USL Feature
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
By NICHOLAS MURRAY
When the Baltimore Bohemians were announced as one of the new members of the USL PDL for the 2012 season, the members of the club’s front office knew they wanted to make a statement that would grab attention locally.
Thanks to two iconic Maryland images, they’ve managed just that.
When the Bohemians make their debut on May 19 against the Ocean City Nor’easters, they’ll not only be wearing one of the most distinctive uniforms in North America, but also have the image of one of Baltimore’s most well-known icons on their chests.
“We had the jersey before we had the crest,” Bohemians Director of Marketing & Media Relations Joe Tirabassi said. “It was something that we wanted to stand out. It was our first year, we wanted to do something unique, something that would set us apart, and we wanted to wear something that you couldn’t mistake for another team. Thankfully we had really great source material, the Maryland flag is very distinct.”
Then there was the deal the club struck with the Pabst Brewing Company to have National Bohemian become the club’s marquee sponsor. The deal that would see Mr. Boh become part of the club’s uniform and merchandise immediately drew national attention, creating the sort of buzz the Bohemians were hoping for.
”It definitely is a perfect match,” Tirabassi said. “We’re traditionalists, and we’re engaged with U.S. soccer 24/7, so we wanted to get a shirt sponsor to put us on a par with some of the professional teams, and we thought, ‘well, what better than National Bohemian beer?’ Their mascot, Mr. Boh, is iconic in Baltimore, it’s something that everyone recognizes, so we made a few calls, we finally got through and they were more than happy to come on board.”
While the deal took a few months to piece together as the club was also focusing on securing Cedar Lane Park as their home and hiring legendary Baltimore Bays coach Steve Nichols to lead the team, Pabst Brewing was also very pleased to be on board with the new club.
“We recognize that the U.S. is finally starting to catch up with the rest of the world when it comes to appreciating the exciting sport of soccer and that is why we are delighted to connect National Bohemian, or ‘Natty Boh,’ with this local emerging team,” said Daren and Evan Metropoulos, co-owners of Pabst Brewing Company in a statement. “The brand has a long history of supporting athletics in the area, and now by being the exclusive beer for all home matches as well as having our very own iconic Mr. Boh adorning the Bohemians’ jerseys, we really feel like we are expanding our family.”
When images of the club’s jerseys, which go on sale this Thursday via nattybohgear.com and baltimorebohemians.com, were then released through national soccer blog The Denim Kit, the buzz grew even larger. With both of the blog’s founders having ties to Maryland, they were eager to help the club with its efforts to reach as wide an audience as possible.
“Once I emailed them images of the jersey, they wanted to do something with it, and it sort of caught on fire and I was surprised that it got some traction outside of the soccer community,” Tirabassi said. In addition to being shared throughout U.S. soccer circles, the new uniforms even saw stories written about them on new literary sports site The Classical, and even a uniform blog in Turkey.
The attention the club’s sponsorship deal and distinctive uniform has drawn has allowed the Bohemians to make their mark in the Baltimore area and nationally. Tirabassi said the club has seen supportive messages coming in from other cities with strong soccer cultures such as Portland and Seattle, with an independent supporter’s group starting to become active to follow the club this season, the expectation levels are rising.
“It’s extremely exciting,” Tirabassi said. “This is running through all of our heads, 24/7, and yeah, we went out and got the best coach in the area, and we’re confident in him that he’s going to put together a strong team because there’s so much talent in this area. Hopefully it’s all going to add up once the season kicks off.”
If the Bohemians can match the level of their play to the standard of their jerseys, a major success story could be brewing in their first season.