title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: The 49ers' offense was just as dominating as it was during the previous regular season. Quarterback Joe Montana threw for 3,512 yards, 26 touchdowns, and only 8 interceptions, giving him what was then the highest single-season quarterback rating in NFL history (112.4). Montana also rushed for 227 yards and 3 touchdowns, and earned both the NFL Most Valuable Player Award and the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award. Wide receiver Jerry Rice had another outstanding season, catching 82 passes for 1,483 yards and 17 touchdowns. Running back Roger Craig was the team's leading rusher with 1,054 yards and 6 touchdowns, and he recorded 49 receptions for 473 yards and another touchdown.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: But other stars on the 49ers' offense began to emerge, enabling the team to spread the ball around. After being used primarily as a punt returner during his first two seasons, wide receiver John Taylor had a breakout season, catching 60 passes for 1,077 yards and 10 touchdowns, while also returning 36 punts for 417 yards. Tight end Brent Jones recorded 40 receptions for 500 yards. Fullback Tom Rathman had the best season of his career, rushing for 305 yards and catching 73 passes for 616 yards. Kicker Mike Cofer scored 136 points while making a career-high 80.6% of his field goals. Even Montana's backup, Steve Young, had a great year, throwing for 1,001 yards and 8 touchdowns with only 3 interceptions, while also rushing for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns. With all of these weapons, San Francisco's offense led the league in total yards from scrimmage (6,268) and scoring (442 points).


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: The 49ers' defense allowed the third-fewest points in the NFL (253). Defensive end Pierce Holt recorded 10.5 sacks, as did linebacker Charles Haley. In addition to Haley, their linebacking corps was anchored by Keena Turner, Matt Millen, and Bill Romanowski. Future Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott led the team with 5 interceptions. Defensive backs Eric Wright and Chet Brooks also combined for 5 interceptions between them.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: The Broncos were trying to avoid becoming the second team, after the Vikings, to lose a fourth Super Bowl. After appearing in Super Bowl XXI and Super Bowl XXII, the team missed the playoffs with an 8–8 record during the 1988 season. But they signed several new players in the offseason to help them win 10 of their first 12 games in 1989 and finish with an 11–5 record.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: One of Denver's new major additions was rookie running back Bobby Humphrey, who rushed for 1,151 yards, caught 22 passes for 156 yards, and scored 8 touchdowns. Humphrey gave the Broncos a powerful running attack that they lacked in their previous Super Bowl seasons. Also new to the team was rookie kicker David Treadwell, who made the Pro Bowl with an 81.8% field goal percentage and ranked third in the NFL with 120 points. The defense, coordinated by Wade Phillips, had a new weapon as well: rookie free safety Steve Atwater. Together with veteran defensive backs Dennis Smith, Wymon Henderson, and Tyrone Braxton, the Broncos' secondary combined for 14 interceptions. Braxton led the team with 6, which he returned for 103 yards and a touchdown, while also recovering 2 fumbles. Linebacker Simon Fletcher lead the team with 105 tackles and 12 sacks, while veteran linebacker Karl Mecklenburg gained 7.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and four fumble recoveries. Another new addition was defensive end Ron Holmes, who recorded 9 sacks. Defensive end Alphonso Carreker added 5.5 sacks.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: Veteran receiver Vance Johnson had the best season of his career, catching 76 passes for 1,095 yards and 7 touchdowns, while also returning 12 punts for 118 yards. However, quarterback John Elway played inconsistently during the regular season, throwing just as many interceptions as touchdowns (18) and recording only a 73.7 passer rating.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: Despite his regular season problems, Elway ended up playing his best during the playoffs. First, he led the Broncos on a late touchdown drive to narrowly defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 24–23. The Steelers held a 17–10 halftime lead before Elway's 37-yard touchdown pass to Vance Johnson tied the game in the third quarter. Then after Pittsburgh scored two field goals to take a 23–17 fourth-quarter lead, Elway led the Broncos on a 71-yard drive to score on Melvin Bratton's 1-yard, game-winning touchdown run. On the ensuing drive, Randy Robbins then recovered a Steelers fumble on third down with 2:02 left to clinch the victory.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: The Broncos then defeated the Cleveland Browns 37–21 in the AFC Championship Game. This was the third time in the last four years that both teams faced each other for the AFC Championship, and the previous two resulted in two of the most famous games in NFL Lore: The Drive and The Fumble. In this game, the Broncos seemed to be in complete control at first, building up a 24–7 lead. But Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar rallied his team back with two third-quarter touchdowns, cutting the lead to 24–21 going into the 4th quarter. Some observers began to wonder if this game would become known as "The Comeback". However, Elway destroyed any chance of a Browns comeback by leading the Broncos 80 yards and scoring with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Sammy Winder on the first drive of the 4th quarter. Denver then scored field goals on each of their next two drives to put the game away. Elway finished the game with 385 passing yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions, while also leading Denver in rushing with 5 carries for 39 yards.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: Meanwhile, the 49ers started out their postseason by blowing out the Minnesota Vikings, 41–13. Minnesota started out the game by marching 70 yards on their opening drive and scoring a field goal to take a 3–0 lead. But the 49ers dominated the rest of the game. On their first play from scrimmage, Montana completed a short pass to Rice, who then took it all the way to the end zone for a 72-yard touchdown reception. The next time they had the ball, Montana led them on another touchdown drive, scoring on a short pass to tight end Brent Jones. Then defensive back Chet Brooks intercepted a pass from Vikings quarterback Wade Wilson and returned it 28 yards, setting up Montana's third touchdown pass on an 8-yard toss to Taylor. Then just before halftime, Montana threw another touchdown pass to Rice, giving the 49ers a 28–3 halftime lead. Then in the fourth quarter, San Francisco scored two more touchdowns to put the game away: a 53-yard interception return by Lott and a 4-yard run by Craig. Montana finished the game with 241 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Wilson was held to just 9 completions for 74 yards, and was intercepted twice.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: The 49ers then entered the NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams, who had defeated San Francisco in one of their two regular season games against them, and were coming off postseason wins against two of the NFC's toughest teams, the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. The Rams scored first to take a 3–0 lead. However, the 49ers took over in the 2nd quarter, scoring 21 unanswered points on two touchdown passes by Montana and a touchdown run by Craig. By halftime, San Francisco had a commanding 21–3 lead and went on to a surprisingly easy 30–3 win and their second consecutive Super Bowl appearance. Montana had another superb performance, compiling 262 passing yards and 2 touchdowns, again without throwing an interception. Rams quarterback Jim Everett was held to 163 yards and threw 3 interceptions.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: Although Elway's performance in the AFC Championship Game was widely considered his best ever, many sports writers and fans believed that the Broncos' best effort would not be good enough to beat the 49ers. After all, Denver had barely defeated the Steelers, who only had a 9–7 regular season record, while the 9–6–1 Cleveland Browns had almost overcome a 17-point second half deficit before Denver put them away in the fourth quarter. Furthermore, the Elway-led Broncos had already lost two Super Bowls. On the other hand, the Montana-led 49ers, with their powerful offense, had already won three Super Bowls.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: Montana came into this game with a 7–0 record as a starting quarterback at the Superdome due to the 49ers' dominance of their then-NFC West rival New Orleans Saints. The 49ers' only loss in the Superdome in the 1980s came in 1986, when Mike Moroski started for an injured Montana.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: The Broncos, as the designated home team in the annual rotation between AFC and NFC teams, wore their home orange uniforms with white pants. At the time, the Broncos were winless (0–2) in Super Bowls while wearing orange. The 49ers would wear white road uniforms with gold pants, which was the same combination they wore in their Super Bowl XVI victory.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: The game was broadcast in the United States by CBS and featured the broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall and color commentator John Madden. Brent Musburger hosted all of "The Super Bowl Today" pregame (2 hours), halftime, and postgame events with help from his "NFL Today" co-hosts Irv Cross, Dick Butkus, and Will McDonough, along with game analysts Terry Bradshaw, Ken Stabler, and Dan Fouts, and then-Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka. CBS Sports reporter Pat O'Brien, meanwhile, was stationed in San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana's hometown of Monongahela, Pennsylvania.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: This was the last NFL broadcast for the "NFL Today" team as it was constructed. Several weeks after the Super Bowl, a management change at CBS resulted in the firing of Brent Musburger; his last event for the network was the call of the 1990 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game on April 2. Irv Cross was taken off the studio team and became an analyst instead, serving that role for two years with Tim Ryan. Dick Butkus returned to acting, while Will McDonough moved over to NBC’s pregame where, he would remain until retiring. CBS went to a two-man studio team for 1990 with Greg Gumbel, who joined CBS from ESPN the prior year, replacing Musburger as host and Terry Bradshaw moving from his prior position as the No. 2 analyst alongside Verne Lundquist to the studio analyst position vacated by Cross. CBS would not return to using a four-man studio team until 1998, coinciding with their return to broadcasting NFL games for the first time since 1993.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: CBS also debuted a new graphical package and theme song for their telecasts. The graphics became part of "The NFL Today" open while the theme continued to be used on game broadcasts for the next two seasons and replaced the original "NFL Today" theme ("Horizontal Hold" by Jack Trombey), which had been used in remixed form for the 1989 season. The last use of the actual theme was for the 1991 season's , while a remixed version was used for Super Bowl XXVI's pregame show.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: The game drew a national Nielsen rating of 39.0 for CBS, the lowest rating for a Super Bowl game since Super Bowl III in January 1969.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: This Super Bowl was simulcast in Canada on CTV and in Mexico on Imevisión's Canal 13, and later aired in the United Kingdom on Channel 4.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: Nissan aired a commercial during Super Bowl XXIV advertising the new Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo. Executives at Nissan pulled the commercial after the initial airing when they became concerned the commercial would promote street racing since the commercial features the 300ZX being faster than a sport bike, a formula one car and a fighter jet.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: On radio, the game was broadcast in the United States by CBS and featured the broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Jack Buck and color commentators Hank Stram and Randy Cross. Cross filled in for Stram when the latter was stricken with laryngitis and had to leave the broadcast in the third quarter of the game. Dick Stockton hosted all of the events. Locally, Super Bowl XXIV was broadcast by KGO-AM in San Francisco with Joe Starkey and Wayne Walker and by KOA-AM in Denver with Larry Zimmer and Jim Turner (Zimmer was moved from his normal position as a color commentator when the Broncos' regular play-by-play voice, Bob Martin, became seriously ill the day before the game; eventually losing his battle with cancer just under a month after the game).


