Rochester Rhinos Shuttered

[moogoo]

they were going to go back to USL 1 next year but i assume that changed? its either them or MLS 2. Aint no way they go to NISA since they have flower city already.

the point is there is nothing official about what league they will play in yet.

 

[Fantazma]

the point is there is nothing official about what league they will play in yet.

yea its all speculation but im looking more into this, they are not even playing in actual rochester proper? ooof.

 

[Brooklyn Blue]

doesnt flower city Union have dibs on that stadium already?

It is my understanding that they intend to play in that stadium, but I do not know what contracts may exist (if any). I also cannot imagine an NISA team needing a stadium that size.

One wonders how the two teams will manage to co-exist. I am all for Rochester having a second league team, but I am suspicious it can support two second/third league teams.

Circling back to the original point, a team that retained the Rhino name would have a leg up on garnering local interest, regardless of game location. Another reason that changing to RNYFC was a terrible choice - there is no question as to which logo and name would stand out and better attract new fans:

(such a poor choice)

 

[Fantazma]

It is my understanding that they intend to play in that stadium, but I do not know what contracts may exist (if any). I also cannot imagine an NISA team needing a stadium that size.

One wonders how the two teams will manage to co-exist. I am all for Rochester having a second league team, but I am suspicious it can support two second/third league teams.

Circling back to the original point, a team that retained the Rhino name would have a leg up on garnering local interest, regardless of game location. Another reason that changing to RNYFC was a terrible choice - there is no question as to which logo and name would stand out and better attract new fans:

View attachment 11406View attachment 11407


(such a poor choice)

i am reading RNY FC will play in "Empire United Soccer Complex" and google tells me its not even in Rochester? its in West Henrietta. so maybe it can? one team plays in actual rochester another one plays in the outskirts of town.

Edit: as for the names. logos. I assume that flower city has significance with locals? Or is this like New Amsterdam where many people in the city have no clue that was the original name of new york city.

 

[JCMore]

It is my understanding that they intend to play in that stadium, but I do not know what contracts may exist (if any). I also cannot imagine an NISA team needing a stadium that size.

One wonders how the two teams will manage to co-exist. I am all for Rochester having a second league team, but I am suspicious it can support two second/third league teams.

Circling back to the original point, a team that retained the Rhino name would have a leg up on garnering local interest, regardless of game location. Another reason that changing to RNYFC was a terrible choice - there is no question as to which logo and name would stand out and better attract new fans:

View attachment 11406View attachment 11407


(such a poor choice)

Oof… poor choice is an understatement. That’s fuckin ugly.

 

[413Blue]

One problem with the Rhinos is the brand was damaged in the later years of its existence. Sometimes it's tough to shake that and the brand might have negative equity value.
Kind of like the Cosmos. It would be challenging to relaunch that brand at this point.

 

[Brooklyn Blue]

i am reading RNY FC will play in "Empire United Soccer Complex" and google tells me its not even in Rochester? its in West Henrietta. so maybe it can? one team plays in actual rochester another one plays in the outskirts of town.

Edit: as for the names. logos. I assume that flower city has significance with locals? Or is this like New Amsterdam where many people in the city have no clue that was the original name of new york city.

Henrietta is a suburb that has a significant commercial presence (e.g., malls). It is not that far from the city proper, but would be easy to access from all of the southern, western and eastern suburbs. It will set a cap on attendance.

Flower City is a nickname of Rochester. Rochester was originally known as the Flour City due to the mills on the Genesee River, but once that industry faded, they changed Flour to Flower and tied it to the Lilac Festival that takes place each year in the city (also I suspect the reason the logo is lilac colored). There you go - more Rochester history than you ever wanted.

 

[mgarbowski]

Rochester Instamatics would be cool.

 

[Brooklyn Blue]

Rochester Instamatics would be cool.

I do like this. I had always thought Rochester Brownies would work for something.

 

[FredMertz]

I get the logic for this in MLS, though I disagree: the idea is that there are a decent number of "domestic soccer snobs" who look down on MLS for some combination of (1) inferior talent, (2) wrong season of play, (3) having playoffs, (4) no Pro-Rel and (5) silly names. #1 is improving but there will always be a gap. ##2-4 are basically not going away. So you change #5. I disagree because I think nobody is fooled by changing the names and I don't think it makes sense to change a thing simply because it is easy to change when it's not what really causes your problem.

But for teams like the Rhinos, it makes even less sense, because the gap between them and first level soccer overseas is immense and unmistakable. There cannot be a substantial number of people in Rochester who want to watch serious soccer and were staying away from the Rhinos because of their name, and now will think, oh maybe this is more like the Premier League. I refuse to believe that unless someone does show me actual solid evidence. What the team has, what it can sell, is local pride, culture, relevance and history.

Also the above only goes for Euro soccer snobs. The substantial Latin American soccer fan population in the US often comes from cultures where team names are maybe not universal but pretty damn common and often enough adopted from English models: Chivas, Pumas, Newell's Old Boys, Defense and Justice, Tiger, Torque, Wanderers. I don't think team nicknames is an obstacle to reaching this market.

Holy shit -- I never realized that "chee-vas" was actually "shivas" as in Chivas regal. Literally no clue.