"OKC Onion Burgers FC" was on the table. So was "Flying Cows SC." Oklahoma City's newest professional soccer club had a naming process that was equal parts community exercise and fever dream — and what came out the other side is genuinely interesting.
OKC United officially has its name, its crest, and a 2028 target date to make its United Soccer League Championship debut. Three years of waiting. For a city that lost OKC Energy FC in 2022 and has been running a community campaign called OKC For Soccer ever since, the reveal carries real weight.
Why "United" beat out the rest
The shortlist of five names — OKC Bison FC, OKC Lightning FC, OKC Thunderbird FC, OKC Wind FC, and OKC United — tells you something about the identity they were chasing. The four losers all lean on imagery. United leans on people.
Mayor David Holt put it plainly: "OKC is a community that works together to find common ground. Our unity is how we have built ourselves into America's most dynamic city." Whether you buy the civic pride framing or not, "United" travels well. It's globally legible as a football name in a way that "Flying Cows" decidedly is not.
Naming a team after future part-owner Russell Westbrook was apparently floated and left on the table. Probably the right call. Club names outlast ownerships.
What the crest is actually doing
Designer Matthew Wolff — whose credits include LAFC and FC Tulsa — built something with more layers than most American sports crests attempt. The shield forms an arrowhead shape, a nod to Oklahoma's Native American heritage. At the center, the OKC logo sits inside a sun composed of individual rays, one for each of the 39 tribes with headquarters in Oklahoma. The inner lining references Jim Thorpe's Sac and Fox name, Wa-Tho-Huk — "Bright Path."
That's not decoration. That's a design team that did its homework.
The colors — midnight blue, pink sunset, ivory cloud — came from the sky above Oklahoma rather than the fan wishlist. Supporters had pushed for flag blue, red dirt red, and landscape green. Majority owner Christian Kanady overruled the crowd: "Those pink Oklahoma sunsets are unlike anywhere else on earth. The sky became the foundation of our color palette."
Russell Westbrook, for his part, described the crest as "a mirror" that has to reflect city, people, and club simultaneously. For a man who spent years as the face of Oklahoma City's other major sports franchise, he understands what a badge needs to carry.
The road to 2028
The 10,000-seat stadium going up in lower Bricktown is MAPS 4 funded — city money — built on land donated by Kanady. It's expected to open in 2028, the same year the club enters the USL Championship, the same second division OKC Energy FC competed in before suspending operations.
That's a long runway. Three years of brand-building before a competitive ball is kicked. In USL terms, that's not unusual for expansion sides, but it does mean the betting market on OKC United's first season is a long way off. When it arrives, a brand-new club in a purpose-built stadium with genuine community investment behind it will draw attention — and scrutiny.
For now, they have a name that works, a crest that means something, and colors nobody else in American soccer is wearing. Not a bad start for a club that almost launched as the Onion Burgers.
