MINNEAPOLIS — This past February, Minneapolis City Soccer Club received bad news. The 501(c)3 had previously lined up a corporate sponsor for its new, 10th anniversary jersey, but when that company announced a merger, it withdrew its financial support. And Minneapolis-based Stimulus Athletic needed a final design, with sponsor’s logo included, plus adequate lead time, in order to have the Crows’ new uniforms ready for use in May.
Under pressure, and searching for a solution, an idea struck club chairman Dan Hoedeman while scrolling Instagram.
“Hey, do you want to do something cool?” Hoedeman asked one of City’s followers.
“Of course. I always want to do something cool. What are you talking about?” came the reply.
The man on the other side of the chat window was Sean Daley — Slug, of the pathfinding Minneapolitan hip-hop duo Atmosphere. Hoedeman pitched him on becoming the Crows’ newest shirt sponsor.
“Well, I’m into that, but I’m not rich,” Daley recalled, when asked about the ensuing discussions. “But once we negotiated what it meant, I was like, ‘You know what? I like this. I think this is a good idea. I like the idea of showing the connection between art and sports, specifically when it’s based in Twin Cities pride.’
“I don’t want to say it was a no-brainer, because it required some brains. Somebody had to bring brains to the table. ‘You want to do something cool?’ were the first words Dan said to me. And now, as we’ve gotten here… that’s exactly what this is; something really cool.”
Daley noted a friend of his, Mercy, had collaborated with the LA Galaxy, as well as Cypress Hill’s penning of a club anthem for LAFC.
Across the Atlantic, Dublin side Bohemian FC has worked with musical groups Oasis, Fontaines D.C., and, as of this past December, Kneecap (who the club’s COO Daniel Lambert also manages) as shirt sponsors. Fatboy Slim once advertised his record label, Skint, on the front of a Brighton & Hove Albion jersey. And Ed Sheeran, who is a minority owner of Ipswitch Town, paid to have the logo for his Mathematics tour on the Tractor Boys’ unis.
Stateside, Noah Kahan partnered with Minneapolis City’s USL2 league-mates Vermont Green on limited edition jerseys and hats featuring the logo for his mental health initiative, the Busyhead Project. But in America, similar unions are rare.
“In my world, in hip hop, sports and rap go hand-in-hand. But it’s never so much a… it’s more of an adjacent situation,” Daley said. “It’s not often that you actually see artists get involved with a team, unless there’s some sort of commerce or exchange. But to see a team with a rapper logo on the front of the jersey, that new for me.”
With City being a non-profit, volunteer-run club, Daley was happy to provide what monetary support Atmosphere were able. And going beyond, dove in helping to promote the release of the Crows’ new kit. Early on in discussions, Daley even offered to help with the launch regardless of whether Atmosphere wound up as sponsor.
Paying a visit to Twin Cities Barber Co. in Powderhorn Park last week, Daley made good on his word.
“Sometimes life gives you lemons, like when we lost a big corporate sponsor to merger right before the season,” said Hoedeman. “But, to quote Atmosphere, when life gives you lemons, you paint that sh—t gold. Or, in our case, you luck into an even better situation.
“We had actually talked about how cool it would be to partner with Atmosphere for years — we’re fans, they’re legends, shared values, shared style — but didn’t know how to even start that conversation. Until that fateful Insta message.
“A partnership like this is more us, more fun, more Minneapolis anyway. And the kits are incredible.”
Local Connections
In its 10-year history, Minneapolis City can boast having thrice won the National Premier Soccer League’s North Division, as well being reigning USL League Two Heartland Conference champions. In the landscape of fourth-division soccer in America, this is nothing at which to sneeze.
Admittedly more-impressive, in their 30-plus year history, Atmosphere have earned over 650 million streams on just Spotify alone, sold hundreds of thousands of albums as an independent act, founded a record label, toured on four continents, and mentored younger artists.
So how was it the Crows even wound up on the latter’s radar?
“My kids all played soccer… football… whateverthehell you want to call it. And so, it’s in my world. It’s in my orbit,” said Daley. “And then I started following the Crows on Instagram with every intention of getting to a game. I just kind of dug the politics. I appreciated when there was something to say about what was going on, the account wasn’t afraid to address stuff, even lightly. Not super in-your-face, but just enough to make me go, ‘You know, I don’t see the Vikings doing that.'”
Mission was a shared point of resonance, with Minneapolis City featuring numerous local players, as well as the work done by the club’s Futures program — designed as a compliment to high school and club soccer for local talent looking to make the leap into collegiate play and adult competition.
“It goes without saying that was huge for me, especially as far as what it is you want to signal to the community. I think we are kind of hand-in-hand with that. Even though City is sports and we’re music, we’ve always been very available and accessible,” Dailey said.
