When the Jersey Became the MVP
Fashion & LA Metro Mashup
One of the best things about having World Cup fans in Los Angeles is watching how they show up for their teams. The face paint. The scarves. The flags. The chants.
But nothing says World Cup quite like the jerseys. I’ve even fallen victim to jersey fever myself, snagging new ones when I come across a vibrant team color or favorite athlete.
They are everywhere, representing every kind of connection. Some are brand new and some look like they have been passed down. Some are for the country someone was born in and others are for the country their parents or grandparents came from. A jersey is never just a shirt. It is part of the magic of the tournament.
So when we launched our MVP program for the World Cup, we knew our team needed its own version of that. If fans were going to show up representing their teams, our employees needed to show up representing Team Metro.
And Team Metro came to play.
As I wrote last week, or the MVP program, Metro Values in Practice, brings employees who do not usually work in customer-facing roles into the field for major events. During the World Cup, that has meant supporting riders at shuttle locations, station activations and fan zones, working alongside our frontline teams, and seeing firsthand what it takes to keep Metro moving under pressure.
But today I want to talk about a surprise star of the World Cup MVP program we did not see coming: the jerseys.
The jerseys actually grew out of something bigger: our official Host Committee World Cup bus wrap. Jeff Zimm, our Executive Officer for Creative & Brand, told me they were designed together, not as separate projects. The idea was that the jersey would be a kind of human wayfinding, as bold and expressive as the buses and visually tied to them. Whether you spotted a wrapped bus or a staff member across a crowded platform, it all needed to feel like one cohesive LA welcome.
He told me the starting point was FIFA’s branding guidelines and the specific palette created for the Los Angeles Host Committee. Everything had to come together as one experience. The final jersey leaned all the way into that palette: coral, turquoise and, yes, bright pink. Bold, fun and unmistakable.
Those colors are not the typical Metro colors. We went the other way. Bright and a little louder, but still unmistakably Metro.
As Jeff described it, the goal was a seamless blend of flashy FIFA design and Metro’s own identity. At a major event, visibility does the real work so riders know who they can go to for help. Our people need to be easy to spot and the whole experience needs to feel intentional.
As it turns out, we were not alone in reaching for pink during the tournament. The Athletic reported that bright pink has taken over the World Cup pitch this summer, with Nike, Adidas, Puma and New Balance all releasing pink cleats for the tournament. Designers pointed to confidence and visibility, including how much the color pops against the green grass.
Which is exactly what we needed our MVPs to do--stand out and be seen. I knew how much I loved the jerseys, but I didn’t expect how much everyone else would love them.
Inside Metro, the jerseys became a quick source of pride. Employees were excited to wear them, even some of our staff who were not so sure about the pink at first are wearing them proudly now. MVPs started showing up not just as extra hands, but as a visible team with its own identity.
Then the public took notice. Riders and fans started complimenting the jerseys and asking where they could get one. On Reddit, people started trying to figure out where to buy one. One of our employees was even offered $400 for the jersey off her back and joked that if she had been wearing an undershirt, she might have taken the deal.
There has been so much interest, the design team is already thinking about Metro football jerseys for the Super Bowl LXI MVP Team. But they should know, I’ve already gotten requests for jersey personalization and matching pants.
Never underestimate the power of something that symbolizes being part of a team. When people feel part of something bigger than their individual role, they show up differently. That is exactly what I have seen with the MVP program. The jersey gave people something to rally around, but the pride behind it was already there. The shirt just made it visible.
So yes, I love that people want the jerseys. I love that they are bright pink. I love that they are a little louder than anyone expected. And I love that our employees wear them with pride. We are Team Metro.
By the way, Jeff also shared that Metro will likely not be able to sell the jersey due to licensing restrictions, so they will probably be a collector’s item. But as I like to tell people, if you want one, all you have to do is come work for Metro (and sign up for your MVP shift, of course).