Portland men’s pro soccer team unveils name: Hearts of Pine

The video finished, the logo appeared on the screen, and the thousand-plus spectators on hand broke into cheers and a chant of “Port-land! Port-land!”

Maine’s professional soccer team has a name. The Hearts of Pine are coming to Portland.

Courtesy of Portland Hearts of Pine

The long-awaited reveal of Portland’s USL team name, colors and crest came at a fan event at Brick South at Thompson’s Point, ushered in by founder Gabe Hoffman-Johnson and broadcaster Tom Caron, a Lewiston native and part owner of the team.

Caron is a regular columnist for the Portland Press Herald.

It had taken five years to bring a team to Maine, and the branding had been about a year in the making. According to Hoffman-Johnson, revealing the Portland Hearts of Pine – “Hearts” for short – was a cause for excitement, and for relief.

“A hundred percent. We’d sort of been sitting on it for a little bit, so it does feel nice to have it out,” said Hoffman-Johnson, who spearheaded the effort to bring pro soccer to Maine and is the team’s chief community officer. “It’s everything we hoped for. … It’s just awesome. You start something so long ago, and here we are now.”

The name was announced at the end of a hype video, prompting a roar from the fans who had been awaiting the news for an hour. The branding makes reference to Kevin Fahrman, the “Valentine’s Day Bandit,” who spent decades putting hearts up around Portland every Feb. 14 before he died last April. The crest features a beaming sun with a heart at its center, shining on water and a pine tree.

Portland resident Dani Livneh spoke amidst the commotion after the reveal, with a soccer scarf around her shoulders.

“I think it’s great; I love it. I really appreciate the call to the hearts, that’s such a lovely part of Portland,” she said. “When I first moved here, it was in the winter, and when I saw the hearts around town, I was like ‘Oh, this is a special place. This is a place that really prioritizes community.’

“I’m so glad they brought that in, and combining with the nature, which is of course the main selling point of Maine. They couldn’t have done a better job. They totally nailed it.”

The Valentine Bandit strikes again, this time Fort Gorges in Portland Harbor in 2017. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Hoffman-Johnson said the nod to the Bandit’s history was intentional, and that the heart has become a part of Portland culture.

“He just wanted to contribute, wanted to do something fun, wanted to build the culture,” he said. “We felt like it was the perfect fit.”

The name is unusual, and doesn’t follow the typical American convention of team names being their location and a singular mascot. Team President Kevin Schohl said that was also intentional.

“The name itself certainly isn’t going to be a standard one. Fans of traditional team names are going to be scratching their heads, potentially,” he said. “There are not too many teams that have ‘of’ in the middle. … It’s hard to find something new and distinctive. So many places are just adding FC to their city name, and we didn’t want to do that.

“We wanted something Mainers could be proud of.”

Caron said he was a fan of the team’s slogan, “Lead with your heart.”

“I just think it’s a great name. It’s a little different, it’s a soccer name,” he said. “It’s not the ‘Portland Wolverines’ or the ‘Portland blanks.’ But that’s soccer. … It’s unique, and I think Portland is unique.”

Portland’s James Boyman, a fan of the Everton FC Premier League team, said soccer fans will appreciate the name’s homage to teams like Scotland’s Heart of Midlothian FC – also nicknamed “Hearts” – and Ghana’s Hearts of Oak SC.

“It’s cool, I like the nod,” said Boyman, whose “American Toffee Podcast” centers around the Everton team. “Everything incorporates Maine, it sums it up really well. And the turnout’s been unbelievable. I’m really excited to see how this continues to progress.”

USL League One is the third tier of professional soccer in the United States. Major League Soccer is at the top, followed by USL Championship.

Portland, which will begin play next March, is one of three cities getting a USL League One team next year, along with Naples, Florida, and Santa Barbara, California.

The event celebrating the team’s brand unveiling was a festive scene. Fans huddled around screens showing matches overseas while kids kicked fabric soccer balls at velcro targets or visited face painting booths.

Mark Shea, a Presque Isle resident stopping by the reveal on his way to watch the New England Revolution host Lionel Messi and Inter Miami, said Maine and Portland has been waiting for a professional soccer team to join the baseball, basketball and hockey clubs in town.

“Soccer is at the right stage for a lot of growth in Maine,” he said. “This is going to be a huge step, I think, for the state. … More and more youth kids are playing soccer. That’s been growing for a lot of years. Those people that started out are now parents, their kids are in youth soccer. It’s such a popular sport, it’s fun to watch, and Portland’s a fantastic city to have a team in.”

Portland was granted a USL League One franchise in September 2023. In November, the club agreed to a 10-year rent-free, nonexclusive lease agreement with Portland to use Fitzpatrick Stadium in exchange for at least $1 million in club-financed capital improvements.

The agreement runs for five years, with the club having two five-year renewal options. Rent would be charged if the club renews for years 11-15.

Hoffman-Johnson began the push to bring the team to Portland in 2019. On Saturday, he saw the fan support that has been building for it.

“It was a challenge, (but) there was always, always light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “It’s too good of an opportunity, and too good of a place at too good of a time. And too many people are really freaking excited for it not to happen. It was meant to be, I think.”

Caron said the team will have the ability to unify different backgrounds.

“The hope is that a pro team in town brings everybody together,” he said. “My hope is you’re going to look around Fitzpatrick Stadium next year, and it’s going to be a multi-cultural tableau of fans that have one thing in common: They’re all Mainers, they’re all Portland residents, and they all love soccer.”