Linehan: Boston NWSL club misses the mark with BOS Nation FC and marketing campaign

The Boston Breakers didn’t die for this.

Six years after the Breakers, the previous attempt at an NWSL club in Boston was shuttered, its players scattered via a dispersal draft, and a history stretching back to the wake of the 1999 World Cup and the rise of WUSA brought to a sad conclusion, The second attempt at a first-division franchise has its new name and club colors.

The 15th NWSL team, announced in September 2023 as one of two expansion teams joining the league in 2026, will be called BOS Nation FC . The ownership group announced the name and club’s colors via a marketing campaign centered on the idea of ​​”Too Many Balls.”

Tuesday’s launch was official confirmation of a report from CBS’s Sandra Herrera that had dropped Monday to much immediate and overwhelmingly negative reaction, including by some who called the “Too Many Balls” campaign transphobic.

But no one could have been prepared for the announcement video.

Entering: BOS Nation FC ⚽️

Thank you @Patriots , @RedSox , @NHLBruins , @celtics , and @NERevolution. The next chapter of Boston sports starts now 💪 pic.twitter.com/2DMtsvUc7k

— NWSL Boston (@NWSLBoston) October 15, 2024

Someday, they’ll study this team launch as a case study of what not to do in marketing classes. They’ll run that video, and a student will raise his or her hand, and perhaps question, “Did they really use the phrase ‘goat balls’ in a video launching a women’s soccer team?”

Forks. Yes, they did. It’s somehow not the worst element of the video, just its most baffling.

They’re gonna delete that video….right???

— Bethany Balcer (@bethanybalcer) October 15, 2024

On Wednesday, the club issued a statement saying it “missed the mark” in its brand launch campaign and apologized to the LGBTQ+ community and to the trans community more specifically.

“We are proud to be part of the most inclusive sports league in the world and are committed to upholding the unifying values ​​that define the NWSL and our club,” the club said. “Thank you to all who have held us accountable by calling for us to do better. “We hear you and we will, together.”

From us to you. pic.twitter.com/ASHFHltb5n

— NWSL Boston (@NWSLBoston) October 16, 2024

Between the name and campaign, this is the worst NWSL launch I’ve ever seen in the history of the league. It might be the worst brand launch I’ve ever seen in American soccer, although there are some other universally detested rebrands that might put up a fight. MLS in particular excels for teams rebranding, then needing to immediately rebrand again (see: the Chicago Fire and my favorite, Club de Foot Montréal ).

But as a Masshole and someone who has an extensive history directly with Boston women’s pro soccer across multiple leagues… Boston, you’re embarrassing me in front of my friends. Stop it. Please .

The most insulting part is how much time they’ve had to release something this bad. The team was officially announced in September 2023 . Over a year later, and this is the result? Honestly, at this point, we should be grateful they weren’t prepared to drop the new crest because at least it will be less work for them to do all over again.

Bos Nation FC is the @nwsl’s 15th expansion team, slated to start competing in the 2026 season.

Controlling owner Jennifer Epstein and investor @ElizabethBanks share why they believe now is the time to bring women’s soccer to Massachusetts: “Women’s sports are peaking.” pic.twitter.com/GPwe4raT60

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) October 15, 2024

As has been explained many times, including on their launch on CBS’s morning show, BOS Nation is an anagram of Bostonian. This explanation does not help justify the name choice — setting aside the inherent paradox of one city’s team somehow being called a nation (complicated further by the league itself using “national” as well as the USWNT, but I fear those conversations were never had) .

Anagrams aren’t exactly needle-movers when it comes to getting potential fans on board with a new team identity, but they were so close to something that might have worked as a central concept to build around: the Bostonian.

The club website explains the concept as such: “It is an origin story. An identity. A badge of honor. And a title worn proudly by millions across 23 neighborhoods and 48.4 square miles.”

If this is the foundation upon which your new club identity remains, then why not go with the Bostonians as the name or Bostonian Football Club? Perhaps it’s too simple and would easily get lost in search results, but those problems are easier to solve than what the team is facing.