Finally, location was key. That the Crows spent their first-ever season playing at South High School, and have since relocated to Augsburg’s Edor Nelson Field, were major selling points.
“South High has been an important space for me my whole life. I didn’t go that school, but I might as well have,” noted the Washburn alumnus. “I spent a lot of time there, and then with my career, a lot of our early, early audience was students from South High, Washburn High and Roosevelt.
“The connection I’ve had to that part of the city is really deep for me. Same with Augsburg, you know — the West Bank. And, just in general, I appreciate how how grounded City is in the city. You guys are trying to run a club, and that’s a business, and there’s a lot of work that does have to go into all of that. And so, to be also conscious and focused on the community at the same time, I think that’s pretty special, yeah.”
While inarguable that the local kid who came to be known as Slug is now the most-famous Washburn graduate to be associated with Minneapolis City, Daley is not the only Miller to contribute. Fellow alumni Ian Smith, Jameson Charles, Darley Florvil and Otis Anderson each made their mark playing with Minneapolis’ first team. And presently, 2025 graduate and reigning Minnesota Mr. Soccer, Ronan Selbo, is back for his second season with the club.
Outer Space to the City of Lakes
The origin of the Crows’ new jersey is a little odd. Ahead of the 2021 season, Matthew Wolff created three uniforms for Minneapolis City. The designer — who split time between Minneapolis and London growing up — owns a portfolio of work with credits ranging from the Minnesota Twins to Nike, along with far too many professional soccer teams to list. Given wide latitude as it was Wolff doing the club a favor, the former came up with home, away and alternate versions for the Crows.
As events unfolded, City’s senior side never wore the alternate. Instead, it was repurposed for the Crows’ second team, comprised of younger players from its winter Futures program, that competes in the United Premier Soccer League. But, featuring a lightning bolt in team colors, and taking inspiration from Davie Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust face-paint, it sold well among fans in spite of never having been donned by the first team.
Fast forward to the current offseason, when City season ticket holders were once-again voting on the Crows annual jersey release; in-house designer Scott Menk had offered for selection riffs on the club’s inaugural 2016 away jersey, Italy’s 1994 World Cup chevron, and the aforementioned 2021 second-team shirt.
An explainer for what has since been dubbed the Bolt From the Black kit on Instagram read:
Why this design?
The deeper reason, and why the lightning bolt motif has existed for City… is because of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust character. Ziggy is an odd, androgenous, and awesome rock star sent to save Earth before an impending apocalyptic disaster. He wins the hearts of fans and then goes to America.
Most importantly, most of the album’s concept was developed after the songs were written, and in a way, that is what happened here in that we had a design and have now found ourselves in paragraph three about an album from the 1970s with no clear connection in sight.
The first comment left on the post, unbeknownst to its author, foreshadowed a future partnership. “This one,” said the official Atmosphere account. To which, Amsterdam-based street art crew Kamp Seedorf replied, “legends recognizes legends”.
Season ticket holder voting would subsequently confirm Daley’s nomination.
Discussing the design after signing on as its sponsor, Daley said, “I, myself, am into those kinds of Easter eggs. That’s right up my alley. I do a lot of that with my own art, oftentimes. So, I think that’s super cool. I can’t wait to explain that to my kids because they are all fans of Bowie.
“I hope to help you guys put these things in California and Idaho,” Daley continued. “I have a feeling there are handfuls of people who will cop these because they’re actually cool. They might not even care about Minnesota soccer in that way, but the fact that it’s this jersey. Great colors; it’s a great design.”
Reciprocity
Securing support from local music icons is a wonderful development for Minneapolis City. But, what are Atmosphere receiving for their time and money? The author asked Daley, directly, what he hoped to see come from joining forces with the Crows on a jersey.
“That’s a great question,” said Daley, taking a beat. “I never stopped to ask myself, ‘What’s my motive, here?’ I guess, first and foremost, was just to make my kids be like, ‘That’s f—ing cool, Dad.’
“And then, beyond that, I don’t know if I would have done this had it been some team from another city. I think the connection between Atmosphere and the Crows is that we are both occupying the same space. I think it is necessary to show these cultures that mix together — from sports to art to music to whatever. I think that all these things are healthy places for youth, specifically. But really, adults too. It’s healthy spaces to activate and do something productive with yourself, whether that’s making art or performing in sports.”
Daley also expressed hope that a kind of cross-pollination would occur, whether that took the form of a dual Atmosphere and City fan having worlds collide, or Atmosphere fans being turned on to the Crows, or vice versa.
“Just anything to give people more opportunity to bring more culture into their world, to just experience more life around them, you know?”