Plus, fun fact: “BOS Nation” is an anagram for “Bostonian.”
“We like to think of it as putting the ‘boss’ back in Boston,” said Jennifer Epstein, controlling manager of the female-led ownership group whose $53 million bid secured the NWSL franchise a year ago. “BOS Nation FC is an identity that encompasses our community and represents our fan base.”
A number of billboards reading “There Are Too Many Balls In This Town” went up around Boston this past weekend, a cheeky campaign designed to show that the National Women’s Soccer League team that is scheduled to begin play in the spring of 2026 is intent on elbowing its way onto a vaunted local pro sports stage.
A video accompanying the campaign features references to an array of “balls,” such as old, new, steel, cold, and goat — the last mention followed by a quick video clip of Tom Brady saying, “Wait, what?”
“What this campaign is designed to do is to really highlight this perceived cultural tension in our city that while Boston loves its sports — and we do, we really do — certainly the focus of the success has come mostly from men’s teams,” said Stephanie Connaughton, who is one of the four co-founders of the team and has a marketing background that includes leading the branding of the Venus razor from Gillette.
“And it’s time to change that. This is a new era in Boston via women’s sports.”
The team also announced Tuesday that Aly Raisman, a Needham native and Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics, and Elizabeth Banks, a Pittsfield native and actress/producer, joined the group of investors, a list that includes Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and his wife Tracy, as well as Linda Henry, the CEO of Boston Globe Media.
Working with the South End-based Colossus Creative Co. advertising agency, the team determined that its look and attitude should reflect strength, creativity, and pride in Boston after extensive interviews with sports and soccer fans, and people working in the local sports industry.
The team toyed with a few other names, some associated with weather.
Others were more plain, like “Boston FC” or “FC Boston.”
“Boston fans kind of thought that was a snooze — ‘Come on, can’t you do better than that?’ ” Connaughton said. “Traditional soccer names felt very disconnected from the roots of the city and were rejected really out of hand.”
They tried out the team’s corporate “Boston Unity” name, but that “lacked ambition at the end of the day,” said Connaughton.
Early use of the term “boss” resonated from the start, but it wasn’t enough.
“We needed to have that kind of ‘feel good’ vibe” of watching women’s sports,” said Connaughton, “but at the same time pay homage to the great tradition of championship mentality here in Boston. It needed to be about inclusive sports but wrapped in a championship mentality. And we feel the energy and the combination of the words ‘boss’ and ‘nation’ deliver on that.”
If fans hear echoes of “Red Sox Nation” in the name, that’s only natural, said Epstein.
“What is ‘Red Sox Nation’? Again, it’s the fan base, right?” she said. “In this case, BOS Nation signifies a collective identity that is made up entirely of our fan base and their passion and their pride in their city.”
The chief color palette of the team is black with a shade of green called “green shock” that draws from the team’s home base at the eventually renovated White Stadium in Franklin Park. The combo, along with splashes of raspberry pink, yellow, and orange, help create, in the team’s belief, positive energy.
“The diversity of color in the palette is certainly representative of the global diversity in our city,” said Epstein. “We all have to remember when we talk about being true to the sport, soccer is the world’s beautiful game and has the most diverse and global fan base of all the sports.”
As for what a “BOS Nation” player will be called — a “Boss” or a “BOS Nationer” or something much more creative — time will tell.
“Ultimately, it’s up to the customers to determine that,” said Epstein.
An official crest as well the team’s uniform will be revealed closer to the beginning of play. No mascots are in the plans at the moment.
The club has partnered with Excel Sports Management for an overall commercial strategy that includes upcoming sponsorship deals for the club’s training academy (site to be determined) and uniform advertising.
Visual elements in the initial brand launch Tuesday include a soccer goal net stretched out as if a goal has just been scored, wording placed in the rhomboid shape of Franklin Park, and a backdrop of a map of the City of Boston.
The team’s brand launch included photos of young people wearing black hoodies and T-shirts with “BOS NATION” and “BE THE MANY” slogans.
One sign reads “Commonwealth, Meet Nation” and another “Welcome to the next era in Boston sports.”
Read more about Boston’s NWSL team
The NWSL’s bold new CBA eliminates the draft. How will this affect the Boston franchise?
Professional women’s soccer is coming back to Boston. Here’s what you need to know about the NWSL.
From September 2023: Boston is awarded an NWSL expansion franchise, to begin play in 2026
Claiming victory, Wu is forging ahead on White Stadium
Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.