For its initial MLS seasons, Inter Miami sported black and white uniforms. While these colors are common in the league, they seemed fitting for a club that was still finding its footing and hadn’t quite lived up to the initial hype. Inter Miami’s journey has been one of anticipation and delayed gratification.
It took six years for founder David Beckham to assemble an ownership group, secure a stadium location, and finally field a team. The home field wasn’t the envisioned state-of-the-art stadium in Miami itself, but a temporary facility about 30 miles north in Fort Lauderdale. Furthermore, the team’s roster, lacking the expected blockbuster signings associated with Beckham’s name, struggled to perform consistently. With a record of 19-31-8 in its first seasons, changes were inevitable. The original head coach and sporting director departed, with the latter facing league suspension following a 2021 investigation into roster rule violations that resulted in significant fines and salary budget reductions for the club.
Expectations for Inter Miami were high from the start, fueled by the Beckham connection and the allure of Miami. The initial branding, unveiled in 2018, featured a striking pink logo and marketing materials heavily emphasizing this unique color. A bright pink advertisement even graced the front page of the Miami Herald, hinting at the possibility of a distinctive and vibrant uniform. Many anticipated a kit that would capture Miami’s unique atmosphere, culture, and glamour, reflecting its fashionable owner. However, the team debuted in standard MLS black and white, a choice that felt underwhelming for many fans.
But Inter Miami has turned the page and started a fresh chapter. With a revamped team under coach Phil Neville and sporting director Chris Henderson, featuring over a dozen new players, including U.S. national team defender DeAndre Yedlin, the club is aiming for a significant turnaround.
Inter Miami CF is ready to embrace its potential. Coach Neville stated, “We feel as an organization we’re in a miles better place to reach the goals and achieve the things that we want to do, and create a culture like we want to do, as an organization.”
And this new era is being ushered in with pink. Inter Miami officially launched its highly anticipated pink jersey, becoming the only major professional or college team in the United States to fully embrace the color as its primary identity. The vibrant, collared jersey, named the “Heartbeat Kit” due to a subtle M-shaped EKG graphic on the cuffs, is paired with pink shorts and socks. This creates a monochrome uniform that is striking and instantly recognizable, even within the increasingly diverse landscape of MLS kits. While the secondary all-black uniform remains, the club has committed to predominantly playing in pink.
Mike Ridley, Inter Miami’s senior VP of brand and marketing, emphasized the visual impact of the new uniform: “The good news is when you turn on the TV and see us in pink, you’ll know it’s us. If you’re going to own it, own it. I think all-pink is going to be very striking and you’re not going to miss us, that’s for sure.”
The demand for a pink Inter Miami Uniform has been evident since the club’s inception. Ridley noted that fan surveys, marketing data, and sales figures all pointed towards a strong desire for pink. The pink smoke that fills DRV PNK Stadium’s north stand during games further illustrates the organic fan enthusiasm for the color. Moreover, both David Beckham and majority owner Jorge Mas were proponents of a pink uniform.
Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports captures Beckham and Mas watching Inter Miami, highlighting the ownership’s commitment to the team’s vision.
So, why the delay in adopting pink uniforms? According to Ridley, it was a matter of getting the specific shade of pink just right. Inter Miami desired a bespoke, rich pink, distinct from hot pink or pale pink. However, Adidas, the kit manufacturer, couldn’t reproduce the exact desired shade in time for the 2020 season. The light pink shorts used in a few games that year even appeared white on the field, demonstrating the challenge. Furthermore, MLS’s two-year kit cycle meant that a new light-colored kit couldn’t be introduced until 2022. Ridley, who joined Inter in January 2020, began working on the pink uniform project just a few months later. The final design was approved in December 2021, and the club teased the unveiling with “It’s Pink” billboards across South Florida, building anticipation for the long-awaited reveal.
Ridley explained, “It was always very clear that Jorge and David had said they wanted a pink jersey. But they wanted our pink … so this was actually the first opportunity to bring our pink jersey, our pink, to the field.”
He acknowledged the two-year wait, stating, “It took two years to bring it to market, which I understand can be frustrating. But I think it’s a credit to our ownership and to the fans that we’re going to get there. We’re going to own the pink now.” Ridley, a former Cayman Islands international and jersey collector, sees the pink uniform as symbolic, marking a fresh start for the club. “It is symbolic. This is our first pink jersey, and we’re going to go all-pink and it’s a fresh season. The magic with any football jersey is when you get the new jersey, everything is possible again. So with the Heartbeat Kit, everything is possible again.”
Inter Miami anticipates significant global interest in the new kit, which also incorporates a meaningful detail: a small replica of David Beckham’s chest tattoo, the slogan “Libertad Para Soñar,” meaning “Freedom to dream.” Beckham’s global appeal and Miami’s international reputation are expected to make Inter Miami the most prominent pink team worldwide. Pink is a rarely seen color in sports, especially in the U.S., where it’s mainly associated with breast cancer awareness campaigns. Historically uncommon in traditional heraldry and flags, pink was seldom used in organizational branding even before gender associations arose. Consequently, it never truly became a staple in athletics.
Inter Miami Heartbeat Kit detail showcases the unique EKG design, adding a personal touch to the uniform.
While soccer teams like Palermo in Italy, Cerezo Osaka in Japan, Sport Boys in Peru, and Bermuda’s national teams have used pink, they lack widespread international recognition. Major clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Everton, Leicester City, and Juventus have featured pink in away or alternate kits, but it was never a long-term or primary brand color, except for Juventus originally.
Outside of charitable causes and limited-time promotions, pink remains uncommon in American sports. Penn State, Syracuse, and North Dakota used pink in the 1800s, with Penn State occasionally wearing pink throwbacks. In U.S. soccer, Forward Madison of USL League One uses pink as a secondary color. The Portland Timbers recently released a pale pink away jersey, and St. Louis City SC, an upcoming MLS expansion team, incorporates a reddish-hot pink in its logo.
However, Miami was always the most logical city to embrace pink fully. Miami’s art deco architecture, flamingos, sunsets, and even the iconic Miami Vice aesthetic all contribute to the city’s strong association with the color. The Miami Heat have worn pink alternate uniforms, but Inter Miami is taking it a step further by making pink its defining color.
Paul Rutherford/USA TODAY Sports captures Inter Miami manager Phil Neville sporting the new pink uniform, symbolizing the team’s fresh direction.
Ridley emphasized Miami’s natural connection to pink: “It’s ingrained in Miami. It would be difficult for some other teams to try and own pink, you know? Pink is Miami, and it makes sense for us to do it.”
Pink is now not just Miami, but also Inter Miami. After two seasons, the pink uniform represents Inter Miami’s opportunity to fulfill its promise. It’s a bold statement, reflecting a pivotal moment of change and the club’s commitment to addressing past shortcomings and making significant improvements. Coach Neville’s comments about the team overhaul underscore this commitment:
“We [developed] a real understanding of what it takes to be successful in this league, and we had to take a risk. Me and Chris knew that well into the [2021] season, we knew that we had to make real big changes,” Neville stated. “We had to send a strong, strong statement. Why? Because the first two years for this franchise wasn’t good enough—wasn’t good enough. Wasn’t acceptable from the top, down to the very bottom. So we had to make major changes to get at what we wanted. … So it was a great learning experience last year, even in the times when we went [multiple games] without a victory, I always knew where we wanted to take the team.”
With a vibrant new pink uniform, Inter Miami is signaling a fresh start and a determined pursuit of success in MLS.