“Where sarcasm is the native language. A three dollar and 48 cent cup of coffee is the food of choice,” that section continues. Who is this for? Because copy like that isn’t written for Bostonians or Massholes or even New Englanders — your intended audience and customer base.

There’s just so much going on with this launch beyond the problems with the name. Keep reading the website, and there’s the Too Many Balls campaign, but there’s also a bunch of slogans, like “WE ARE THE MANY,” and “COMMONWEALTH, MEET NATION.” Everything is trying so hard. All of it feels like the first step of ideation, where you throw a million ideas up on a board before whittling them down to one that works. (And “we are the many” turns into ” be the many ” when it comes to merchandise for no understandable reason.)

The season-ticket deposit page informs potential buyers that they shouldn’t miss rivalry games against Gotham or Angel City. How can a team that won’t take the field until 2026 have rivals? Certainly there are historical rivalries in men’s sports between Boston and New York or Boston and Los Angeles, but to pretend like those will automatically carry over into the NWSL once again speaks to the fundamental misunderstanding of BOS NATION FC and its approach to the culture of women’s soccer. A culture, that should be said, already exists in Boston, thanks to a long history across three professional leagues dating back to 2001.

For me, the Too Many Balls campaign’s tone falls well short of the cheek they were looking for, but there’s a more problematic element. Seattle Reign’s Quinn commented on the NWSL’s post of the campaign launch video, then their original comment was hidden.

“Calling out transphobia shouldn’t be hidden!” they wrote . “This doesn’t represent the league and is such poor messaging.”

And at Tuesday’s event to celebrate the launch, one fan brought a sign that said there was no room for transphobia in the league.

“The whole intent behind the brand was to be inclusive, and so we take that very seriously. And I would look forward to talking to that player and thinking through why this made them feel that way,” controlling owner Jennifer Epstein told reporters at the event on Tuesday.

I understand the urgency to distinguish this team from the Boston Breakers as a new team and a new brand. But the erasure of other existing women’s sports teams playing in Boston is yet another alarming sign that this team is walking into a space it does not understand.

As a Massachusetts native, I really want @NWSLBoston to succeed. I also want to shout out @PWHL_Boston, @BeantownRFC, and @GoRenegades as existing women’s pro sports teams here to support!

— Samantha Mewis (@sammymewy) October 15, 2024

Again, with layers upon layers of frustration over this apparent end product — there are so many experts, players and other stakeholders who could have helped them realize why this was such a bad idea.

Hear me out, recent NWSL retirees get to be in charge of the next expansion team. Would crush, starting with the name

— Tori Huster (@torihuster) October 15, 2024

“A lot of us played for or against the Breakers or went to games. Some of us grew up in New England; some of us (like me) lived in Boston,” NWSL Players Association director Meghann Burke responded when asked for her reaction to the launch, saying that Boston is already primed with women’s soccer fans and sports fans in general.

“The town and the players who will represent them deserve so much more,” Burke continued. “With the work that has gone into laying a strong foundation for Boston’s 2026 launch, I honestly did not perceive this team to be so unserious. I’m holding out hope that this is an elaborate and ingenious joke and that the real team name and campaign telling us what they’re really about will be rolled out soon.”

For anyone who bought the black t-shirt that said “TOO MANY BALLS” on it for $35 on Tuesday, congratulations, you now are the owner of a NWSL collector’s item.

Here’s the silver lining: it’s not too late, not by a long shot. And Boston won’t be the first team that needs a course correction. They’ve clearly already started the adjustments as of late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, as toomanyballs.com (yes, a real URL I still can’t believe was used to promote a new women’s soccer team) has been retired.

That’s not where it needs to end though.

Racing Louisville FC got it right, in the end, and has some of the best colors and kits in the NWSL. But first, they had Proof — the original name, with a crest too, launched in November 2019. By April, they were reconsidering. By July, they presented their new identity (with designs from Matt Wolff) to much relief.

The runway for Boston is still longer. Other teams, like the Kansas City Current, or even entire leagues, like the PWHL, realized that sometimes it’s better to extend a deadline than to get it wrong on the first take. So yes, it’s a painful lesson for the Boston NWSL club, but it doesn’t have to stain the entire project.

(Photo: Barry Chin / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)