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: The coin toss ceremony featured the recent inductees to the Pro Football Hall of Fame: defensive back Mel Blount, quarterback Terry Bradshaw, offensive lineman Art Shell, and safety Willie Wood. Shell, who was then the head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders, became the first active head coach or player to join the coin toss ceremonies. Bradshaw, not to be outdone, joined the ceremonies on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of Super Bowl IX, which had been played at Tulane Stadium and saw the Pittsburgh Steelers win their first world championship.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: The halftime show was a salute to both New Orleans and the 40th anniversary of the comic strip Peanuts. The show featured performances by clarinetist Pete Fountain, fiddle player Doug Kershaw, and singer Irma Thomas – all Louisiana natives. Three local college bands, Southern University, ULL, and Nicholls State, joined in the performance. The finale featured a float that was dressed up as a riverboat that rose several stories high. The float was so huge that one of the goal posts had to be moved so it could be put on the field.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: The 49ers blew out the Broncos by gaining 461 yards of total offense, holding the ball for 39:31, and scoring on eight of their first 11 drives. The San Francisco defense also limited the Broncos to 167 yards, 12 first downs, and 20:29 time of possession, while recording six sacks and forcing four turnovers. The 49ers converted all of the turnovers into touchdowns, needing only four plays total to score on the last three.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: On their opening possession, the Broncos were forced to punt after three plays, and the 49ers scored on their ensuing drive, marching 66 yards in 10 plays and scoring on a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joe Montana to wide receiver Jerry Rice.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: The Broncos responded with a 49-yard scoring drive, mainly on plays by running back Bobby Humphrey, who rushed 4 times for 22 yards and caught a 27-yard shovel pass, quarterback John Elway's longest completion of the game. Kicker David Treadwell finished the drive with a 42-yard field goal to cut the Broncos' deficit to 7–3.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: Denver's defense forced San Francisco to punt on their next drive after three plays, and wide receiver Vance Johnson gave his team good field position with a 7-yard return to the Broncos' 49-yard line. But then Humphrey lost a fumble at midfield while being tackled by defensive end Kevin Fagan, and safety Chet Brooks recovered the loose ball for San Francisco at the 49ers' 46-yard line.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: At this point, the 49ers completely took over the game. Ten plays after the fumble recovery, the 49ers scored on a 7-yard pass from Montana to tight end Brent Jones. Kicker Mike Cofer missed the extra point attempt wide right, keeping the score at 13–3, but it turned out to be the only miscue the 49ers would make for the rest of the game.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: Once again, the Broncos were forced to punt three plays after the ensuing kickoff, and the 49ers advanced 69 yards in 14 plays to score another touchdown. The key player on that drive was fullback Tom Rathman, who caught 3 passes for 39 yards, kept the drive alive with a successful run on a fourth down, and capped it off with a 1-yard touchdown run to make the score 20–3. With under two minutes left in the first half, wide receiver John Taylor's 17-yard punt return gave the 49ers the ball near midfield. Just over a minute later, San Francisco scored another touchdown with a 38-yard completion from Montana to Rice, increasing their lead to 27–3 at the end of the half.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: When the second half started, the 49ers picked up right where they left off. Linebacker Michael Walter intercepted Elway's first pass of the third quarter, and Montana threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Rice on the next play. It was Montana's 10th Super Bowl touchdown pass breaking the previous record of 9 set by Terry Bradshaw. Then Elway was intercepted again on the Broncos' ensuing drive, this time by Brooks, who returned the ball 38 yards to the Denver 37-yard line. Two plays later, Montana fooled defensive back Steve Atwater with a pump fake in Rice's direction, and then threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Taylor (his 5th and final touchdown of the game and his 11th and final touchdown pass of his Super Bowl career), making the score 41–3 before the quarter was 6 minutes old. San Francisco had scored 3 touchdowns in less than 6 minutes to blow open the game.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: Denver's lone touchdown came on their next possession, a 61-yard, 5-play drive. First, Broncos defensive back Darren Carrington returned the ensuing kickoff 39 yards to the 39-yard line. Elway's 13-yard completion to Johnson, a 34-yard run from Humphrey, and a pass interference penalty on 49ers linebacker Bill Romanowski moved the ball to the San Francisco 1-yard line. Elway then capped off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run on third down, cutting their deficit to 41–10.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: However, the 49ers continued to dominate the Broncos. San Francisco responded to Denver's score with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that took 6:56 off the clock, and ended with Rathman's 3-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter. Then after the ensuing kickoff, Elway was sacked for a 6-yard loss by defensive end Danny Stubbs. Then after an offsides penalty on the 49ers, cornerback Don Griffin sacked Elway, forcing a fumble. Stubbs recovered the loose ball and returned it 15 yards to Denver's 1-yard line. 49ers running back Roger Craig then closed out the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run on the next play to make the final score of the game 55–10. The 49ers had two scores in this quarter before two minutes had elapsed. Steve Young relieved Montana for the remainder of the game.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: Rice finished the game with 7 receptions for 148 yards and a Super Bowl record 3 receiving touchdowns. He joined teammate Roger Craig as the only players to score three touchdowns in a Super Bowl (Craig did it in Super Bowl XIX – 2 receiving and 1 rushing). Craig was the leading rusher of the game with 69 rushing yards and a touchdown, while also catching 5 passes for 34 yards. Rathman rushed for 38 yards and 2 touchdowns while also catching 4 passes for 43 yards. Taylor caught 3 passes for 49 yards and a touchdown and added another 38 yards on 3 punt returns. Elway was held to a passer rating of 19.4 on just 10 completions out of 26 attempts for 108 yards with no touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He managed to run for a touchdown, but fumbled twice (although he recovered one of them). Humphrey was Denver's leading rusher and receiver, with 61 rushing yards and 3 receptions for 38 yards. Carrington returned 6 kickoffs for 146 yards.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: A photo essay titled "Ranking the Super Bowls", written by media analyst Elliot Harrison and featuring Dallas personnel man Gil Brandt, ranked Super Bowl XXIV the lowest of the first 50 played. The article was published on the NFL's website.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: Montana and the 49ers looked to win a third consecutive Super Bowl in 1990 and once again finished with the league's best record at 14–2. However, in the that season, the 49ers were defeated by the New York Giants on a field goal as time expired. During the game, Montana was sacked from his blind side by Leonard Marshall and was forced to leave the game with a series of injuries including a broken finger, a bruised back, and a concussion. Later, it was discovered that Montana suffered an injury to his throwing elbow in the game and it was severe enough to cost him the entire 1991 season. Montana's injuries, which kept him out of fifteen games in 1992 as well, paved the way for Steve Young to become the 49ers' starting quarterback full-time and Montana was eventually traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993. Young would win the 49ers another Super Bowl title in 1995 in Super Bowl XXIX.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: After Super Bowl XXIV, Elway and the Broncos entered a period of decline. 1990 saw them fall to 5–11, which put them last in the AFC West. While they returned to the playoffs in 1991, the Broncos failed to make the Super Bowl after losing the to the Buffalo Bills. That marked the first time in their existence that Denver lost a conference championship game. They eventually returned to success as Elway led the team to an NFL-best 13–3 record in 1996, only to lose , against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Incidentally, that was the final time in Elway's career that he would lose a playoff game. After his three previous attempts had gone unsuccessfully, Elway led the Broncos to Super Bowl XXXII where they finally broke through and won the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history, over the Green Bay Packers. A year later, in what later proved to be the final game of his career, Elway led the Broncos to another victory in the Super Bowl as Denver won Super Bowl XXXIII 34–19 over the Atlanta Falcons.


title: Super Bowl XXIV

text: The following records were set in Super Bowl XXIV, according to the official NFL.com boxscore, the 2020 NFL Record & Fact Book and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. <br>Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).


title: Dana Perino

text: Dana Marie Perino (born May 9, 1972) is an American political commentator and author who served as the 26th White House Press Secretary, under President George W. Bush from September 14, 2007, to January 20, 2009. She was the second female White House Press Secretary, after Dee Dee Myers, who served during the Clinton administration.


title: Dana Perino

text: Perino is a political commentator for Fox News, while also serving as a co-host of the network's talk show "The Five", and was a book publishing executive at Random House. On October 2, 2017, she began hosting "The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino" on Fox News. In early 2021, Perino left "The Daily Briefing" to co-anchor "America's Newsroom" with Bill Hemmer.


title: Dana Perino

text: Born in Evanston, Wyoming on May 9, 1972, she grew up in Denver, Colorado. Two of her paternal great-grandparents were Italian immigrants. She attended Ponderosa High School in Parker, a suburb southeast of Denver. Perino graduated from Colorado State University Pueblo with a bachelor's degree in mass communications and minors in both political science and Spanish. She was on the university's forensics team and worked at KTSC-TV, the campus-based Rocky Mountain PBS affiliate. She also worked at KCCY-FM on the 2 to 6 a.m. shift. Perino went on to obtain a master's degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS). During her time at UIS, she also worked for WCIA, a CBS affiliate, as a daily reporter covering the Illinois Capitol.


