See new Sporting KC kit for 2024 MLS season. It features familiar argyle pattern
Sporting KC is bringing back one of its iconic looks for the 2024 season, as the argyle front has returned to an SKC kit for the first time since 2016.
Sporting unveiled its 2024 secondary kit named “DiamondsOurForever” on Wednesday morning before the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade through downtown Kansas City.
The indigo kit is adorned with the club crest in its usual place, with “Sporting Blue” trim. Down the front, there is an enlarged pattern of the triple diamond argyle, a marking that has become synonymous with the club.
The argyle pattern first appeared on a Sporting kit in 2013, with the introduction of the black argyle kit, which was worn for two seasons. That included Sporting’s MLS Cup-winning season. In 2015, the argyle stayed with the third kit, this time with an all-white kit that featured a chrome argyle pattern.
Sporting lifted the 2015 U.S. Open Cup trophy in that kit following a shootout win over the Philadelphia Union.
Sporting KC president and CEO Jake Reid told The Star that the club felt it was the right time to reintroduce argyle as a primary element in the kits.
“We won trophies wearing an argyle kit,” Reid said. “You see it in our brand today as you walk around and look at different aspects of the stadium. It remained part of who we are since that launch in 2013.”
Reid recalled the idea to introduce the argyle kits back in 2013; internally, he said, club officials thought it would be a great look, but they had no idea what the reaction would be outside of the room.
“I always like to tell people, every idea we have is the best idea until the fans tell us whether or not it’s a good idea,” Reid said. “Almost immediately in ‘13, it was well received by the entire fan base and immediately was part of our brand.”
Reid says those two argyle kits are easily in the top three of the club’s most popular kits over the years. Part of what made them so popular was that they were the third kit. Being the club’s offering outside of the patented “dark” and “light” looks needed for the primary and secondary kits gave the club more wiggle room to get creative, according to Reid.
But around 2017, third kits more or less disappeared around the league, which made bringing the argyle look back difficult.
“We used to have a lot more flexibility on third kits and how we could launch those,” Reid said. “We haven’t had that flexibility. So we had to wait for the right time to introduce it as part of the two jerseys we have each year.”
That time is now, and the process to get here might have started at least a couple of years ago. Reid said the club is already working on the kit it hopes to introduce in 2026. But is there any timeline when Sporting might introduce a third kit again?
A few teams have released third kits in the past few seasons, and Sporting has been rumored to be one of those teams in 2024. Reid wouldn’t comment on the rumors but said it was something the club would like to bring back in the future.
Sporting’s first opportunity to debut its newly unveiled kit in action will be in the season-opening match in Houston on February 24. The rematch of last year’s Western Conference Semifinal will kick off at 7:30 p.m.