Huntsville MLS NEXT Pro Club Announces Team Name and New Logo

One thousand soccer fans packed the Mars Music Hall on Wednesday night for the brand unveiling of Huntsville’s new MLS NEXT Pro soccer club.

The club’s name will be the Huntsville City Football Club (Huntsville City FC),and is set to play their inaugural season in 2023 while playing its home games at the newly-renovated Joe Davis Stadium, the former home of Minor League Baseball’s Huntsville Stars.

Huntsville City is one of seven new MLS Next Pro teams to debut in 2023, joining the other 21 reserve teams affiliated with Major League Soccer clubs. MLS Next Pro, launched in 2022, serves as the stepping stone between MLS and its youth academy arm, MLS Next, in the league’s professional development pipeline. Huntsville City FC is affiliated with Nashville’s MLS club, Nashville SC. 

During the public event, the voice of Nashville SC Tony Husband, local television personality Payton Walker, and Huntsville City FC executives also revealed the team’s logo, which was inspired by the City of Huntsville’s official seal and longstanding space industry.

Huntsville City FC’s logo takes inspiration from the official seal of the City of Huntsville as well as its longstanding space industry, which is home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Missile Defense Agency, and Army Space and Rocket Command, among others. The circular shape of the seal and rocket boosters influenced the circular shape of the logo, the shooting star in the middle represents the idea of orbiting space and Huntsville’s history with the space industry, and the checkerboard design on either side of the logo pays homage to the checkered pattern on the Saturn I rocket that was developed at the MSFC.

The deep sea blue serves as the primary color, bordered by rings of sky blue and also features a checkered pattern, a salute to the Marshall Space Flight Center, where the Saturn I rocket was developed. A shooting star wraps around the club’s initials, HCFC, which sits in the middle.

Huntsville mayor Tommy Battle was in attendance.

“This is a banner day for Huntsville as we welcome the new Huntsville City FC brand into our community,” Battle said in a statement. “The Huntsville market is well known for supporting its sports teams, and we’re excited for this opportunity to diversify our offerings and add professional soccer to our portfolio. I’ll be the first to purchase season tickets and can’t wait to experience the matches in Joe Davis Stadium.”

Nashville SC chief executive Ian Ayre is also president of Huntsville City and will partner with managing director of business operations Chad Emerson to oversee the club’s day-to-day dealings. Emerson is the former CEO of Downtown Huntsville, Inc.

“Today is an important milestone in a series of pivotal moments that will take place in the coming weeks and months as Huntsville City FC truly comes to life in this city and in Northern Alabama,” Ayre said.

“We are really excited to finally share our team’s identity with the City of Huntsville and the world,” said Majority Owner John Ingram. “The energy and partnership we have experienced in Huntsville is remarkable and we couldn’t imagine a better place for Huntsville City FC to be.”

Tommy Battle also became the first person to purchase season tickets for the 2023 MLS NEXT Pro season. To follow his steps in becoming a Huntsville City FC Season Ticket Member or to learn more about the available ticketing options, visit https://am.ticketmaster.com/huntsvillenextpro/buy.

Joe Davis will be completed by Lee Builders. The architect for the job is Huntsville’s Chapman Sisson Architects.