Cal Sports Report

Alex Morgan Company Involved in Branding Dispute with The Rock's XFL

Former Cal soccer star and Sue Bird were among the stars who founded media company Togethxr
Jake Curtis|
Alex Morgan Company Involved in Branding Dispute with The Rock's XFL
Alex Morgan Company Involved in Branding Dispute with The Rock's XFL

Former Cal soccer star Alex Morgan was not on the roster of the U.S. Women’s National Team that beat Uzbekistan 9-1 in a friendly on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, but she did make headlines on another issue.

The issue in question has to do with branding.

Duane “The Rock” Johnson, who bought the XFL football league for $15 million from Vince MacMahon, introduced a new visual brand identity earlier this week, according to Deadspin, which reported this:

One little issue — the new identity that “represents a new era for the forward-thinking league, signaling one of inclusivity, innovation, and co-creation as it works to build tomorrow’s league” is ironically neither innovative nor forward-thinking. In fact, it is a complete rip-off of the branding of Togethxr, a media company founded by multiple high-profile female Olympians including USWNT star Alex Morgan and WNBA and Olympic basketball player Sue Bird to elevate women’s voices in sport.

Morgan pointed it out in a twitter message:

A number of people responded to her tweet with varying opinions about whether the XFL logo and theme were a copy of the Togethxr branding, but Olympic gold medalist Megan Rapinoe, who is Bird’s partner, tweeted this on top of a Togethxer tweet that suggested it is taking legal action:

Rapinoe’s mention of “cooking” reference’s Johnson’s pro wrestling catch phrase: “Do you smell what the Rock is cooking?”

The crux of the Togethxr stance apparently is that XFL’s so-called new “brand identity” not only copies the Togethxr logo, but prominently features the word “together” and other elements of the Togethxr mission statement.

The new XFL under Johnson is still in its formative stage, with no host cities or schedule determined yet. But we will see where this branding situation leads.

Morgan, 32, is currently playing for the San Diego Wave of the National Women's Soccer League.  She scored her first and second goals for the Wave in an April 2 victory over Angel City.

Morgan joined the Wave from Orlando Pride in December 2021. She had played in England for Tottenham last year.

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Cover photo of Alex Morgan by Kiyoshi Kio, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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