There is a LOT of teams with vertical stripes. One could easily try to make the argument that they are aping Newcastle United’s black and white stripes by that argument. Not to mention Adidas and Niki tend to have “standard” kits and just change colors most of the time.
Black and Red was obviously chosen to match the Atlanta Falcons (and Blank’s AMB Group and allow for Mercedes Benz Stadium to not have to worry about a second color scheme).
No love for the Atlanta Hawks NBA team?
They also use the red and black (and yellow) colors. It’s definitely fitting with Atlanta area sports.
Hawks historical official colors are red, gold, and white - black was added later. Also, Arthur Blank doesn’t own the Hawks.
I think the Sounders try to have it both ways. They’re frequently (commonly?) called “Sounders FC.” Or “Seattle Sounders FC” (I don’t hear something similar with the Reign.)
I didn’t suggest anything but that the colors are consistent with another Atlanta sports team.
Right, but there was no thought to matching the Hawks 
. They generally aren’t super popular in Atlanta (it is arguable that Atlanta United may be more popular than the Hawks - but if Trae can lead the Hawks to the playoffs I guess we’ll see).
Fair enough. So I guess my rhetorical question, “No love for the Atlanta Hawks NBA team?”, has a non-rhetorical answer of “that is correct”.
I honestly didn’t know the Hawks had a black-and-red uniform until @Atamasama’s post above.
But the last time I paid any attention to them, they were starting Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb. They wore red and yellow, then.
Going back to this… generally MLS fans like the American style names in theory, but in trying to reach out to European soccer fans or casual fans, the PR firms have found out that European style names help A LOT. Most founding members of Atlanta United were disappointed by the name when it was revealed. It was dull. But it certainly helped do its job as the team averages more than 50k fans a game. And now no one cares.
I’m guessing that is part of the calculation for teams like Montreal when they look at rebrands. The original MLS names connoted an unseriousness among some soccer fans. The most successful rebrands of an MLS team ever was when the Kansas City Wizards (originally known as the Kansas City Wiz, LOL) changed their name to Sporting Kansas City as well as changing their colors and logo and moving to a new stadium and completely changed their fortunes. It’s still the model for a successful rebrand (KC was about to relocate before the rebrand).
Yeah. Pandering to the snobby set of U.S. soccer fans, which is probably the smart thing to do. Personally, I think it’s kind of lame, but I see why they feel the need to do it.
Well, that just supports my suspicion that AU was trying to imitate established European teams. (I googled Barcelona’s jerseys, and yes, they’re not quite as similar to AU’s as I had thought.) I did note the black and red referenced the Falcons.
You made this point in the earlier thread about MLS names, yes. And given AU’s success drawing fans (pre-Covid, that is,) I don’t doubt you’re correct. I’m not passing judgment, only making a observation. The OP wondered why MLS teams were adopting European-style names; it’s because MLS fans like those sorts of names. Simple as that.
Nitpick: the official name of the club is not Red Bull Leipzig, but RasenBallsport Leipzig. Everybody knows that Red Bull owns the club and that RB secretly stands for Red Bull, but officially a brand name as club name is not allowed by the statutes of the DFB, so the clumsy RasenBallsport.
(somehow, Bayer Leverkusen is an exception, but I cannot explain that. Maybe out of tradition.)
You are correct! I tend to forget that… it’s also part of Germany’s 50+1 rule. Bayer Leverkusen and VW Wolfsburg (Wolfsburg) have been grandfathered.
Sorry, have to nitpick again. Yes, Wolfsburg is Volkswagen’s club, but their name is VfL Wolfsburg.
Somewhat relevant (though with the Canadian Premier League, the D2 league in Canada):
York’s original team was the York 9 (for the 9 towns that make up York). It was an interesting name. It didn’t gain traction over the past 2 seasons… so they’ve gone to York United.
That makes it sound like they play with 9 players, which makes it sound like a baseball team.
Exactly my thought. “York 9” sounds like a nineteenth century baseball club.
Well they were York9 FC if it helps 
To me, it’s no different than a team calling themselves New York 5 (for the boroughs)
Except that “the [blank] nine” was a term used to describe a baseball team; most famously by Ernest Lawrence Thayer: “The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day…”
Right for baseball fans in the US, but I don’t think most Canadians necessarily have the same impression .