title: Dana Perino

text: Perino next worked in Washington, D.C. for Congressman Scott McInnis (R-CO) as a staff assistant before serving nearly four years as the press secretary for Rep. Dan Schaefer (R-CO), who then chaired the House Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power.


title: Dana Perino

text: After Schaefer announced his retirement in 1998, Perino and husband Peter McMahon moved to Great Britain.


title: Dana Perino

text: In November 2001, Perino returned to Washington, D.C., and secured a position as a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, at which she served for two years.


title: Dana Perino

text: Perino then joined the White House staff as the Associate director of communications for the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), where she provided strategic advice on message development, media relations and public outreach. The House Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY), claimed in its findings on climate change censorship, that the CEQ exerted undue control of media relations in governmental scientific agencies during her tenure.


title: Dana Perino

text: Perino was hired by White House chief of staff Andy Card two months after the September 11 attacks. Initially, she was associate director of communications for the White House CEQ in 2002.


title: Dana Perino

text: Perino served as Deputy Press Secretary from 2005 to 2007. From March 27 through April 30, 2007, she was the Acting White House Press Secretary while Tony Snow underwent treatment for colon cancer.


title: Dana Perino

text: On August 31, 2007, President George W. Bush announced that Snow would be resigning his post for health reasons and that Perino would become his replacement. Perino served as Assistant to the President and as White House Press Secretary from September 14, 2007, until the end of the Bush administration in January 2009.


title: Dana Perino

text: On December 14, 2008, a TV journalist, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, threw two shoes at Bush during a Baghdad press conference. Bush successfully dodged both, but Perino's eye was injured by a microphone stand during the commotion surrounding al-Zaidi's arrest.


title: Dana Perino

text: Since leaving the White House, Perino became a political commentator on Fox News. She is a regular co-host on the talk show, "The Five". In November 2009, she was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an agency overseeing government-sponsored international broadcasting, and was confirmed by the Senate on June 30, 2010. In 2010, she started teaching a class in political communications part-time at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management. In March 2011 the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., announced that Perino had joined its books imprint Crown Forum as Editorial Director but she has since left this position.


title: Dana Perino

text: Beginning September 18, 2016, Perino's podcast "Perino & Stirewalt: I'll Tell You What", co-hosted with Chris Stirewalt, premiered as a weekly limited series on the Fox News Channel. A new show was released weekly until Stirewalt's firing from the network after the 2020 Presidential Election.


title: Dana Perino

text: Perino met her future husband, English-born Peter McMahon, in August 1997. They were married in 1998.


title: Dana Perino

text: In May 2012, Perino appeared on "Jeopardy!" during its "Power Players" week, facing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and CNBC's David Faber.


title: Dana Perino

text: Dana is also known for her dog Jasper, a Vizsla. Jasper died on September 4, 2021. A few months later, Dana announced on the Fox News Channel that she and her husband Peter adopted another Vizsla named Percy.


title: D.C. United

text: D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supporters Shields (league regular season), three U.S. Open Cups (domestic cups) and six Eastern Conference championships. In international competitions, the club has one CONCACAF Champions League title and one Copa Interamericana, being the only American team to win the latter. In terms of trophies won, it is the joint-most successful club in American soccer (tied with the New York Cosmos and LA Galaxy).


title: D.C. United

text: Founded in 1995, the club was an inaugural franchise in Major League Soccer, playing in MLS in every season since its first season in 1996. The club played a majority of its matches at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, from 1996 until 2017, before moving to the soccer-specific stadium, Audi Field, in 2018, where it has played since. D.C. United was one of the premier franchises in Major League Soccer, and in American soccer in the late 1990s, where it won the bulk of its trophies. Players such as Raúl Díaz Arce, Marco Etcheverry, Roy Lassiter, Jaime Moreno, Ben Olsen, and Eddie Pope, along with head coach, Bruce Arena, helped the club win eight of their twelve major titles from 1996 through 2000. The club would win an MLS Cup, a U.S. Open Cup, and two Supporters Shield title under Piotr Nowak and Tom Soehn in the mid-to-late-2000's. In 2013, under the management of Ben Olsen, the club won the U.S. Open Cup, which is their most recent major trophy.


title: D.C. United

text: Throughout the 2010s, and into the early 2020s, the club managed by Olsen, went through mediocrity, with only one major trophy, and several missed playoff appearances, including two last place finishes in the league. During this time, some high-profile acquisitions joined United, including Wayne Rooney, and several homegrown players began making impacts on the United squad including Bill Hamid, Andy Najar, and Kevin Paredes. After a string of poor seasons, Olsen was fired in 2020, after a ten-year tenure as head coach. Olsen was replaced by Hernán Losada, who managed the club until 2022. The club is presently managed by former Manchester United player and English international Wayne Rooney.


title: D.C. United

text: Before the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the United States Soccer Federation fulfilled its promise to FIFA by aiding in the foundation of a new professional league, which would become Major League Soccer (MLS). On June 15, 1994, MLS selected Washington, D.C. out of twenty-two applicants to host one of the league's first seven franchises, with three more added before the league's launch. The team's name was chosen as a reflection of the names of European clubs, such as Manchester United or Leeds United, as well as being the capital of the United States.


title: D.C. United

text: The team's colors and original logo, along with those of the other ten original teams, were announced in October 1995, during a presentation in New York City. Black and white were announced D.C. United's primary colors, and red was announced as the club's secondary color.


title: D.C. United

text: The club's first season was in 1996. Ahead of the season, United hired Bruce Arena, who had led the University of Virginia men's soccer program to five NCAA College Cup titles, to be the head coach of the club. Under Arena, the club quickly established itself as one of the flagship franchises in MLS, winning two MLS Cup (league championship) titles, a U.S. Open Cup (domestic cup) title, a Supporters' Shield (regular season winner), a CONCACAF Champions' Cup (continental championship), and a Copa Interamericana (intercontinental championship) all within the club's first two seasons. During this late 1990's dynasty, the club was led by its “magic triangle” of Jaime Moreno, Marco Etcheverry, and Raul Diaz Arce. Additionally, the club had several U.S. international stars at the time including Eddie Pope, John Harkes, and Jeff Agoos. United's inaugural match was played on April 6, 1996, against the then-called San Jose Clash (now Earthquakes) at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California, which also was the first match to ever be played in MLS history. United would lose the match to the Clash, 0–1 off a late match-winner by Eric Wynalda. However, the season was hallmarked by the Arena leading the team to the first "double" in modern U.S. soccer history by beating the Los Angeles Galaxy in the first MLS Cup and the Rochester Raging Rhinos of the USL First Division in the 1996 U.S. Open Cup. The club's early success continued into 1997, repeating as MLS Cup champions, and winning their first Supporters' Shield, becoming the first club in MLS history to achieve the "league double" by winning both the regular season championship and league championship.


title: D.C. United

text: In 1998 the club won the Eastern Conference regular season and postseason championship, but finished runners-up for the Supporters' Shield, and lost to Chicago Fire in MLS Cup 1998. Despite not winning any domestic titles, the club managed to win the CONCACAF Champions' Cup (now known as the CONCACAF Champions League), defeating Mexican side, Toluca, in the final thanks to a Pope goal, as well as winning the now-defunct Copa Interamericana (a two-legged aggregate series between the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL club champions). D.C. United became the first American club to win a CONCACAF club championship, and the only American club to have won the Copa Interamericana. As of 2022, only two other American clubs have won the CONCACAF Champions' Cup or Champions League (LA Galaxy in 2000 and Seattle Sounders in 2022).


title: D.C. United

text: In October 1998, Arena left D.C. United to accept the head coaching role for the United States men's national soccer team, following their poor performance in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Dutch manager, Thomas Rongen, who had previously coached the New England Revolution was hired to coach United for the 1999 season. With the squad, largely constructed by Arena, United achieved a domestic double, winning MLS Cup 1999 (their third MLS Cup title) against their cross-country rivals, the Los Angeles Galaxy, a rematch of MLS Cup 1996, and winning their second Supporters' Shield title (off of 57 points). Striker Roy Lassiter led United with 18 goals during the season earning joint Golden Boot honors. United did not fare as well in the 1999 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, losing in the semifinals to eventual champions, Necaxa.


title: D.C. United

text: Ultimately, Arena's departure marked the beginning of a downturn in the team's fortunes. After reaching MLS Cup for the club's first four seasons, the 2000 season saw the club lose nine of their first twelve matches. United ultimately finished in 11th out of 12 teams in MLS during the 2000 season, missing the 2000 MLS Cup Playoffs altogether, for the first time in franchise history. Outside of MLS play, the club suffered early exists in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, losing in the semifinals to eventual champions, the LA Galaxy, and being knocked out in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup by eventual finalists, Miami Fusion. During the 2001 season, United played in the CONCACAF Giants Cup which was held in March 2001, prior to the start of the MLS regular season. United reached the finals of the Giants Cup, beating Jamaican club, Arnett Gardens, and Guatemalan club, Comunicaciones in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, before losing to Mexican club, América, in the final. During the 2001 MLS regular season United once again, finished in last place in the Eastern Conference and 11 points outside of the playoff picture. Although the offense led by Abdul Thompson Conteh, and Jamie Moreno contributed to 42 goals on the season, the porous United defense let in 50 goals the second worst in the East. The season however, was truncated by three weeks due to the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Following the 2001 season, club management decided to fire Rongen, and replace him with English manager Ray Hudson, who had just coached the Miami Fusion to a Supporters' Shield title.


