FC Dallas officially kicks off the 2017 MLS season on March 4 in LA against the Galaxy. Prior to that, the club will play both legs of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals, hosting Panama’s Arabe Unido next Thursday at Toyota Stadium before hitting the road. Prior to that, FCD hosts its annual Cocktails and Cleats event on Friday at F.I.G., where it will introduce its new secondary kit. The team has been teasing the reveal online over the last few days, and owner Dan Hunt called to take us through the various elements of jersey’s symbol-heavy design.
Uncle Lamar
The jersey will have an LH patch on the right sleeve, honoring American sports visionary — and Dan’s father — the late Lamar Hunt.
“You know, he designed the FC Dallas logo at our kitchen table,” Hunt says. “He hand-drew it. And so this is the last stadium, Toyota Stadium, he got to do while he was alive. Interestingly, he drew the [Kansas City] Chiefs’ logo at the kitchen table of our old house. He created that logo, so the thing is, if his fingerprints aren’t all over this organization it would be an injustice.”
The Stars at Night, Pt. 1
“The jersey itself — it’s a deep blue that fades to white as you go down towards the shorts, looking like a Texas sky. There are 11 stars on the chest of the jersey and those stars represent the 11 starters on the field.”
Corporate Synergy
“It’s fun, because with a partner like AdvoCare on the jersey — you know, ‘We Build Champions’ being their motto, and our goal here at FCD with our academy is to build champions, so it’s a nice tie-in with that.”
“Hoops” Dreams
“What happens with the blue and white is we try to create a banding effect — obviously, there’s still some nostalgia, and if you look at our reds, you can see the horizontal stripes — we’re still trying to honor some of that banding that goes back to the days of the team being called ‘The Hoops’ as a nickname. The 2018 new jersey I would say is a big change but there’s still some banding in it to pay homage to that.”
Close to Home
“The Texas flag on the back — that’s very important to us for a lot of different reasons. One of our stated goals of this club is to one day be made up of half of homegrown players, developed here in the Metroplex, players that we get around from the state of Texas, so I think that’s an identity for this club. It’s such a great story having these young people come from the Metroplex and have a ton of success. Like Kellyn Acosta from Plano, who is now part of the U.S. Men’s National Team program and we’ve watched him literally grow up here. And there are many more. You’re looking at guys, the next generation of players like Paxton Pomykal and Jesus Ferreira, Reggie Cannon — these kids all grew up here, and they grew up in our system and it’s really been fun. I think Jesus began here at the club when he was 8 or 9. Yeah, so to have him, you know, he’s down, played with the first team, a newly minted 16-year-old as of December 24 and he’s scoring goals against Argentine giants — it’s a remarkable story.”
The Stars at Night, Pt. 2
“The inside tag of the neck says ‘The Stars At Night Are Big and Bright’, paying homage to [‘Deep in the Heart of Texas’] the song we have our supporters group play before the game, with their little musical quartet down there getting our fans to sing along.”
#DTID
“Obviously, we’ll have on the bottom left DTID — the Dallas ’Til I Die tag — which will be on the bottom left of that jersey. I think it’s beautiful. I think it’s unique to what we’ve been doing and also you know as these things continue to evolve, I’m just really proud of this one, the symbolism — I would say this is arguably the most symbolic jersey we’ve produced here in conjunction with Adidas and feel great about it and also excited about future products.”
