‘Be different.’ Why Lexington Sporting Club chose green to represent pro soccer here.
When Vince Gabbert looks across the sports landscape in Central Kentucky and its neighboring regions, he sees distinct team identities and the colors synonymous with them.
The University of Kentucky boasts blue and white. The Cincinnati Bengals in black, orange and white. The Cincinnati Reds are self-explanatory.
Even to the west, red and white dominates the color schemes associated with the University of Louisville and Western Kentucky University.
Louisville’s own professional soccer teams — Louisville City and Racing Louisville — prominently feature purple and white.
So when Gabbert, the president of Central Kentucky’s new professional soccer franchise, Lexington Sporting Club, and his co-workers began to think about team branding and colors, they knew it was important to differentiate LSC against the existing sports landscape.
“We wanted to stand out, we wanted to be different from that standpoint,” Gabbert told the Herald-Leader. “What did (our) color and what did (our) logo look like, basically on a poster board up against all of those other logos?”
The end result was revealed one month ago, in differing shades of green.
In late March, Lexington Sporting Club unveiled its team name, colors and crest, which features a vibrant green stylized horse figure set against a darker green background.
The colors distinguish LSC from other teams in the Central Kentucky market, as well as in USL League One, the third tier North American soccer league that LSC will begin play in next spring.
Currently, only two of the 11 teams in the league feature green in their club crest.
Gabbert said a priority was placed on creating a team brand that people would want to wear, from fans to youth club players.
“Every time we saw it and those shades (of green) with that kind of background with that Dixiana Green, it really popped,” Gabbert said. “We liked the way that we had the traditional look with the horse and the crest, but you had much more of a modern feel with the colors.”
That “Dixiana Green” mentioned by Gabbert is a reference to the franchise’s majority owner, William J. Shively, who also owns the historic Dixiana Thoroughbred horse farm that features a deep green color in its branding.
The connection to horses through Shively, and the animal’s prominence in Central Kentucky life, meant it was no surprise to see the horse featured in the team’s crest.
Christopher Payne, who designed the logo, said when it was announced that he was struck by “how proud the local community was about horses and the horse industry.”
Despite the horse being such a recognizable icon of the Central Kentucky community, Gabbert said there was initial concern about overusing it in the franchise’s branding.
“Could we find a way to integrate the horse that was new and that really kind of spoke to the tradition of the sport and the culture?” Gabbert said. “I think we found a way to do that. When you look at the crest, it seems very classic and very classy. “
During the branding and logo creation process, Lexington Sporting Club held 14 listening sessions with members of the local community, received more than 300 responses to brand surveys and more than 1,500 responses to stadium surveys.
“It was important for us really to have that link because every listening session, everybody that we talked to, you know the pride that people feel with the horse,” Gabbert said. “Not to mention the athleticism and what it means just from a sporting standpoint.”
Team merchandise featuring the horse logo and distinct green franchise colors is available for purchase, although Gabbert said the team has had a hard time getting in inventory to be able to sell.
Some items — like scarves and hats — have largely been sold on pre-order while inventory arrives.
“The office is getting in shipments pretty much every day right now trying to make sure that we’re filling, fulfilling orders,” Gabbert said, adding that new apparel that’s more suited for summer will soon be made available.
In explaining consumer response to purchasing Lexington Sporting Club merchandise, Gabbert cited the items worn by his own daughters at school, in particular a dark green hoodie with a light green horse logo on it.
“Kind of the simplistic nature, but still giving it a pop of color, standing out from some of the traditional blue and white has been pretty popular,” Gabbert said.
LSC jersey, kit sponsors to come soon
While the men’s senior team won’t begin play in USL League One until next spring, LSC-affiliated youth teams will begin play in just a few months.
The franchise recently announced its plans for both its boys’ and girls’ youth teams, as well as the merger of two Lexington youth soccer clubs under the LSC name.
The next step is unveiling a jersey and associated kit sponsors for those teams to play in.
“We’re hoping to have that (sponsorship), especially with the youth jerseys, here in the next couple of weeks,” Gabbert said on April 13. “So the full kit sponsor and that kit look may wait 30 days or so . . . we’re hopeful to have those announcements well in advance of (youth team events) so that people could go ahead and get settled in and see what those shirts are going to look like.”
Gabbert added that LSC is “not far off” from a kit sponsor.
What will Gabbert and others at Lexington Sporting Club be looking for in jersey sponsors?
“It comes down to those who want to make an impact in the community. It doesn’t have to be limited to local or regionally,” Gabbert explained. “We’ve talked from the get-go about the unity and the togetherness that we hope to bring in this community through the sport . . . our ownership group has made that very clear from the outset that they want to put together a great product that the community can really unify behind, and so far all of our sponsorship talks have been in the same vein.”
LSC’s kit manufacturer is expected to be Nike, which currently is the listed apparel company for most LSC merchandise available for purchase.
