It’s that time of year where the MLS roster reveal their new threads for the coming campaign. And as I was scrolling through the plethora of new designs (some absolute bangers in there by the way), one in particular caught my eye: what’s Tina Turner got to do with St. Louis??
There’s a lot to love from the MLS 2026 kit drop; adidas doing a bang-up job of updating the 30 teams’ looks ahead of the new season. But as I’ve always said, what really elevates a jersey design for me is if it's got a good story behind it. Some nice inspiration and meaning that accompanies some striking aesthetics. So when I saw that St Louis City SC had a gold kit I was interested. That alone is a ballsy move that only a few teams in the history of the game have dared to flaunt. Then when I found out it was called ‘The Tina Turner Kit’ I was fully intrigued. What’s one of the most iconic female musicians of all time got to do with St. Louis?
Turns out, quite a lot.
Born Anna Mae Bullock, Tina Turner moved to St. Louis at 16, finding her voice in the city’s R&B circuit, hitting clubs like Club Manhattan where her destiny really kicked off. It was there she stepped up to a mic during a break in 1957, a moment that would set the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in motion and ignite one of the most influential careers in music history. That story, that spark, comes straight from the city itself, a place where Turner’s resilience and reinvention were forged long before she was crowned the Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll.
So suddenly that gold kit? It makes perfect sense.
Once that link was clear, everything clicked. The jersey’s high‑voltage gold base mirrors the shimmer of Turner’s iconic fringed stage outfits — the kind that moved as fiercely as she did. It’s not just a colour choice; it’s a visual signature. St. Louis City SC and adidas clearly knew what they were doing here. This thing radiates performance energy. Even the finer touches land with purpose: Turner’s silhouette stamped in metallic gold on the authentication tag, and her signature reimagined in CITY Red, a nod to the bold lipstick and nails that were part of her unmistakable visual identity.
But there’s more to it than that. This jersey marks the first adidas collaboration with a female music artist on a kit across global sport. Let that sink in a minute. In a world where cross-cultural pollination has become common place, with football mixing with art, fashion and yes, music, it stands as a real statement that St. Louis City can claim to have the first adidas collaboration with a female music artist. That’s history, and no one can take that away.
For St. Louis, this jersey exists as a bridge. A bridge between football and music; between the club and the city’s soul; between past and present. According to the club’s CEO, Carolyn Kindle, Turner didn’t just shape music; she shaped culture across decades, and celebrating her legacy is a profound honour for a city that helped mould her.
And that celebration goes well beyond the kit. The club has built an entire slate of cultural events around its release, from a Tina Turner pop‑up to youth arts programs, even a one‑night‑only symphonic tribute at Powell Hall headlined by Grammy‑winner Brittany Howard. Again, this isn’t surface‑level storytelling. This is a club leaning into a legacy that genuinely belongs to its city.
The more I look at this jersey and the story behind it the more it feels like a perfect example of what football shirts should be doing in 2026. Not just looking good – though this one absolutely does – but meaning something. Because when a jersey carries history, culture, identity and pure aesthetic power all in one? That’s when it moves from “nice kit” to something more.
CITY SC is offering free kit customisation (personalised name and number) of Tina Turner Kits purchased at the Tina Turner Pop-up Shop, CITY Pavilion or at stlcitygo.com until 31 March, 2026.
