From D.C. United's team store, this bit of goodness:
Early stages of design but we are working on some exciting limited edition numbers for later this season #DCU pic.twitter.com/0Q9oklhcfW
— DCU Team Store (@dcuteamstore) April 12, 2017
D.C. using Pride-themed jersey numbers had been informally rumored according to a couple of sources I’ve talked to, but this was the first preview of said numbers. With the jersey printing of September 9, this coincides with D.C. hosting Orlando City SC at RFK (Orlando being the city where the Pulse nightclub shootings happened last year). This date also coincides with the United Night Out event that the Black-and-Red has hosted for several years (this year will be the 8th), and the team’s new home at Audi Field is expected to be a venue as part of the city’s proposal to host the 2022 Gay Games.
This is not the first time D.C. (or MLS) has made jersey numbers from the non-traditional home and away colors for each franchise. They released numbers showing the faces of each team’s season ticket holder base in 2015, and in 2016 released numbers with the American flag and with the team’s colors in a camouflage. This is one of the more thoughtful varieties, to be sure.