the urgent need to differentiate this team from the Boston Breakers as a new team and a new brand. But the erasure of other existing women's sports teams playing in Boston is another troubling sign that this team is entering a space it doesn't understand.

Again, with the many layers of frustration surrounding this apparent end product – there are so many experts, players, and other stakeholders who could have helped them understand why this was such a bad idea.

“Many of us played for or against the Breakers or went to games. Some of us grew up in New England; some of us (like me) lived in Boston,” NWSL Players Association Director Meghann Burke responded when asked about the reaction to the launch, saying that Boston is already full of women's soccer fans and sports fans in general.

“The city and the players who will represent it deserve so much better,” Burke continued. “Thanks to the work put in to create a solid foundation for a rocket launch in Boston in 2026, I honestly didn't see this team as that frivolous. I hope this is an elaborate and brilliant joke and that the real name of the band and the campaign that will tell us what it's really about will be revealed soon.”

Congratulations to anyone who purchased a black “TOO MANY BALLS” T-shirt for $35 on Tuesday – you now own an NWSL collector's item.

Here's some consolation: it's not too late, at least in the long run. Boston won't be the first team to need a course correction. Apparently they had already started making adjustments late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, as toomanyballs.com (yes, a real URL, I still can't believe it was used to promote a new women's soccer team) has been decommissioned.

But that's not the end.

Ultimately, Racing Louisville FC performed well and has some of the best colors and kits in the NWSL. But first they had Proof – the original name, also with a coat of arms, launched in November 2019. In April they reconsidered it. Until July they presented their new identity (with designs by Matt Wolff) much to my relief.

Boston's runway is still longer. Other teams like the Kansas City Current, and even entire leagues like the PWHL, have realized that sometimes it's better to extend a deadline than to get it wrong on the first try. So yes, it's a painful lesson for Boston's NWSL club, but it doesn't have to stain the entire project.

(Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

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