title: D.C. United

text: Hudson signed a two-season contract with United and began the 2002 season participating in the 2002 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, due to their performance in the previous years' Giants Cup. United suffered their worst loss in CONCACAF play, losing by a four-goal margin to Comunicaciones, a club they had beat the previous year in the Giants Cup. United won the return leg, but by too little of a margin to advance. Their fortunes during the regular season did not fare better than the previous two seasons, where United ultimately finished last in the MLS regular season overall table, their first Wooden Spoon finish in franchise history, and their worst season until 2010. United scored only 31 goals during the season, last in MLS, where Ali Curtis and Bobby Convey were joint top scorers with the club, with only five goals each. However, the season showed signs of promising young talent with then-17 year old, Santino Quaranta, having a breakout season with United, and Nick Rimando, who became the club's first-choice goalkeeper for the next five years.


title: D.C. United

text: Ahead of the 2003 season, United received the first overall draft pick in the 2003 MLS SuperDraft, where they selected University of Virginia standout, Alecko Eskandarian. Additionally, United brought in MLS veterans, Dema Kovalenko and Hristo Stoichkov, from Chicago Fire. After a slow start to the season taking eight matches to win, United gained momentum during the latter half of the season, going 8–5–5 to close out the season. The form allowed United to qualify for the playoffs as the final seed, giving United their first playoff berth since 1999. Despite the berth, United was blanked by Shield winners Chicago Fire 4–0 on aggregate. At the conclusion of the season, despite signs of promise, Hudson was released by D.C. United and Polish manager, Piotr Nowak, replaced him before the start of the 2004 season.


title: D.C. United

text: The club's first season under Nowak was marred by injuries in the early going, and some players were known to have complained about Nowak's methods. During Nowak's tenue, United selected Freddy Adu, a 14-year-old soccer prodigy, in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft. When Adu entered United's regular-season opener as a second-half substitute on April 3, 2004, he became the youngest player in any professional sport in the United States since 1887. That season, Adu, along with the likes of Christian Gómez, Moreno, and Brian Carroll, helped to propel United into the playoffs as the second seed in the East. There they advanced past the New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference Final on penalty kicks in what has been called one of the best games in MLS history. United then defeated the Kansas City Wizards to win MLS Cup 2004, their fourth, and as of 2022, their most recent MLS Cup title.


title: D.C. United

text: Following their 2004 MLS Cup triumph, the club spent the next four seasons as one of the top clubs in MLS. In 2005, the club again made MLS history by becoming the first United States-based team to participate in Copa Sudamericana, entering in the Round of sixteen. In 2006, the MLS All-Star Team, which included eight United players, was managed by United's manager Piotr Nowak, defeated English champions Chelsea. In 2006 United won their third consecutive Supporters' Shield title.


title: D.C. United

text: Nowak left United as head coach to become an assistant under Bob Bradley with the United States men's national soccer team. Nowak was replaced by his assistant Tom Soehn, who coached the club starting in 2007. The 2007 squad, largely built by Nowak, had a historically successful regular season in MLS. Led by the likes of Luciano Emilio, Fred, Ben Olsen, and Christian Gómez, United finished the regular season atop the MLS table, winning the Supporters' Shield for a then-MLS record fourth time, and for the second consecutive season. Finishing the season with 55 points in 30 games, United set a club record in points per game (1.8), and lead the league in total goals (56). It was the first time in MLS history a franchise won the Shield in consecutive seasons. Outside of MLS play during the 2007 season, the club participated in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, reaching the semifinals; the Copa Sudamericana, being eliminated in the opening round; the North American SuperLiga, reaching the quarterfinals; and the U.S. Open Cup, being eliminated in the third round. In September 2007, Dave Kasper was promoted from the club's Technical Director to the team's General Manager, which as of 2022, is a position he still holds.


title: D.C. United

text: Following the 2007 season, the club failed to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs for five consecutive seasons. During this stretch, United's lone major title came in 2008, when they won the U.S. Open Cup. In league play during the 2008 and 2009 campaigns, United faltered at the tail-end of each season, ultimately causing them to miss out on the playoffs. Following the end of the 2009 campaign, Soehn resigned as head coach of United, thus ending the Sohen era with two major titles in three seasons. To date, Soehn is the most recent manager at United to win two or more major titles during their tenure as head coach.


title: D.C. United

text: Following Soehn's replacement, the organization hired Curt Onalfo as the head coach, who has recently been terminated as manager for Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting Kansas City). United had approached then University of Akron men's soccer head coach, Caleb Porter, but Porter rejected their offer. Recently retired club midfielder, Ben Olsen, joined Onalfo's staff as an assistant coach, along with Kris Kelderman, who served as an assistant to Onfalo at Kansas City. Additionally, Soehn's assistant coaches of Chad Ashton and Mark Simpson remained on Onalfo's coaching staff for the 2010 season. Ahead of the season the club saw the departures of Luciano Emilio and Fred, two key contributors to the club during the late 2000s. The club, marred by injuries, and poor tactics, had a historically poor start to the 2010 MLS season, having a record of 3-12-3 in the clubs first 16 matches. In August 2010, United fired Onalfo and named Ben Olsen as the club's interim manager for the remainder of the 2010 season. The club would finish the season out with a 3-8-1 record, finishing with a historically poor 6-20-4 record, the worst in MLS during the 2010 season. During the 2010 season, the highlights of the season included the rise of two homegrown signings, Bill Hamid, who took over as starting goalkeeper to Troy Perkins during the season, and became the club's first choice goalkeeper throughout the 2010s, along with Andy Najar, who won the MLS Rookie of the Year Award (now Young Player of the Year), becoming the first homegrown player to win the honor. Following the end of the 2010 season, long-time United striker Jamie Moreno retired from professional soccer.


title: D.C. United

text: Olsen would ultimately assume full-time managerial duties ahead of the 2011 season, where he kept Ashton on the coaching staff, but dismissed Kelderman from his staff. Olsen brought in recently retired goalkeeper and former Canadian international, Pat Onstad, on to his coaching staff, along with former Dutch international, Sonny Silooy. Throughout Olsen's tenure, he employed a defensive style of play, followed by a diamond 4-4-2 formation focused on counter-attacking soccer. Pundits described the play as "Bennyball", and a soccer-style form of moneyball. During Olsen's coaching career, he would qualify for the playoffs six times, with the furthest being the Eastern Conference final, and win one major title, the U.S. Open Cup in 2013. The club qualified for the CONCACF Champions League twice during his tenure, where they reached the quarterfinals each time.


title: D.C. United

text: During Olsen's first full season in charge the club acquired Perry Kitchen in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft, U.S. international Charlie Davies on loan, and Canadian international Dwayne De Rosario. Additionally, 2010 Designated Player acquisition, Branko Bošković, became healthy for the season. The club experienced a turnaround in contrast to 2010, but ultimately a four-match losing streak and a six-match winless streak to close out the regular season cost the club a chance at the MLS Cup Playoffs. Despite not making the playoffs, De Rosario won the MLS Most Valuable Player Award (now known as the Landon Donovan MVP Award). During the 2011-12 offseason, minority owners of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team, Jason Levien and Erick Thohir were named new majority owners, buying Will Chang's majority stake in the club. Chang, however, remained part of the ownership group as a minority owner. The goal of Levien and Thohir was to construct a soccer-specific stadium for United. On the field during the 2012 season, United's fortunes fared much better, with new acquisitions Nick DeLeon, Lewis Neal, Maicon Santos, and Hamdi Salihi having immediate contributions to the club. United ultimately finish the 2012 season with a third-place finish, their best since 2007, and a second-place finish in the East, again their best since 2007. The club defeated their rivals, New York Red Bulls in the Conference Semifinals, before advancing to the MLS Eastern Conference final, their first Conference Final since 2005, against Houston Dynamo. United lost the series 2–4 on aggregate ending their season.


title: D.C. United

text: During Olsen's third season in charge, the new club ownership constrained the teams budget, in part to finance a future soccer-specific stadium. Consequently, the club relied on several reserve players, second-division players, and Academy players to form the core of the team, as well as releasing several key contributors from the 2012 team, in order to stay within budget. As a result, D.C. United tallied a total of only three wins in the 2013 season, setting a record for fewest wins in league history. Despite the team's poor showing in league play, D.C. United defeated Real Salt Lake in the U.S. Open Cup final thanks to a late first half goal from Lewis Neal. As of 2022, this is the club's most recent major honor. Despite this season, Olsen was retained as head coach, in part, due in part to the fact the club won the Open Cup. The Open Cup title gave United a berth into the 2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League, their first Champions League appearance since 2009. In 2014, D.C. United executed a historic turnaround by clinching first place in the Eastern Conference, and going undefeated in CONCACAF Champions League group play, the first time an American club went undefeated in Group Stage of the Champions League. The Eastern Conference regular season title earned the team its second consecutive Champions League berth. Despite this, the club was eliminated by their rivals, New York Red Bulls, in the Conference Semifinals of the MLS Cup Playoffs. Notable offseason acquisitions included Steve Birnbaum, Chris Rolfe, Fabian Espindola, Sean Franklin, and Bobby Boswell. At the conclusion of the 2014 season, Olsen won the MLS Coach of the Year Award (now known as the Sigi Schmid Coach of the Year Award). For the turnaround, management extended Olsen's contract with United.


title: D.C. United

text: During the latter half of Olsen's tenure, Olsen saw the club qualify for the playoffs in four of his final six seasons, although the club never went further past the Conference Semifinals in the playoffs. During this time, the club revealed a new crest in 2016, and opened their new soccer-specific, Audi Field, in 2018. Off the field, Chang and Thohir sold their ownership stake to Levien in 2016 and 2018, respectively. In the late 2010s the club signed several notable players such as Wayne Rooney, Luciano Acosta, and Paul Arriola. During the shortened 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, United saw themselves have an early group stage exit during the MLS is Back Tournament, coupled with a poor run of play during the fall 2020 segment of the season. In October 2020, club management relieved Ben Olsen of his coaching duties, after a club-record 10 seasons as the head coach of the team. Olsen became the third-longest tenured head coach for an MLS team in league history, and by far, the longest tenured head coach in United history. While some members of the media felt that the dismissal was necessary, some individuals in the media felt that as long as Kasper was General Manager and Levien owned the franchise that little would change. Following the dismissal, it was reported that Olsen may stay with the United organization in a different role. Ultimately, in September 2021, Olsen was hired as the Club President for the Washington Spirit, the National Women's Soccer League franchise in the Washington metropolitan area, which he held until May 2022.


