Thread: NFL to revamp shield with redesigned logo

The NFL will switch to a new corporate logo next year, the first change to the brand since 1980.

By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY
August 30, 2007

NEW YORK — The National Football League is launching a makeover of its red, white and blue "NFL Shield" logo that adorns everything from player jerseys to fan T-shirts and hats.
The league is creating a leaner, meaner version of the iconic logo that will debut at the NFL draft in April, 2008. The revamped shield will be slightly taller and thinner, with a new football, fewer stars and darker colors, says Lisa Baird, the NFL's senior vice president of marketing. The redesign marks the first changes to the shield since 1980.

At the NFL's annual meeting this spring, commissioner Roger Goodell talked about the NFL Shield as the "envy of the sports world." The league has been careful to make an "evolutionary, not a radical change," says Baird.

•The new shield features eight stars (representing the eight AFC and NFC divisions) vs. 25 on the current logo. Why 25? It's a mystery. After researching the shield's origins, the designers could find no reason for 25 stars, says Jaime Weston, director of brand and creative operations. The shield logo was first used around 1940, two decades after the NFL's founding in 1920.

• The football at the center has been redesigned to resemble the ball atop the Vince Lombardi championship trophy, says Baird. It replaces the old-fashioned pigskin nicknamed the "Hamburger" inside league offices.

•NFL vendors will probably thank the league for switching to fewer stars. Some vendors, without permission, have used fewer stars rather than shoehorning 25 tiny stars into smaller shields on hats and T-shirts.

Tinkering with one of the country's most powerful and ubiquitous sports brands will be a risky and expensive business. NFL sponsors such as Reebok, Riddell, Wilson and EA Sports will have to switch shields on everything from uniforms (players wear three logos at the neck and waistlines and on the helmet) and licensed merchandise to the official "Duke" game ball and Madden video game. Even groundskeepers will have to adopt the new shield at NFL stadiums.

But Baird believes the cleaner, more modern symbol will "pop" better during TV telecasts. The less-busy logo will also show up better on "third screens" increasingly used by sports fans: cellphones, laptops, iPods and PDAs.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/footb...d-change_N.htm

Not much of a change if you ask me.

Why do places always want to "change" their logos or the looks of things? If its not broke then don't fix it.

Oh well, it doesn't sound too drastic of a change atleast.

Originally Posted by broncosfanscott

Not much of a change if you ask me.

Yeah, i probably would'nt have even noticed had no one said anything.

By reading the article they made it sound like something drastic was going to be changed...:fruit:

It really hasn't changed much since the 60's...

Originally Posted by Reidman

It really hasn't changed much since the 60's...

Kinda looks like prison bars. That would be the perfect logo for today's NFL!

Originally Posted by broncosfanscott

Not much of a change if you ask me.

I was just going to say the same thing. Unless you see redesigned one next to the old one you might not even pick up on the change.

Originally Posted by BaileyTheBest

Kinda looks like prison bars. That would be the perfect logo for today's NFL!

Maybe one will like that in your post will be put on Vick's jump suit.

Originally Posted by BaileyTheBest

Kinda looks like prison bars. That would be the perfect logo for today's NFL!

Just throw Michael Vick, Ray Gay and Merroids man in there and your set.

I am glad they got rid of the bars......they look stupid.