It was a sight that would shock many in-the-know soccer fans: supporters decked out in Seattle Sounders gear happily fraternizing with fans donning the Portland Timbers' forest green and gold. These two archrivals found some common ground in downtown Spokane last Friday — a hometown team to bring them together.
Spokane's new men's professional soccer team is the Spokane Velocity. The club announced the name in front of a packed house at Brick West Brewing Co. on a sweltering mid-July evening, but the heat didn't seem to matter as an overflowing crowd spilled out onto the brewery's patio.
The name and team crest, also made public at the event, are an homage to the Spokane River, flowing just a couple of blocks away from the still-under-construction ONE Spokane Stadium, which the team will call home.
The unveiling was made through a video presentation featuring shots of the river running high and fast, roaring over the falls. Before finally revealing the Spokane Velocity name and crest, the video referenced the "powerful" and "bold" aspects of the river and referred to it as "a driving force of nature, continuously pushing us forward."
"I graduated from Lewis and Clark High School, and I took physics my senior year," Velocity co-owner Katie Harnetiaux tells the crowd after the video. "Velocity is directly related to power and force, and the key here is that we can put a team on the field, but we can't do it without you. You all are the power and the force behind the team that's coming to this town."
If the crowd size is any indication, there looks to be a lot of power and force behind the Velocity.
The announcement was made Friday at 5 pm, but the house was packed well over an hour in advance. By 4 pm, the line for a beer was nearly 10 minutes long, and it only grew from there.
After the announcement, an even longer line snaked its way around the perimeter of the patio adjacent to the taproom. That queue was for the chance to buy the club's first merchandise and apparel, including hats, scarves and shirts emblazoned with the Spokane Velocity name and logo.
The logo — or crest, as it's known in the soccer world — also pays tribute to the river. Four vertical bands of aqua blue, stylized to appear as flowing water, are set underneath the word "velocity." The first and last letters of "velocity" frame the water to evoke the Monroe Street Bridge's grand arch over the Spokane Falls.
Local agency Treatment designed the crest and club branding, which includes black or white to offset the teal-blue crest.
The Spokane Velocity will begin play in USL League One in March 2024 at ONE Spokane Stadium. The team competes on the third tier of the U.S. soccer pyramid, below Major League Soccer and the USL Championship. Spokane is set to be the 13th team in the league, with the others based in mostly midsize cities, most of which are located in the southeastern U.S.
Team co-owner Ryan Harnetiaux joked before the announcement about the lack of a regional rival for the club but said he already has a team in mind that he considers a rival for the Velocity.
USL deputy CEO Justin Papadakis also praised Spokane as special, noting that the Velocity is a part of larger growth and change occurring in the city.
"Spokane is one of those cities that has changed a lot. When we look at the new Spokane, if you go down to the Riverfront [Park] over the past five, 10 and certainly past 20 years, so much has changed," Papadakis says. "From day one, [Velocity owners] Ryan and Katie, Jordan and Whitney [Tampien], they thought about this new Spokane and wanted to create a club that represents the city they love on the national and international stage."
Friday's announcement was just one of many that the organization behind the Spokane Velocity plans to make in the coming months. The still-unnamed women's team, which will also take the pitch next year, is set to have its identity released sometime in October.
For potential fans who may have missed Friday's name reveal event, there are still opportunities to get involved with the club ahead of next spring's opening match. Season tickets for Spokane Velocity are running low, however, with about 200 remaining as of press time.
Prior to the name release and subsequent merchandise sales, another brand was on display at Brick West. The 509 Syndicate, the first supporters' group for the Velocity, was in full force with members rocking scarves emblazoned with the group's name.
509 Syndicate President Jonathan Ehrenberg says the group has its next meeting Aug. 8 at Flatstick Pub in downtown Spokane. The event is open to anyone interested in joining the nonprofit supporters' group, which plans to march from Flatstick through Riverfront Park ahead of every Velocity home game. ♦
