The OKC For Soccer group unveiled the top five names suggested for the rebranding of OKC Energy FC. While voting has closed, let’s take a look at each of the five.
1. OKC Bison FC
The Bison is the state animal of Oklahoma and has been for over 50 years. More than that though, they’ve played a key role in the history of Oklahoma since before statehood. The name is a decent homage to that history, however I think having a bison on the crest would work better than outright naming the team after them.
2. OKC Lightning FC
This is just a naked attempt to tie in with the Thunder. The Thunder and OKC For Soccer have only the most tangential relationship – former NBA MVP and Thunder star Russell Westbrook owns a minority stake in the soccer team. However, is it really the best idea to name a team in tandem when they could (many years down the road) move to a new city if a stadium deal isn’t agreed to? It’s already happened once.
Additionally, we’ve done the Lightning once before. Anyone remember Rayo OKC?
3. OKC Thunderbird FC
Again, this pays homage to the history of the state, namely the 45th Infantry. Much like the Bison, though, I believe that this would work better as part of the crest. Additionally, this may be too close to the OKC Thunder to not end up in court.
4. OKC United
This is the most “Euro” sounding of all the names that we had the option to vote on. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it either. At least it doesn’t have “FC” added at the end. If I had to pick one, this is the one I’d end up going with.
5. OKC Wind FC
Quit trying to make fetch happen. Y’all tried to make this name a thing when we were naming the Thunder back in the day. I hope this name finds itself in the trash heap once again. It’s just very weak sounding (even if we just had a ton of wildfires as a result of the wind in the last few weeks).
Boom Town Soccer 