New Boston women's soccer team apologizes to LGBTQ, trans community for "Too Many Balls" campaign
BOSTON - One day after unveiling its official franchise name, Boston's new National Women's Soccer League team is apologizing for its "Too Many Balls" promotional campaign that accompanied the rollout.
The BOS Nation Football Club shared the minute-long video on social media Tuesday that featured a cameo from New England Patriots great Tom Brady.
"Too Many Balls" soccer video criticized on social media
The video says that Boston is a city of champions, with a legacy filled with "trophies, banners, rings and balls."
"Boston loves its balls, but maybe there are too many balls in this town," a narrator says, before the new women's team is introduced.
"We are BOS Nation, where anything is possible. No balls necessary," the video says.
Women's soccer fans on social media slammed the campaign as "bizarre" and inappropriate. There was also criticism that the message was hurtful toward the transgender community.
"At a time when trans women are being excluded from sport at every level, is "too many balls" really the tagline you want to go with here?" journalist Frankie de la Cretaz posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Petition to change name
Fan Katya Engalichev criticized the advertising campaign. "The insinuation that the only difference between men's and women's sports is the amount of balls that one can find, I found degrading," Engalichev said.
Engalichev started a petition, reaching 1,500 signatures, to change the name of the team too.
"I want to spend exorbitant amounts of money on the merch, but I don't want a shirt that says BOS Nation or a shirt like they offered yesterday that says, 'too many balls,'" Engalichev said. "It's uncreative. It's unoriginal, its lacking in identity, it's vapid.
BOS Nation FC apologizes
BOS Nation Football Club said in a statement on Wednesday that "we missed the mark."
"We fully acknowledge that the content of the campaign did not reflect the safe and welcoming environment we strive to create for all, and we apologize to the LGBTQ+ community and to the trans community in particular for the hurt we caused," the team said.
The team added it's "proud to be part of the most inclusive sports league in the world" and thanked those who were "calling for us to do better."
David Richard, CEO of Big Fish PR, said while the team's campaign has people talking, it's the comeback that counts.
"Doing something out of the gate that might not necessarily be fully seen as inclusive is a challenge for them, but it's not insurmountable," Richard said. "There's enough of goodwill in what they are doing and what the brand stands for, that for they can turn this around and win the hearts and minds of a bunch of different fans."