title: D.C. United

text: During the 2021 season, United hired Argentine manager, Hernán Losada, who had previously coached Belgian outfit, Beerschot. The decision came after the ownership decided to not hire Chris Armas as head coach. The media found the hire a unique and ambitious hire. As head coach, Losada moved the team away from a counter-attacking defensive style, and focused more on a high-octane, attacking style, where Losada prioritized fitness and speed, putting intense pressure on the opponents defense. Losada only managed the club for the entirety of the 2021 season, where on the final day of the season, they finished just outside of the playoff spot. Despite this, Losada remained in charge of United for the first two months of the 2022 campaign. However, due to disagreements between the front office and Losada in coaching philosophy, as well as a poor string of league results, Losada was fired in April 2022 after coaching the club for about 14 months. Following the firing, several United players came out speaking about Losada's poor communication with players, and strict dietary regulations, which had caused tension between the players and Losada's coaching staff. Management felt that Losada was too critical of the front office, particularly of Dave Kasper and Jason Levien, and that the relationship between coaching staff and the front office staff had been strained. During this time off the field, Mario Mims and Mark Ingram II joined D.C. United Holdings as minority owners.


title: D.C. United

text: Losada's firing sparked anger from the fanbase, who felt the firing was too premature, and felt it showed a lack of ambition on the club's part. Following Losada's sacking, long-time assistant coach Chad Ashton took over on interim duties until July 2022, when the club hired former player and former English international player Wayne Rooney to coach the club. The 2022 season ended in United finishing at the bottom of the MLS overall table, resulting in General Manager, Lucy Rushton, being relieved of her duties.


title: D.C. United

text: The team's colors and original logo were announced on October 17, 1995, along with those of the other ten original teams during a presentation in New York City. Black and white are D.C. United's primary colors, though the team's nickname is the "Black-and-Red." Red is used to accent the home jersey, while white is the main color of the team's road uniform. The three stripes along the shoulder – in white at home and black on the road – do not represent the three jurisdictions of the Washington Metropolitan Area (Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia); rather, they represent the fact that the team's uniforms are made by Adidas. United's shirt sponsor is Reston, Virginia defense company Leidos. In 2011, the team introduced a predominantly red third uniform with black accents to be worn four or more times in the season. The team has also previously used white road uniforms with red stripes; white and red are the colors of the flag of Washington, D.C., and the stripes are also reminiscent of those used on the flag.


title: D.C. United

text: The team's original shield was implemented in 1996, consisting of the team's name, D.C. United, above a black bald eagle facing right on a red field, clawing three soccer balls overlaid on three white stars. The three stars and balls were intended to represent the region's three jurisdictions. The bird, associated with the federal government based in Washington, D.C., symbolizes many of the attributes of the team, including speed and power. The logo was redesigned before the 1998 season. This second logo design reoriented the eagle facing left and removed the three stars below it, whose metaphor was retained by three raised wing feathers. At the center of the eagle is a single gold-colored star and a soccer ball, which represents the team's victory in Major League Soccer's inaugural cup in 1996. The logo can also be adorned with four silver stars above it, representing the MLS Cups the team has won.


title: D.C. United

text: On December 10, 2015, D.C. United unveiled an updated logo designed by Peter Horridge, featuring a D.C. flag-inspired design across the eagle, an updated wordmark, and more dynamic wings.


title: D.C. United

text: Leidos was announced as the main jersey sponsor on February 24, 2014, for a multi-year agreement, replacing the previous sponsor


title: D.C. United

text: Volkswagen Group of America. Other sponsors include Adidas, Chipotle Mexican Grill, GEICO, Verizon Wireless, and Papa John's Pizza.


title: D.C. United

text: Audi Field is a soccer-specific stadium at Buzzard Point in Southwest, Washington, D.C., and has a capacity of 20,000. It hosted its first game against Vancouver Whitecaps FC on July 14, 2018. The stadium's naming rights are owned by Audi, who signed a 12-year contract in February 2017. It was designed by Populous and Marshall Moya Design.


title: D.C. United

text: Plans for a new stadium dated back to July 2006, when D.C. United proposed building a new stadium along the Anacostia River near Anacostia Park, but disputes with the city government forced the team to consider other sites.


title: D.C. United

text: The tentative deal for the stadium was announced on July 25, 2013, which would see a 20,000–25,000-seat stadium built on the site, costing $300 million. It was signed into law on December 30, 2014. Groundbreaking began on February 27, 2017, and the ribbon cutting was on July 9, 2018.


title: D.C. United

text: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium (RFK) was home to D.C. United, from the club's inaugural season in 1996, until the end of the 2017 season. The D.C. United Training Complex is located north of the stadium, and is where the Reserve Division team plays.


title: D.C. United

text: RFK was built in 1961 as a dual-use stadium for baseball and American football. Before 1996, it occasionally hosted soccer matches, including the 1980 Soccer Bowl, the 1993 Supercoppa Italiana, and five matches during the 1994 FIFA World Cup. When the Washington Nationals baseball team shared the field from 2005 to 2007, there were criticisms about the playing surface and the field's dimensions.


title: D.C. United

text: Several regional university stadiums have been used by the team for Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup matches, including Klöckner Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1996, and George Mason Stadium in Fairfax, Virginia, in 2010. Similarly, the team has also used the Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, Maryland, for multiple early-round games in U.S. Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions' Cup since it opened in 2001. On April 14, 2018, D.C. United played an MLS game against Columbus Crew SC at the Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, while Audi Field was being constructed. Exhibition games, as well as occasional regular season matches, have also been played in nearby FedExField in Landover, Maryland; the latter have generally been played as part of doubleheaders featuring friendlies between national teams or foreign clubs.


title: D.C. United

text: D.C. United has three major supporters groups; La Barra Brava, the Screaming Eagles and the District Ultras. All three groups occupy the safe standing sections together at the north end of Audi Field. La Barra Brava, Spanish for "The Brave Fans", was founded in 1995 by Latino fans in the Washington, D.C. area, mostly Bolivian immigrants in support of original United players Marco Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno. They seek to bring a South American style to home games. All three clubs host public tailgates before home matches, and are known for singing during games.


title: D.C. United

text: D.C. United's primary rival is the New York Red Bulls. The two teams compete annually for the Atlantic Cup, a competition instituted by the two clubs. The cup is awarded to the team that gets the most points across the teams' meetings throughout the season. D.C. United also has a burgeoning rivalry with the Philadelphia Union as the two teams represent two cities separated by only 120 miles. D.C. United is also unique among MLS teams for its rivalry with the Charleston Battery of the United Soccer League, as they compete every time they face one another for the Coffee Pot Cup, a trophy established by the two sides' supporters.


title: D.C. United

text: When the league was founded in 1995, billionaire investor George Soros was the primary financial backer and director of Washington Soccer L.P., the group that owned the operating rights to D.C. United. Kevin Payne, former President of Soccer USA Partners and current CEO of D.C. United, was instrumental in organizing this ownership group. By 1998 the group was looking for new investors. On February 15, 2001, it agreed to sell the team to Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), founded by Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz, with AEG exercising its option to become the sole investor-operator on January 8, 2002. AEG, who also own Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy and Houston Dynamo, ran the team until 2007.


title: D.C. United

text: In May 2007, United entered into an initial one-year strategic partnership with the Brazilian club Atlético Mineiro. The partnership's goal is to enhance the sporting and commercial success of the respective clubs by sharing expertise and experience and creating new opportunities for the clubs in both areas.


title: D.C. United

text: On January 8, 2007, the operating rights to D.C. United were sold to D.C. United Holdings, a newly formed group venture that included real estate developer Victor MacFarlane, founder of MacFarlane Partners, and William H.C. Chang, chairman of Westlake International Group. Other investors included D.C. United president Kevin Payne and Blue Devil Development, headed by former Duke basketball players Brian Davis and Christian Laettner. In April 2009, Victor MacFarlane sold his share of the team to his partner William Chang after two stadium proposals had fallen through. In October 2009, Chang also bought out Davis and Laettner to fully control the team. Chang is also one of the primary investors of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants. In July 2012, Erick Thohir and Jason Levien, minority owners of the Philadelphia 76ers National Basketball Association franchise, joined Chang as partners. Thohir and Levien stated their primary goals are to make United a global brand and build a soccer-specific stadium for the club.


title: D.C. United

text: Rights to D.C. United matches not covered by one of MLS' national television partners (ESPN, Fox Sports, and Univision) were held by NBC Sports Washington until the end of the 2022 season. Spanish-language coverage aired on TeleXitos affiliate WZDC-DT2 (channel 44.2). Dave Johnson was the longtime the English-language commentator, and WZDC sports anchor Moises Linares was the Spanish-language commentator.


title: D.C. United

text: NBCSW also held television rights from the team's inception in 1996 through 2015, dating back to its time as Comcast SportsNet and Home Team Sports. In the previous three-year deal, which was not completed until five games into the 2013 season, it was to show a minimum of 16 matches per season. The team became frustrated that late-season and playoff matches were often relegated to the network's secondary CSN Plus channel or not televised at all due to scheduling conflicts with the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards, leading them to conclude a new deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group for the 2016 season. Sinclair's local cable channel WJLA 24/7 News served two stints as D.C. United's television partner, covering the 2016 through 2018 seasons as well as 2020.


