The LA Metro's World Cup countdown clock
A short post today, because I'm recovering from GDC.
Here's a countdown clock currently located inside Union Station in Los Angeles:
26 LOS ANGELES WORLD CUP HOST CITY SUPPORTER
Metro OFFICIAL PUBLIC TRANSIT PROVIDER
This is a countdown for the FIFA World Cup. It lacks the word "FIFA", and it avoids naming the sport, which I'm pretty sure are both intentional. The logo in the bottom left corner is in fact the FIFA logo for the 2026 World Cup, but that blocked-out, no-soccer-imagery-at-all "26" logo is so slight and so lacking in character that it took me several seconds to realize what this was even a clock for.
I always love seeing the signs of brand management or licensing friction between different gigantic, faceless organizations. Noticing it makes me feel like I'm like a hunter tracking a bear through the wilderness or some shit. The moment I see something like this, I start to imagine the team of producers meeting to create this clock and discussing precisely which words they can blamelessly utter to the world. What name should you use for this sport in a bilingual city? Is it better to use neither than to alienate anyone? Should you... just draw a soccer ball? Why or why not? And maybe the word "FIFA" is not actually allowed here! Is the brand too potent to allow an LA Metro graphic designer to throw the logo around without oversight?
The second thing I find interesting about this clock is that the LA Metro is the "official public transit provider" of the World Cup. The idea that any other service would possibly be the "official" "provider" for an event in SoFi Stadium is very funny. We have a bunch of transit services in the greater LA area - like Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus, the Culver City Bus, and Foothill Transit out to the east. But these smaller services - all located parts of the county where the World Cup is not taking place- could never under any circumstances really compete for the Bus Crown of the event.
Because I am conspiratorial and negative, the real bear-track thing I notice here is that the sign does not provide a more direct and compelling call to action. It does not say something like, "Don't pay for parking at the World Cup! Metro will run buses to the stadium from all over the city." And I'm left wondering whether Metro is even allowed to say something like that, given that SoFi makes a LOT of money from parking.
I'm probably being conspiratorial. But still!!! I love seeing this stuff!!!!