This is not a leak of the Sounders’ new kit

When it comes to the offseason news cycle, the only thing that gets more eyeballs than rumored signings is leaks of the new kit. It’s gotten to the point where teams are playing along, sharing teaser images that give fans just enough of a look to get their minds racing.

The Seattle Sounders understand this as well as anyone and have shared a couple very tightly cropped images of their new primary shirt (it will be paired with last year’s Nightfall kit in 2020).

Back on Jan. 16, they shared this image:

About a week later, they shared this one:

There’s not a TON there, but we know it’s going to be rave green and that there are some shoulder stripes (which seemingly every team in the will have in a nod to the league’s 25th anniversary). There also appears to be some gradient change on the shirt itself, which has led to an enterprising fan on Reddit making a prediction about what the new kit will look like.

While it’s entirely possible — and maybe even likely — that the Sounders new kit will look like this, it’s relevant to note that it’s still very much a guess. At the very least we’ve not seen enough of the neck to know if that’s the design and we’ve not seen any of the arm cuff. This rendering is not a complete shot in the dark, however, as it’s based on a couple different templates adidas has used, notably Hungary’s new primary kit and Yokahama Marinos of the J-League.

Assuming this is an accurate representation, I can’t say I’m thrilled but also not completely upset. I don’t love that the Sounders might be stuck with another template that is short of unique design elements, but that’s also become the rule not the exception. As far as template designs go, this one is at least relatively inoffensive. I don’t think it’s the kind of shirt that people who would otherwise be on the fence are going to rush out and buy, but the main selling point was probably always going to be that stacked star (this will be the only year that particular design will be available on a rave green shirt). Guess we’ll find out for sure on Feb. 5.