This situation highlights yet another instance where corporate fear of activist backlash overrides common sense and lighthearted marketing. The Boston NWSL team’s original slogan, “Too many balls,” was clearly a playful double entendre referencing soccer, yet it was swiftly condemned as “transphobic” by transgender activists, forcing the team to scrap their branding entirely.
How Did a Simple Soccer Slogan Become a Controversy?
The slogan played on a common soccer term—balls, referring to the sport itself—while also serving as a tongue-in-cheek tagline to generate buzz. It was not an attack on any group, nor was it designed to offend.
However, Seattle Reign’s transgender player Quinn—a biological female who identifies as non-binary—took personal offense to the marketing and accused the team of transphobia.
“Feels transphobic. Yikes.” — Quinn, via Instagram
From that one post, activists piled on the Boston team, demanding an apology and labeling the slogan as an attack on transgender people.
A Corporate Capitulation
Instead of standing firm and defending the clearly innocent slogan, the Boston team immediately folded under pressure:
- They deleted the slogan and issued an apology.
- Activists did not stop, continuing to demand further changes.
- The team ultimately abandoned their name altogether and decided to rebrand entirely.
Jennifer Epstein, the team’s majority owner, tried to spin this as a positive, saying:
“The club extends our heartfelt thanks to our supporters, whose passionate voices we deeply value—not just for their unwavering support but also for their honest and critical feedback.”
In reality, this statement is a thinly veiled attempt to save face while bowing to pressure from a vocal minority.
What’s Next? A Bland, Safe Rebrand
Now, instead of standing behind their original identity, the team has temporarily changed its name to “Coming Soon FC” and is working on a brand-new name to avoid any further controversy.
🚨 Translation: They are being held hostage by woke outrage mobs and are now rebranding out of fear.
Why This Matters
This situation is about far more than just a soccer team’s name: 🔹 Words are being policed to the extreme. A joke about a soccer ball has now been labeled as “hate speech.”
🔹 Activists don’t accept apologies. The Boston team bent the knee, but the outrage didn’t stop.
🔹 Sports teams are now terrified to market themselves freely. Even a harmless joke gets destroyed by the woke mob.
This is yet another example of how radical activism is dictating the terms of public conversation. A soccer slogan meant to be fun and engaging was twisted into a political battleground, and the team caved without a fight.
At what point do companies, teams, and individuals start pushing back against this nonsense? If a harmless soccer joke is now deemed too controversial, then nothing is safe from cancellation.