The MLS’s newest expansion team, Philadelphia, has picked a moniker and an emblem that will be officially unveiled on Monday. The Union, which the Philadelphia Inquirer reports as the club’s selection, is a name that harkens to the city’s colonial past and to the area’s historic role in the American labor movement. The team will take the field in blue and gold.
On Monday, the team, which begins play in 2010, also plans to reveal ticket prices and its new logo: a circular emblem that bears a coiled snake. The serpent echoes the use of a rattlesnake on the 1775 Gadsden flag, which bore the legend, “Don’t Tread on Me.”
“We’re not looking to change our logo every four years,” club president Tom Veit said. “We’re looking for a logo that’s going to stand the test of time.”
The logo was briefly, accidentally posted on the Major League Soccer website, www.mlsnet.com . Effusive positive feedback followed. “It’s not only our fans but fans from across the league and a couple from overseas,” Bryan James, head of the Sons of Ben supporters group, said.