SEATTLE, WASH. – Seattle Sounders FC 2 yesterday announced that it has launched the first phase of its new team branding initiative. The campaign, “A Title for Tacoma,” allows fans to submit ideas for a new team name for the USL club that plays its home games at Cheney Stadium in the South Sound. Submissions are being accepted through September 30 via the club’s official website: S2Tacoma.com/TitleForTacoma/.
The campaign aims to engage the South Sound soccer community and offer them a voice in the initial rebrand conversations of their newest professional sports franchise. The public may submit their ideas for the new team name and provide their inspirations behind the ideas. A small review committee, comprised of Sounders FC and Tacoma enthusiasts, will provide feedback on the submissions and Sounders FC and the Tacoma Rainiers will jointly review the submissions and use them to investigate a potential Tacoma-specific rebrand.
In November of 2017, Seattle Sounders FC and the Tacoma Rainiers announced that beginning in 2018, Sounders FC 2's previously-announced transition to Tacoma was accelerating, allowing S2 to play its home matches at Cheney Stadium while progress continues toward a new soccer-specific facility. The two clubs previously reached a historic agreement to build a 5,000-seat facility in Central Tacoma on the footprint of Cheney Stadium. While that process moves forward, South Sound soccer fans are now able to see their USL side play in Tacoma several seasons ahead of schedule.
Originally announced in May of 2017, the partnership between Sounders FC and the Rainiers has brought together two of the Northwest's premier professional sports organizations to reach a first-of-its-kind relationship in USL within the same regional market. The Tacoma Rainiers are an award-winning franchise that has been a staple of the South Sound community for over 50 years, operating as the top affiliate of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners. They have been operating the business side of the new era of the USL club, taking advantage of the decades of experience operating a professional organization in the Tacoma market, while Sounders FC is maintaining leadership over soccer operations and sporting infrastructure.
Also announced in May of 2017, much like the naming of the Sounders FC First Team, Tacoma fans will have influence over the identity of their new club. The team has played under the S2 brand this season during the transition. Led by Head Coach John Hutchinson, S2 is 5-6-3 at Cheney Stadium in 2018 and is unbeaten in its last five home matches. The club’s most promising Academy players – including Azriel Gonzalez, Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez, Ray Serrano and Marlon Vargas – are now developing in Tacoma on S2 contracts. They will attempt to join a group of seven S2 players that have been signed to the First Team since 2015.
