The newest addition to a crowded minor league sports landscape has a name:
San Diego Loyal Soccer Club.
The second-division United Soccer League team unveiled its identity and crest Saturday morning at a downtown beer pavilion before a few hundred fans. It will begin play in March at USD’s Torero Stadium, with former U.S. national team star Landon Donovan as its executive vice president of soccer operations and, many expect, its head coach.
“The biggest thing is we listened to what you had to say,” Donovan told the crowd Saturday, a wireless microphone in one hand and a beer in the other. “And this word came up over and over and over, and one day it kind of clicked on us to say: ‘Well, why wouldn’t we name the team San Diego Loyal?’
“This cannot be L.A. Loyal. This cannot be San Francisco Loyal. This cannot be anything loyal except San Diego Loyal. That represents who we are.”
It is an interesting choice, particularly in a city of transplants with a reputation of fair-weathered fans, where Padres games at Petco Park are regularly populated with ers for the visiting team.
“That is the word we heard countless, countless, countless times,” said Warren Smith, the club’s president and co-founder. “Hopefully you like it.”
The immediate reception on social media was lukewarm. Most seemed to like the crest more than the name.
One example: “San Diego Loyal is just difficult to say. Like it’s hard to enunciate without sounding drunk.”
Another: “San Diego with yet another horrible name for the new soccer team in town … San Diego Sockers … 1904 FC … San Diego Loyal SC. You really can’t make this stuff up.”
Another: “Not the best name, but I dig the crest.”
The multi-colored crest was designed by marketing firm Red Door Interactive and incorporates several elements unique to San Diego, including Spanish mission architecture and the Coronado Bridge. There are bands of orange for sunsets, and green and blue for ocean waves. The “y” in Loyal forms the base of a poppy, California’s state flower, and the bottom resembles an anchor.
The team’s primary color will be “Torrey” green in homage to the Torrey pine tree.
The unveiling ceremony included a toast to Andrew Vassiliadis, the club’s primary owner who was away at his bachelor party but watching via web stream.
“San Diegans are incredibly loyal to their soil,” Vassiliadis said in a press release issued later. “We wanted to declare the same and what better way to do it than by calling our club San Diego Loyal.”