title: D.C. United

text: For the 2019 season, D.C. United sold their local rights to subscription over-the-top service FloSports rather than a television broadcaster. The team signed a $12 million contract for four years, marking the first time it collected a substantial rights fee for its local games. The deal was controversial, as fans and the media balked at the high subscription price and criticized the team for shutting out casual fans and public viewings. Technical issues marred early broadcasts, and FloSports promised additional soccer broadcasts and shoulder programming to justify its subscription fee that largely never materialized. D.C. United canceled the contract before the final match of the 2019 regular season, opting to stream the remaining game on its website for free.


title: D.C. United

text: With every MLS game available on Apple TV via their rights deal in 2023, D.C. United games will be broadcast almost exclusively on this service, with exceptions for certain national linear television broadcast partners. This marks the second time United matches will be carried on a streaming service, with the aforementioned 2019 FloSports deal.


title: D.C. United

text: Radio rights are held by iHeartMedia for the 2022 season. Coverage airs on WWDC-HD2 and its analog translator W284CQ (104.7 FM, Washington). The broadcast is an audio simulcast of the English-language television commentary; both the English and Spanish television audio are also available on iHeartRadio.


title: D.C. United

text: D.C. United's first radio partner was WMET (1160 AM), which picked up coverage in 2003. For the 2009 season, games moved to WTOP (1050 AM), but the station did not renew its deal and the team went the next four seasons without English-language radio. Tony Limarzi was the commentator.


title: D.C. United

text: WACA (1540 AM) broadcast commentary in Spanish from the team's founding through the 2009 season. In 2010, coverage moved to WDCN-LP (87.7 FM) through the end of the 2012 season.


title: D.C. United

text: Coverage in both languages returned for the 2014 season, as D.C. United entered into a four-year deal with CBS Radio, including English commentary on WJFK-FM (106.7 FM) or WJFK (1580 AM) and Spanish on WLZL-HD2 (107.9 FM-HD2). The contract with CBS Radio expired after the 2017 season.


title: D.C. United

text: The D.C. United Academy is the youth and development program for D.C. United. The program consists of the reserve team Loudoun United FC as well as the academy (U-15, U-16 and U-17) and Pre-Academy teams (U-14, U-13). The academy and Pre-Academy teams play in MLS Next.


title: D.C. United

text: Notable players to have graduated from the D.C United Academy include Bill Hamid, who has been called up by the U.S. national team, and Andy Najar, who has been capped for Honduras.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reached mainstream success in Canada when their debut with Reprise Records, "Gordon", featuring the singles "If I Had $1000000" and "Brian Wilson", was released in 1992. The band's popularity subsequently spread into the US, beginning with versions of "Brian Wilson" and "The Old Apartment" off their 1996 live album "Rock Spectacle", followed by their fourth studio album "Stunt", their breakout success in 1998. The album featured their highest-charting hit, "One Week", as well as "It's All Been Done" and "Call and Answer". Their fifth album, "Maroon", featuring the lead single "Pinch Me", also charted highly. In the 2010s the band became well-known for creating the theme song for the sitcom "The Big Bang Theory".


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Initially a duo of Ed Robertson and Steven Page, the band quickly grew to a quintet adding brothers Jim and Andy Creeggan and Tyler Stewart by 1990. Andy Creeggan left the band in 1995 and was replaced by Kevin Hearn. Page left in 2009, reducing the group to a quartet.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band's style has evolved throughout their career, and their music, which began as exclusively acoustic, quickly grew to encompass a mixture of pop, rock, hip hop, rap, etc. The band's live performances feature comedic banter and free-style rapping between songs. They have won multiple Juno Awards and have been nominated for two Grammy Awards. The group has sold over 15 million albums and singles and were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in March 2018.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Barenaked Ladies began as the duo of Ed Robertson and Steven Page. The two went to school together since Robertson was in grade four (Page was a grade ahead) at Churchill Heights Public School but were not friends until they met each other at a Harvey's restaurant after a Peter Gabriel concert. Each was pleased to find that the other liked Gabriel; they began talking and found they had many of the same tastes. The two became friends and bonded further when they were both counsellors at Interprovincial Music Camp located in McKellar, Ontario. Page was impressed by Robertson’s ability to harmonize when they began playing songs together.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Page had an extra ticket to a Bob Dylan concert at Exhibition Stadium and asked Robertson to join him. Bored, they amused each other by pretending they were rock critics and inventing histories about the Dylan band. They also invented fictional band names, one of which was "Barenaked Ladies."


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: On another front, Robertson had agreed to perform with his cover band in a battle of the bands at Nathan Phillips Square for the Second Harvest food bank, but the band broke up. A week before the show, Robertson received a phone call to confirm the gig, so he improvised the band had changed its name to "Barenaked Ladies." He then called Page and asked if he wanted to do the gig; Page reportedly could not believe Robertson had given that name. They arranged three rehearsals and missed them all. Instead of competing at the show on 1 October 1988, while the other bands set up they played every song they both knew. The show went well, and they were invited to open for another established local band, The Razorbacks, at the Horseshoe Tavern the coming weekend. Missing three more scheduled rehearsals, they improvised their set once again. These acts set a precedent for Barenaked Ladies concerts, which still almost always contain improvised raps, songs, and banter.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Page and Robertson continued performing and began writing songs together. The band's first tape, "Buck Naked" (1989), was made using a four-track recorder in basements and bedrooms. The pair became followers of comedy group Corky and the Juice Pigs, to whom they give credit for exposing them to the idea of comedic stage presence. Page and Robertson presented the group with their tape and were invited to open for the Juice Pigs on their cross-Canada tour. One night in Toronto, Page and Robertson invited friends from music camp, brothers Andy Creeggan (percussion) and Jim Creeggan (bass), to play with them at a Christmastime club show. Featuring the two new band members, "Barenaked Lunch" (a.k.a. "The Pink Tape") was released in 1990 despite being mastered incorrectly and playing too fast.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: After six months, Andy Creeggan went on a student exchange trip to South America, leaving the band without a percussionist. While playing at a buskers' festival in Waterloo, Ontario in the summer of 1990, they met drummer Tyler Stewart, and he took over the position. During Andy Creeggan's travels, the band gained attention winning the 1990 YTV Achievement Award for Best Band/Musical Group. and by squeezing into a small "Speaker's Corner" video booth in Toronto to perform "Be My Yoko Ono". The popular clip noticeably increased the band's fanbase. Andy Creeggan returned in early 1991 to find that Stewart had taken over the role of percussionist. Causing him some concern, Creeggan began playing keyboards more, though he still performed on some songs with congas and other percussion. The band would soon embark upon their first full Canadian tour.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The full band's first commercial release was 1991's "The Yellow Tape". A demo tape originally created for the band's performance at South by Southwest, it was the first recording to feature all five members and cost them $2,000–$3,000. They sent copies to all the labels in Canada; all of them refused. As they began selling more and more copies off the stage, through word of mouth people began asking for the tape in local stores. When retailers began asking the band for more tapes, the demo became a commercial release. Sales began to snowball based merely on word of mouth and their live shows. Page's father, Victor, created the independent label Page Publications to handle the cassette's manufacturing and distribution. (After the band signed to a major label, Page Publications remained in operation, later releasing albums by artists such as The Lowest of the Low, Leslie Spit Treeo, Annette Ducharme, David Gogo, and Bodega.)


