MLS kit rankings: the best and worst new home and away shirts of 2016
A new season in Major League Soccer brings with it a new set of jerseys across the 20 teams as clubs reveal new home or away shirts ahead of the start of the campaign.
There are some real beauties in this new bunch, and a few ugly shirts, too. We polled five members of theScore's soccer staff, asking each person to rank each shirt out of 10. We then added up and compiled the overall scores.
Here's how the 20 new kits stack up ahead of the 2016 MLS season:
20. Columbus Crew
Oh. Oh no. Oh dear. Columbus, what have you done? This is very, very bad. Combined with its periwinkle blue shorts, it might just be the ugliest kit in the world. The shirt was inspired by the flag of Columbus; the problem is the city's flag is awful, too. 9/50
19. San Jose Earthquakes
Our internal critique was that this shirt looks like it was made with clip art. And while these away shirts aren't awful, they don't really look like San Jose kits, either: isn't the team supposed to be decked out in blue and black? 17/50
18. Seattle Sounders
The Sounders continue to revel in this awful shade of green, compounded now by a drab dark blue. It's nothing unusual for Seattle, but that doesn't make it pretty. 18/50
17. New York City FC
The colors certainly distinguish this shirt from parent outfit Manchester City - a welcome sign for the NYCFC faithful - but the club's bold new look might just be a touch too bold. The circles didn't sit well on our visual palate. 19/50
16. Philadelphia Union
Philadelphia's new home shirts look pretty similar to its old home shirts, except a little shinier. The unfortunately named sponsor across the front does this kit no favors, though. 23/50
15. Colorado Rapids
Colorado's new home shirt suffers not due to a particular dislike of any individual component, but a general disregard for the total package. It looks fine, but it's forgettable. 23/50 (wins tiebreaker due to higher median score)
14. Vancouver Whitecaps
Some of the people polled loved the gradient design of the Whitecaps' new away shirt, but others thought it was just a little too much. As such, the decision was split. 24/50
13. Houston Dynamo
The Houston Dynamo has a lot going for it this year, and the introduction of black into their away shirts is brilliant. There's something cool about the Halloween-esque look it inspires, but the chevron doesn't really work. 27/50
12. Toronto FC
The Reds are going blue in 2016. Toronto introduced blue trim to its away kits this season in a nod to the city's soccer history, when the Toronto Blizzard and Metros-Croatia ruled the roost. 29/50
11. Chicago Fire
We're not sure if its the vibrant red or the dark-blue-and-white trim, but something about this year's Chicago Fire home shirt just feels right. It's clean, it's simple, and it works so well with the team's badge. 30/50
10. Orlando City
Orlando earns praise for its use of unique colors like purple and gold, and the printed collar looks nice, too. It's a pretty decent away kit for this sophomore side. 31/50
9. New England Revolution
The middle stripe design was very well-received, as was the color combination. Like Chicago's shirt, New England does a good job of incorporating its primary colors without going overboard. 32/50
8. LA Galaxy
The five-time MLS Cup champions wear their blue-and-gold sash with pride and, once again, the LA Galaxy sport a home kit worth showing off. The updated Herbalife Nutrition logo helps, too. 33/50
7. New York Red Bulls
Sure, it's basically a giant energy drink advertisement, and yes, the Red Bulls could have probably been a little more subtle with their color choice, but it's clean, we like it, and it looks pretty darn good. 33/50
6. D.C. United
Elegant. Clean. Simple. Bold. D.C. United hit every single positive note with their new home kit, and the updated team logo is probably one of the best in the league. 33/50
5. FC Dallas
We're fans of FC Dallas' horizontal stripes and especially love that they go right up to the top of the shirt. 34/50
4. Portland Timbers
The MLS Cup champions from the Rose City aren't messing around with their new away shirts. This black-and-red kit is both intimidating and beautiful, and offers a great contrast to the Timbers' green-and-white home shirt. 35/50
3. Real Salt Lake
There's something about Real Salt Lake's red, yellow, and blue combination that just works, perhaps because it allows the team to stand out in a league filled with red kits. We don't know what it is, but we know it looks good. 38/50
2. Montreal Impact
Two thumbs up for the Montreal Impact, whose new blue-and-black striped home shirt reminds us you can be different and exceptional with your creative designs. It looks a lot like Inter Milan, but the white mini-stripes make it unique to this Canadian team. 39/50
1. Sporting Kansas City
Bravo, Sporting KC. Bravo. 44/50