New Major League Soccer team will be called St. Louis SC

The newest Major League Soccer team will be called St. Louis SC when it debuts in 2023, team officials announced Thursday.

The team's name and logo were unveiled nearly a year after the city was given an MLS franchise. St. Louis SC will join Sacramento as the 29th and 30th teams when they begin play. The name was selected from more than 6,000 submissions.

The team colors will be “City Red,” “River Blue,” “Energy Yellow,” and “Arch Steel Gray." The logo will include a representation of the St. Louis Gateway Arch.

The team will have the only majority female-led ownership group in MLS, led by Carolyn Kindle Betz, president of Enterprise Holdings Foundation.

“Our desire from Day One has been to be bigger than soccer and to become part of the fabric of St. Louis and a symbol of our future. This is a significant step forward for our club – and our region,” Kindle Betz said in a news release.

The franchise in March received $5.7 million in state tax credits to help pay for the construction of a soccer complex on the western edge of downtown.

The team was scheduled to debut in 2022, but the process was delayed in part by the coronavirus pandemic.

Image credits: AP