Sporting KC executed perhaps the greatest rebrand in sports.

After the 2010 season, the club announced the rebrand from Kansas City Wizards to Sporting KC. The rebrand happened as the club moved into its new stadium in 2011.

The rebrand announcement did not sit well with many who were not fond of the new Sporting KC name. The 2011 season didn’t start well, either, after opening the season with 10 road games and winning just one.

It all quickly changed once Livestrong Sporting Park opened in June 2010. Sporting only lost three times from June until October, climbing up the table to win the Eastern Conference. Attendance also skyrocketed from just over 10,000 in 2010 to nearly 18,000 per game in 2011.

“All of a sudden the entire vibe, the entire organization changed,” said Matt Besler, former Sporting KC defender. “There was excitement around the team.”

The club transitioned from being a losing team playing at a small ballpark to a club building a winning mentality with its own 18,500-capacity stadium.

The club gained more momentum over the years, regularly selling out home games and creating arguably the greatest environment in the league.

Creating that loud and intimidating environment was the KC Cauldron, the club’s supporters group that occupies the north end of the stadium.

“It was all organic,” Besler said. “Things were happening that we couldn’t have predicted and we were along for the ride just like everybody else.”

The games didn’t just draw vibrant crowds. Sporting was also playing well and winning.

The team played attractive soccer with a strong defense between Besler’s partnership with Aurelien Collin and 2012 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Jimmy Nielsen. Offensively, the team was led by Kei Kamara, CJ Sapong and Graham Zusi.

Sporting won back-to-back Eastern Conference titles in 2011 and 2012, starting a run of four major trophies between 2012 and 2017.

The collection of silverware started in 2012 when the club won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup by beating the Seattle Sounders in a penalty shootout at home.

The greatest moment since the rebrand came in December 2013. In frigid temperatures, Sporting lifted the club’s second MLS Cup after beating Real Salt Lake in a penalty shootout.

“Those first three or four years were
magical. There was this aura about
Sporting KC and you just had to be
at the games.”

Matt Besler

The winning wasn’t done yet. In 2015, Sporting won their first trophy on the road, beating the Philadelphia Union in yet another penalty shootout to bring home the U.S. Open Cup.

The club’s most recent championship came in 2017 when Sporting defeated the New York Red Bulls 2-1 to claim the U.S. Open Cup for the third time since rebranding.

While Sporting missed the playoffs in 2019 and 2022, the fans were still around. Sporting had a higher average attendance than the Royals in 2019, 2021 and 2022.

Leading the organization from its final days as the Wizards through the rebrand to Sporting has been manager Peter Vermes. The longest-tenured coach in MLS built his teams with a team-first attitude, which translated to success on the field. Spending over a decade as manager, Vermes has won four major trophies as a coach and two as a Wizards player.

The club has also further developed its academy, which has produced numerous professional players including United States international Gianluca Busio and Sporting forward Daniel Salloi.

In 2016, Swope Park Rangers debuted in the United Soccer League. The team has served as a step between the academy and the Sporting first team, similar to a minor league team in baseball.

The team was renamed Sporting KC II in 2020 and moved to become a charter member of the MLS NEXT Pro league in 2022.