The First Coast’s latest professional soccer team officially has a team crest, name and colors following an announcement on Dec. 13 that unveiled all three to the public.
Members of JAXUSL and the team’s ownership group were on hand and announced that the new soccer teams will be named Sporting Club Jacksonville and will be abbreviated as “Sporting JAX.”
The team’s new colors will consist of a combination of blue, orange and yellow, which was chosen to help depict the area’s coastline and beach vibes.
Determining the team’s crest, name and colors was a lengthy process that has been going on for months with several community meetings designed to get the feedback of the residents in what they thought would be the best way to have the team reflect the local culture.
The process included everything from public meetings and listening sessions to discussions with local historians.
“What we got from the community has already been fantastic, and we hope you are proud of it and continue to want to get behind it,” JAXUSL president and CEO Steve Livingstone said.
Listening to the community and getting a sense of what they were most passionate about in the local community was very important to the JAXUSL staff, because they want the team to represent more than just soccer.
“This is truly something that has been community driven from the start, and it’s great to see it all come to life,” said Erika Bjork, a JAXUSL Consultant. “There’s something special about this sport and how it brings the world and communities together.”
According to Bjork, a soccer team’s crest is meant to represent more than just another logo, but instead it represents a region or area where the team calls home.
“I had the fortunate opportunity to work with this group to help identify and find out the stories and what this community loves about this place,” Bjork said. “In soccer, we wear our crests over our hearts, we wave our crests in our flags and banners and lift it high when we raise our scarves. Now Jax has a crest of its own.”
The crest and name will be worn by both the men’s and women’s professional soccer teams associated with Sporting JAX, which was touted as the first time something like that would be taking place.
“One crest, one club,” said Tony Allegretti, a member of the JAXUSL ownership group.
Other ownership group members in attendance were local sports legends Tim Tebow and Fred Taylor.
“To me, I’ve been able to see firsthand what sports can do for communities and what it can do for people,” Tebow said. “It’s so much more for me about the dreams and the individuals of a city that we love and call home. What you see when you look at this crest is hope, and why wouldn’t we want to give that to our community.”
For Taylor, he cannot wait to see the crest on jerseys and merchandise being worn by both the players on the field and fans in the stands, because that is when it will become so real.
“That will be exciting because it will show that all the commitment has come to fruition,” Taylor said.
