‘Modern yet traditional.’ Lexington pro soccer team reveals new name, colors and crest.
Lexington’s newest professional sports franchise finally has its official name.
After the October announcement that Lexington was awarded a USL League One franchise — which marked the return of pro soccer to Kentucky’s second-largest city — Tuesday brought the reveal of the franchise’s branding, colors, crest and name.
The franchise will be named Lexington Sporting Club, or Lexington S.C., for short.
The club also revealed its crest, which features a vibrant green stylized horse figure set against a dark green background.
“We’ve spent many months working hard to develop the name and crest of Lexington’s professional soccer club, and we have relied heavily on the input and opinions of residents around the region,” said Bill Shively, owner of Lexington Sporting Club and managing partner of iVisionary Capital Partners. “From day one, it has been critical to us that this club represent our region and its people in every way possible, which is why we spent significant time listening to community voices during our branding and naming process. We’re thrilled with the final outcome and hope that our fans and supporters will be, as well.”
Previously, the expansion team — which will begin play in the third tier of North American soccer in 2023 — had been using the placeholder name Lexington Pro Soccer since October.
Tuesday’s announcement was in line with what franchise president Vince Gabbert told the Herald-Leader on Jan. 25 about when the franchise planned to reveal its official identity.
The Lexington Sporting Club identity for the franchise is the result of a branding process that took place over the last three months and included significant input from Central Kentucky residents.
According to Tuesday’s news release announcing the franchise branding, there were 14 listening sessions with members of the local community, more than 300 responses to brand surveys and more than 1,500 responses to stadium surveys.
Some of the themes that emerged from this months-long process included “Central Kentucky’s winning heritage, the region’s unparalleled landscape and its horse and bourbon industries.”
In past months, the franchise’s social media accounts posted survey links for fans to share their thoughts as part of the branding process.
“It was important to design this crest with input from the Lexington community,” said Christopher Payne, who designed the logo. “We spent hours and hours listening to the community and asking questions to make sure we got this right. In the multiple listening sessions, we heard many many great things about Lexington, but it struck me how proud the local community was about horses and the horse industry, and so I wanted to build a brand identity around this much loved icon of the community. I think that we have created something that everyone can be proud of, a design that is strong and powerful, as well as being modern yet traditional. It is a new identity that will represent Lexington, locally, nationally and internationally.”
In addition to introducing its name and crest, Lexington S.C. has also unveiled a new website and an initial range of Lexington S.C.-branded merchandise. Additional merchandise will become available in the coming weeks, the club said.
Lexington Sporting Club is majority-owned by Tower Hill Sports, which was founded by Shively, who also owns the historic Dixiana Thoroughbred horse farm.
On Jan. 21, the club released renderings of a proposed 6,000-seat soccer stadium, 160-room hotel and 250-unit apartment complex to be located on the High Street parking lot of Central Bank Center, across from Rupp Arena.
“One of our tenets is truly inclusivity and making sure that this is the city’s team,” Gabbert said in January of the overall branding process. “We’re very fortunate that this area is very proud of what we have here, as they should be, and we want to continue that winning tradition and have them have a brand and a team that they can be proud of.”
Gabbert said in January the success with the franchise’s branding launch will be measured by the fans.
“I think in some ways the measure of everything is people being proud to wear the crest on their jerseys and T-shirts and hats and stuff,” Gabbert said. “I think this will be a brand that everybody will be very proud to wear.”
Additionally on Tuesday morning, Lexington Sporting Club announced a new youth soccer setup in Central Kentucky.
The youth soccer programs currently associated with Lexington F.C. and Commonwealth Soccer Club will merge to become the Lexington Sporting Club Youth Soccer Club that will launch in the fall.
Lexington Sporting Club’s pre-professional academy, featuring ages U-16 through U-19, will also launch in the fall.
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 9:37 AM.
