Sporting Kansas City announces Swope Park Rangers as USL team

After talking about the possibility of a USL team for years - and a possible team name for months - Sporting Kansas City finally has a USL team: the Swope Park Rangers.

Sporting Club announced the team at Starlight Theatre Thursday evening, although the news and logo was put online earlier in the afternoon. The Rangers will begin play in 2016 and will play, as the name suggests, at Swope Soccer Village - the same training facility as Sporting KC.

The name Swope Park Rangers comes from Sporting KC's/Kansas City Wizards' reserve squad, which had the Swope Park Rangers nickname. It originated in 2008 and was thought of as a long shot for a potential name. This is the first MLS/USL team that does not feature the name of the parent team in the title.

Sporting Club also announced that Sporting Kansas City communications manager Kurt Austin will serve as general manager for the Swope Park Rangers.

Here is the full logo with explanations for its different features.