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: During this era, the band garnered radio airplay with a live cover of Dean Friedman's "I'm in Love With a McDonald's Girl", which included a rap break incorporating lyrics from Beastie Boys' "Hey Ladies". Another major break for the band came in November 1991 when Barenaked Ladies contributed a cover of Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" to the Cockburn tribute album "Kick at the Darkness". The song became the band's first Top 40 hit in Canada.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Sales of "The Yellow Tape" were jump-started when the band was removed from the lineup of the 1991 New Year's Eve concert in Nathan Phillips Square outside Toronto City Hall because a staffer for then-mayor June Rowlands believed the band's name objectified women; the decision was affirmed by city councillor Chris Korwin-Kuczynski. The group shrugged it off and booked another show at McMaster University. However, the media picked up the story and presented it as an example of political correctness gone too far. The first article earned the paper a large quantity of mail against City Hall's decision as the story became increasingly prominent. A week after New Year's, the band was asked to take a photo in front of City Hall for the front page of the "Toronto Star". The newer stories targeted Rowlands even though she had not been directly involved with removing the band from the concert and was out of town when the decision was made. The following week, sales of the "Yellow Tape" exploded — by February 1992, it was outselling even Michael Jackson's "Dangerous", Genesis' "We Can't Dance", and U2's "Achtung Baby" in some downtown Toronto record stores. They received enough publicity from the incident that MuchMusic offered them its second-ever "Intimate and Interactive" special on 17 January. The tape eventually became the first-ever indie release to achieve platinum status (100,000 copies) in Canada.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: By the end of February, Toronto City Council revised its rules for event bookings at Nathan Phillips Square in the hopes of avoiding another similar controversy. The City Hall story has followed the band ever since; Robertson credits the scale of the story to it being a slow news week.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band was signed to Sire Records in April 1992 after a long period of being rejected by every label they approached.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band's first full album, "Gordon", was released in July 1992 and was a big success in Canada; by the end of August, it had already been certified platinum. It included some of the band's most well-known songs, including "Enid", the first single; "Be My Yoko Ono", the single which helped fund the album; "If I Had $1000000", which spawned a tradition of throwing Kraft Dinner during live shows, which the band later discouraged; and "Brian Wilson", named after Beach Boy Brian Wilson (who later covered the song on a live album). "Gordon" benefited from a number of its songs (including the latter three) being live favourites and had been recorded for past releases like "The Yellow Tape". Although the band was doing remarkably well in Canada, they found it translated into little success in the US.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band's second album, "Maybe You Should Drive" (1994), was much less popular with the Canadian public. Their tour of the US was deemed a failure and lost money despite an appearance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien". Before the next release, Andy Creeggan decided to leave the band. He had become disillusioned with the direction of the band and was not comfortable with their new fame. According to Page, he had considered leaving as early as the rehearsals for the "Drive" album; the rest of the band convinced him to stay to record that album and for the subsequent touring. Also, Creeggan wanted to attend McGill University to study music further. Tyler Stewart has also suggested that Creeggan had never fully accepted his replacement by Stewart as a percussionist. Andy Creeggan's departure came during a time in which members of the band were starting to become sick of one other, with Page and Robertson rarely communicating. Stewart cites the departure as worsening the situation. Page also began struggling with alcohol abuse and depression. In an attempt to correct the band's downward slide, they signed with Terry McBride and Nettwerk as their management.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band released "Born on a Pirate Ship" as a quartet in 1996. The album received two large boosts from the inclusion of the song "Shoe Box" on the "Friends" soundtrack and from the Jason Priestley-directed video for "The Old Apartment", which got notable U.S. airplay and while the album had stronger sales than "Maybe You Should Drive", it still did not match the success of "Gordon". The group appeared as the guest band on an episode of "Beverly Hills, 90210" ("Spring Breakdown" original airdate: 2 April 1997), immediately preceding their 1997 tour; they performed "The Old Apartment", "Life, In A Nutshell", and "Brian Wilson" at the Peach Pit After Dark night club. Tyler Stewart invited his friend Kevin Hearn to replace Andy Creeggan as a keyboardist for the tour, ultimately joining the band full-time. The group also had a cameo in the Canadian film "The Wrong Guy" with Dave Foley in 1997. They performed the song "Gangster Girl" as police officers in an alley on their break.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: From two dates on the "Born on a Pirate Ship" tour during 1996, Barenaked Ladies recorded and released a live album called "Rock Spectacle", which had a modest American radio hit with "Brian Wilson". The album became the band's first gold record in the United States, and the success of "Brian Wilson" and "The Old Apartment" led to a new situation for the band. They knew their next album would be their chance to make it big in the States.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: "Stunt" (1998) became their greatest mainstream success, buoyed by the single "One Week", which spent—coincidentally—one week at No. 1 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Stunt" reached No. 3 in the US " Billboard" 200 and No. 9 in Canada. Kevin Hearn was diagnosed with leukemia shortly after the album was released, eventually receiving bone marrow transplants from his brother and missing most of the "Stunt" tour.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band toured, with friends Chris Brown and Greg Kurstin both filling in on keyboards until Hearn recovered enough to rejoin them on tour. The singles "It's All Been Done" (used as the opening theme song on the short-lived animated television series "Baby Blues") and "Call and Answer" (which later appeared in the film "EdTV") were also modest hits. The band was asked to contribute a song ("Get in Line") to the soundtrack of the Fox cartoon "King of the Hill." Barenaked Ladies also had a guest appearance in a 1999 episode of "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place".


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Led by the "Pinch Me" single, in the US "Maroon" (2000) did not perform as well as "Stunt" had, reaching only No. 5 on the Billboard Top 100, however, it topped the Canadian charts. In 2001, they released a compilation album entitled "", referencing a line from "Box Set". It contained 15 singles from previous albums, two singles from other compilations, and two new tracks (dubbed "our new greatest hits" by Robertson during the subsequent tour).


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: After finishing a tour on 31 December 2001 in Rosemont, Illinois to promote the compilation, the band decided to take a year off, occasionally playing shows such as the Medals Plaza at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City before returning to the studio in April 2003.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: "Everything to Everyone" was released on 21 October 2003, coinciding with the first show of the unique Peep Show tour. The first single off the album was "Another Postcard (Chimps)", which received modest radio play. "Testing 1,2,3" was the second single from the album and received a video, but no CD single, while "Celebrity" was released later in the UK with a CD single, but no video. "Maybe Katie" (and an edited version of "For You" from a concert in Glasgow) were also released as singles to radio. The album was their weakest seller in years and had a short chart life. The release fulfilled their contract with Reprise Records, and they did not re-sign. This made the group independent for the first time since 1992 (though they retained a distribution relationship with Warner Bros. Records). On the subsequent Everywhere For Everyone tour, in early 2004, the band began offering their full live shows for purchase as a download or CD-R via their website, as well as subsequent studio releases.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band recorded the theme song for the 2000 children's program "Seven Little Monsters". They also appeared in "The Honeymoon's Over", the premiere of "Charmed"s third season, performing "Pinch Me" onstage at the fictional night club P3. In 2003 they recorded the theme song for "Odd Job Jack".


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band's next album was "Barenaked for the Holidays", released on 5 October 2004. It was their first independent record since "The Yellow Tape", as well the first album recorded at Page's recently-completed farmhouse studio, Fresh Baked Woods. The band created the record label Desperation Records for this album.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: In January 2005, the band taped a television pilot for a variety show, tentatively titled "Barenaked Ladies Variety Show", which was ultimately rejected by the Fox network. Later that year, the band was asked to write music for the Stratford Festival of Canada's musical production of Shakespeare's "As You Like It". Page wrote most of the music (Shakespeare had provided lyrics in the play), and the band recorded it for the actors to sing over. The recording (with Page's vocals) was available on CD from the festival as well as the band's website. On 2 July they participated in the Live 8 concert in Barrie, Ontario. Following several writing sessions throughout 2005, that fall the band entered the studio at Fresh Baked Woods to begin recording 29 songs. They broke from the studio in November and December to play a 22-show holiday tour, playing one of their new songs each night. An iTunes Originals – a collection of interviews and live songs (coupled with some old album tracks) was recorded while the band was in the studio. It was released in February 2006, when the band went back into the studio to finish up the recordings they started the previous fall. Initially unsure how to release so many songs, the band decided to release a single-disc album in early September entitled "Barenaked Ladies Are Me". Several alternate versions are available, including downloadable versions and a USB flash drive version. The B.L.A.M. tour in support of the album and its follow-up, "Barenaked Ladies Are Men", which hailed from the same sessions, ran in fall 2006 and briefly in June 2007 for the US, February 2007 for Canada, and later in 2007 for the UK. That same year the band wrote and recorded the theme song for the television series "The Big Bang Theory".


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: On 6 May 2008, the band released an album of original material aimed at children entitled "Snacktime!". The album features artwork by Hearn in its liner notes, which is also available in the form of a hardcover book with CD included. The album was promoted with a series of television and in-store appearances at bookstores in the US northeast, the West Coast, and Toronto.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Complications began in July 2008 when the band cancelled several appearances at several Disney Music Block Party concerts following Page's arrest on allegations of cocaine possession. In August, Robertson crashed his single-engine plane (without casualty) and his mother passed away that December. Band members lamented how the events of the year marred their 20th anniversary festivities (1 October 2008).


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: On 24 February 2009, Barenaked Ladies and Steven Page separately announced that Page had left the band by "mutual agreement." The remaining members continued as a quartet while Page pursued solo projects, including theatrical opportunities. In July, it was announced the band had left Nettwerk management and had hired the newly merged management firm CAM 8.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Barenaked Ladies entered the studio as a quartet in May 2009 to record a new album with producer Michael Phillip Wojewoda. "You Run Away", the lead single from the new album, was released to Canadian radio on 8 January. "All in Good Time" was released 23 March 2010 in Canada and 30 March in the US. On 6 January 2010, the band announced that it had signed an exclusive worldwide distribution deal with EMI Label Services. The same announcement implied that following the departure of Page, the band has created a new label called Raisin' Records.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: "All in Good Time" was generally well-received by critics. The band toured the U.S. and Canada during the summer of 2010, with an autumn leg in the United Kingdom. When asked about Page's departure, Tyler Stewart said, "We don't keep in touch, but we certainly we wish him the best, and there's good will there." In October 2010, Page stated that he has no plans to rejoin the band soon, other than a possible one-off performance. He added that it felt strange the group continued to use the same name and perform the songs that he wrote and performed.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Page commented in August 2011 that around the subsequent time of his arrest for cocaine possession, "the band was no longer the joyous place that it once was, but it hadn't been joyous for a long time before that. It wasn't that we didn't put on good shows, we still had a great time onstage every night," he added. "But it became a place where work was just about the stress and not the end product."


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: In September 2015, TMZ uncovered court documents showing that Page sued Robertson over the "Big Bang Theory Theme" song, alleging that he was promised 20% of the proceeds but Robertson kept the money.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band released a second greatest-hits album, "Hits from Yesterday & the Day Before", through Rhino Entertainment (a division of their former parent label, Warner Music Group) on 27 September 2011. Another Rhino album, "Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before", containing previously-recorded but unreleased rarities, was planned for release later in 2011 but was delayed until 8 May 2012.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Barenaked Ladies was commissioned to compose the original score for a musical based on "National Lampoon's Animal House". The project was announced in early 2012. However, by mid-2013, the band had been dropped from the production.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band returned to the studio in May 2012 to record a single, "Boomerang". The session was produced by Gavin Brown. The band indicated plans for "Boomerang" to be released as a single during the summer of 2012 in conjunction with their Last Summer On Earth tour on which the song was performed nightly. The single was also performed on the late 2012 Symphony Barenaked Tour but remained unreleased. The band had mentioned the possibility of abandoning the album concept and releasing only singles and EPs. However, the band went into the studio in February and March 2013 to work on a full album, which was released as "Grinning Streak" on 4 June 2013. The band then signed with Vanguard Records for the release, their first label album of originals since going independent following 2003's "Everything to Everyone". "Boomerang" was added to the new album tracks and was released as a single on 26 March 2013. Two further singles were released: "Odds Are" in late 2013 and "Did I Say That Out Loud?" in mid-2014. Each of the latter singles had a music video produced by Rooster Teeth Productions.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Looking to maintain a high profile, the band began work on a new album in December 2014. The band's 11th studio album, "Silverball", was released on 2 June 2015, three days before the band kicked off its Last Summer on Earth 2015 tour with Violent Femmes and Colin Hay. The lead single, "Say What You Want", was released on 28 April 2015. The music video for the next single, "Duct Tape Heart", contained live footage of the band's performance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on the Last Summer On Earth 2015 tour, was released on 19 October 19 to coincide with the start of the Canadian leg of the Silverball tour.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Barenaked Ladies released their second live album, "BNL Rocks Red Rocks", on 20 May 2016. It was recorded at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on the Last Summer on Earth 2015 tour. The band also held a Last Summer on Earth 2016 tour with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Howard Jones in conjunction with the new live album. "BNL Rocks Red Rocks" is the band's first commercial live release since the departure of Page in 2009.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: On 23–24 October 2016, the band recorded an album with New York City a cappella group, The Persuasions and producer Gavin Brown. The album, "", consisted of new versions of existing Barenaked Ladies songs (along with one Kevin Hearn song and one Persuasions song). It was released on 14 April 2017.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band returned to the studio in the winter of 2017 to record their 12th studio album, "Fake Nudes". The lead single, "Lookin' Up", along with "Bringing It Home", were made available for download to those who pre-ordered the album. The album itself was released on 17 November 2017.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: On 25 March 2018, the band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the Juno Awards in Vancouver. The band performed alongside former members Steven Page (who was included in the induction) and Andy Creeggan. This was Page's first performance with the band since his departure in 2009. Despite his presence at the ceremony, Andy Creeggan was not inducted into the Hall with the other five members. Though there are reportedly no plans for another reunion, neither side has ruled it out.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: In the summer of 2019, Barenaked Ladies took a break from their own Last Summer On Earth tours and opened for Hootie and the Blowfish on that band's 44-date Group Therapy Tour. It was the band's first tour as an opening act since the early 1990s.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: On 4 October 2019, Rhino Records released a new greatest hits collection titled "Original Hits, Original Stars" exclusively on vinyl.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: On 14 January 2020, Robertson stated he was working on songs for a new album, with a tour to follow supported by Gin Blossoms and Toad the Wet Sprocket. The tour was slated to begin on 3 June in St. Augustine, Florida and end on 23 July in Toronto but was delayed until 2021, and delayed again until 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In conjunction with the original tour announcement, the band also launched the "Barenaked Bytes" mobile app, allowing fans to gain access to ticket pre-sales, VIP packages, news, and discounts on merchandise.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Starting 29 March 2020, the band began releasing a series of webcam-based performances that they have dubbed #SelfieCamJam on their YouTube channel in response to the need for isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Their 13th studio album, "Detour de Force", was released on 16 July 2021, aided by the singles "Flip", "Good Life" and "New Disaster".


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: In September 2021, Robertson revealed that Barenaked Ladies are working on a "secret project" with Rush bassist Geddy Lee.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Barenaked Ladies has often attempted to use new technologies to promote themselves and their music. They were among the early adopters of computers for promotion when they released an "Interactive Press Kit" on a 3.5-inch floppy disk for "Maybe You Should Drive" in 1994, which earned them a MuchMusic Video Award. They used their website to allow fans to choose between two songs ("Be My Yoko Ono" and "Alternative Girlfriend") for inclusion on their greatest hits CD "Disc One" (though polling was nearly tied and both songs were included).


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Beginning in April 2003, the band started a blog on its website to keep fans updated personally, coinciding with the band's return to the studio for "Everything to Everyone". During a subsequent studio session for "Barenaked Ladies Are Me", Ed Robertson began a podcast in addition to the blog, which ran from February to August 2006 (with a series of four videos added in early 2007 with highlights from the band's first cruise).


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band has adopted many of the current online social networking sites, including accounts on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. The Twitter feed has been integrated into the band's website, and it also typically announces new blog posts with a link. These accounts have been used for contests and to debut new tracks. Different band members have also had individual accounts on these sites at times.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Barenaked Ladies has sold recordings of almost all of its live concerts since early 2004. Initially, shows were sold on CD-R or as MP3 downloads. By the end of 2004, lossless FLAC files were also offered. Professionally printed copies of some concerts were later offered through some isolated record stores, and some shows have been added to the iTunes Music Stores and other digital retailers.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band was praised for a unique use of USB flash drive technology. The group offered its 2004 "Barenaked For the Holidays" album on a customized flash drive in MP3 format, with extras including bonus tracks and photos and videos from the studio sessions for the album. The band used a 128 MB USB flash drive, limiting the bitrate of the music included. The group described the product as a test of the technology and the market for that technology. It subsequently released "Are Me" in the USB format as well (on a 256 MB flash drive). The band also incorporated the technology into its live music sales, offering fans a copy of concerts in MP3 format on a USB stick at the merchandise booth directly after the show.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: In 2009 the band took part in an interactive documentary series, "City Sonic". The series, which featured 20 Toronto artists, includes Tyler Stewart reflecting on his memories of the (now closed) Ultrasound Showbar. The films were accompanied by an iPhone application, which uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to unlock more videos when the user is close to the specific location.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: In February 2013, Barenaked Ladies participated in what was billed as the "first space-to-earth musical collaboration" involving the band and Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut and commander of the International Space Station, along with the Wexford Gleeks, a Canadian student choir. The group, Hadfield, and the choir performed a song "I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing)" that was commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Canadian Space Agency.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Following a lead from other artists, the band held a fan cruise called "Ships and Dip", from 15–19 January 2007. Other artists who joined included side projects The Brothers Creeggan, Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle and The Vanity Project, as well as friends of the band, Guster, Jason Plumb, The New Odds, and others. The ship also featured comedy from band friends Seán Cullen and Harland Williams.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The success of the cruise led to a second cruise, incongruously named "Ships and Dip III", held 27 January 27 – 1 February 2008. Many of the same artists were joined by newcomers such as Great Big Sea, who were a headlining performer. The third annual cruise, "Ships and Dip V," sailed from 1-6 February 2009, again featuring some returning and some new artists, adding Sarah McLachlan as an opening act for each of the band's three main theatre shows. Other new performers included Sloan, Luke Doucet, The Mountain Goats, and The Weakerthans. Page left the band shortly after Ships and Dip V, so his performances onboard were his last known with the band.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The fourth Ships and Dip cruise (dubbed "Ships and Dip 4", breaking with the odd-numbered naming convention of the first three cruises) sailed from 6-11 February 2011 on the "Norwegian Dawn" from Miami. "Ships and Dip 4" was their first (and, thus far, only) cruise since the departure of Page.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The artists on the Ships and Dip cruises sailed on board with the rest of the passengers for the duration of the cruises; this contrasted some other music cruises at the time on which the artist or artists travelled separately to one of the cruise destinations and performed there, or joined the cruise for only a portion of the trip. Band members enjoyed other artists' shows and most of the ship's amenities freely with the other guests. Barenaked Ladies performed several full shows on each cruise, and the band members also commonly sat in with other artists at their shows.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: In 1993, Barenaked Ladies were nominated for their first four Juno Awards: Canadian Entertainer of the Year, Album of the year for "Gordon", Single of the Year for "Enid", and Group of the Year, which was their only win. The group was again nominated for Entertainer of the Year in 1994 and Group of the Year in 1995. Barenaked Ladies' first Grammy nomination came in 1999 for "One Week" in the Pop Performance by a Duo or Group category but lost to Brian Setzer's "Jump, Jive an' Wail". The song, and its album "Stunt", brought the band three more Juno Awards that year, for Best Single, Best Pop Album, and Best Group. Robertson lost to Bryan Adams in the newly revived Best Songwriter Category. The video for "One Week" was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction, but lost to "Doo Wop (That Thing)" by Lauryn Hill.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The band was nominated for their second Grammy in 2001 for "Pinch Me", again in the Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group category, but lost to "Cousin Dupree" by Steely Dan. They also won three more Juno Awards for "Maroon" under Best Pop Album, Best Album, and Best Group, bringing their total to seven. "Pinch Me" was nominated for Best Single but lost to "I'm Like a Bird" by Nelly Furtado. Additionally, Page and Robertson were nominated in the Best Songwriter category in its penultimate year for "Pinch Me", "Too Little Too Late", and "Falling for the First Time".


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Five more Juno nominations have followed, totalling 18 nominations for the band (in addition to the two songwriting nominations). In 2004 they were up for Pop Album of the Year for "Everything to Everyone", as well as Group of the Year. In 2005, they were up for Music DVD of the Year for the documentary "The Barenaked Truth". In 2006, they were again nominated for Group of the Year. They were nominated for and subsequently won a 2009 Juno for their children's album "Snacktime!".


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The Billboard Music Awards is sponsored by "Billboard" magazine and held annually in December. Barenaked Ladies has received two awards from two nominations.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States. Barenaked Ladies has received two nominations.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The Juno Awards is a Canadian awards ceremony presented annually by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Barenaked Ladies has received eight awards from 18 nominations.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Further, the band members and other individuals have been nominated for four Junos for their work in connection with the band.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The MTV Video Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony established in 1984 by MTV. Barenaked Ladies has received one nomination.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The MuchMusic Video Awards (MMVAs) is an annual awards ceremony presented by Canadian television station MuchMusic that honours the best music videos. In the past, the awards included some vote-in People's Choice categories that were not specifically tied to videos. Barenaked Ladies has received four awards and several other nominations.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: The World Music Awards honours recording artists based on worldwide sales figures provided by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Barenaked Ladies has received one award.


title: Barenaked Ladies

text: Barenaked Ladies have an authorized biography, which was released in 2001, titled "Public Stunts Private Stories", written by a friend of the band and fellow Scarborough native Paul Myers with input from the band. It is published in Canada by Madrigal Press. An updated version of the biography was released in 2003 in the US with a different cover, several corrections, and additional information about "Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits" and "Everything to Everyone", which were released after the initial printing.